Well, It's Over

How have I grown as a student...? Hmmm well I have been able to handle several more advanced classes this year than in previous years which has taught me to be more responsible and taught me how valuable my time is.This course has obviously prepared me for AP Literature next year, but also helped me grow as a writer since we have written several essays throughout the year.This course has prepared me for life by giving me writing skills that are necessary in college, future jobs, writing professional emails, writing resumes and etc.

The essay I found most difficult to write was the argumentation. I struggled with this because I normally don't do well in the argumentation essay, and I found it difficult to think of examples of HELP to use in my essay.

The essay I found easiest to write was the Rhetorical analysis. This was the easiest for me because I usually do well in rhetorical analysis, hence the reason why I was in the rhetorical analysis group to present awhile back.

The novel I enjoyed the most this year was The Things They Carried because I found it an easy read and enjoyed the story line along with the content it covered.

The novel I enjoyed the least was that one short story we read out of the text book at the beginning of the year (I obviously don't remember the name of it, maybe because I didn't like it that much). I feel like it was long and boring and a little pointless, but now that I think about it, maybe we used that to identify rhetorical devices. This was too long ago, I can't exactly remember.

Something I'd like Mr. Thomas to know is that you're an awesome teacher and I love your class. At the beginning of the year, I feared this AP English class a little bit since it was a step up from Pre-AP, but you made if fun and enjoyable. I think its great how you're a fair, understanding and relaxed teacher yet you get your point across and you have lots of experience to show that you're great at teaching.

Its been fun! Thanks for a great year Mr. Thomas :)

The Things I Carry

Everyone has a story to tell being shaped by the things they do each day and by the things they carry. People are shaped by five main things things that they carry either being physical or emotional: items, dreams and goals, relationships, their personality, and memories. I will share with you the five things I carry with me everywhere I go.

I don't carry around a physical item with me at all times that means a lot to me such as a necklace or a lucky charm. Although some might ask, "Not even your cell phone?" but unlike most people these days it isn't my whole world to where I'm on it 24/7. I do however always wear two bracelets, one from a friend and another from a summer vacation, even though they have no special meaning to me. Without these I might freak out at first due to change but I would learn to live and it wouldn't be a big deal to me.

My dreams don't go too far as I don't like to look too far into the future. I basically hope to get into a good college and pursue engineering for a career (hopefully I'll survive). One goal I do have is to do better than my brother. Now if you've met him you'd know that'd be pretty easy to accomplish so why such a simple and easy goal? Ever since I was younger I've looked up to my older brother as a role model and mimicked what he does which has made me who I am today. Since he currently dropped out of school and is without a job (well he works for cutco but I don't consider that a job as he hasn't sold anything yet) I wish to excel more than him and keep my parents proud of me as they always have been (thanks to him).

As mentioned above, my brother has always been my role model since he influenced me greatly when growing up. If you know me quite well, you'd know that I'm not your "average" girl. I'm quite boy-ish, never wearing make up, never caring about how my hair looks, not spending an hour in front of a mirror, having more guy friends than girls, never caring about what I wear or look like or what others think of me. Thanks to my brother and his influences growing up, I am this way.

My personality is quite unique as I'm a very odd person. I consider myself to be nice and kind, always thinking of my friends. I'm also an extremely independent person; I don't like people helping me up when I'm down, holding doors open for me, anything I could do for myself. This can probably be attributed to my brother, once again. When we were younger he taught me to be strong and independent and not take crap from anyone else which has come in handy several times. I am also a chill and laid back which is probably the reason for my extreme laziness (which in turn leads to procrastination. Notice how all these blogs are done on the day of?) This also leads to me being shy and quiet which can sometimes be a problem since I hardly ever talk or speak up.

I always look at the past as what happened, happened and it cant be changed no matter how hard you try. With this I don't let memories influence me too much. Although there is one memory that has had an impact on me more than other which is my grandfather passing a year ago due to leukemia. My grandfather was the only family I have that I'm close with other than his wife, my parents and my brother. His death was quite sudden as we received a phone call a month after visiting him for Christmas from my grandmother that he had less than two weeks to live. I never was able to see him after I did that Christmas which taught me that life is unexpected and to enjoy every moment you have.

The Choice is Yours

In the story Everyday Use by Alice Walker she portrays two sisters who are completely opposite of each other. One following family heritage all the way and the other following her own path and being completely independent. However these two options are not the only ways to follow, there is a 3rd option showing the middle ground. One can follow their parents ways and yet still be individual and independent from them, creating this grey area where the children create their own culture and heritage to pass on to their own kids.

I, myself, have followed in my parents footsteps for the most part and respect their heritage. My mom is originally from Australia, but she has lived in America longer than she has in Australia. Because of this she doesn't have many Australian traditions, however we still make the occasional phone call over there to see how life is like down under. My father is from up north, Iowa to be specific, so he's one of those queer northerners that us southerners don't understand their ways.

My mother is an amazing cook, as she gets her skills from her own mother. Throughout my many years of experience (not really) I have acquired some of these cooking skills from my mom and continue to learn and become better. Family is also very important to my mom so she insists that every day my family has a family-style sit down meal. Even though I sometimes dread these because I'm hungry and just want to eat and leave I respect her and sit through these since she is accustomed to this. As mentioned before, my father is one of those weird northerners so he passed on some of his weirdness to myself (thanks dad). He also deals with engineering in his job so ever since I've been old enough to understand what engineering is hes taught me about it and encouraged me to pursue it as my career (hence WEGA). With the WEGA program, I have been able to explore engineering and have enjoyed it thus far so it looks like his wish of his daughter becoming an engineer will come true. I have also followed my dads genre of music by listening to most of the things he listens to such as Pink Floyd and instrumentals.

Even though I follow my parents in most of their ways, I also have my individuality. Probably the thing that sets me aside from my parents the most is religion. Both my parents are Lutheran, and my father is especially very strong set about his beliefs. I on the other hand, am atheist and think that their beliefs are completely crazy and cant stand to listen to them talk about their religion. I also differ from my parents in playing two instruments in band where neither of my parents are musically inclined. Another thing that sets me apart from my parents are my movie/television choices. I am in love with Star Wars whereas my father cant stand it at all, in fact to where he'll have to leave the house if I am watching it. Whenever I watch something else my dad will walk in the room, see what I'm watching and ask, "Why are you watching this crap? Watch something better like this or that" and then he'll take out my disc and put in one of his "better" movies.

With my parents heritage influencing me and with my own views on some things, I am able to create this middle ground that isn't completely following their heritage nor completely independent from them. I can still respect them and their ways since they helped shape who I am.

The Fall of the House of Usher

Edgar Allan Poe is the bomb.com when is comes to haunted houses or horror stories. Just look at the "The Fall of the House of Usher" for example, he keeps readers sitting on the edge of their chair and wondering what'll happen next throughout the entire story while also making it twisted and haunted. He uses several techniques that most haunted stories use today and that would be superb to copy if one was to make their own scary story.

One thing that Edgar Allan Poe uses in his story that I would personally copy if I were to create my own scary story (which I wont ever do unless Mr. Thomas makes us, so please don't! I'm not that creative) is imagery. Anything that is scary is scary because of the appearance and how its presented which is due to what? Why, imagery of course! Imagery can create a scary, gloomy, spooky and eerie setting which is perfect for a haunted story and is exactly what Poe did especially at the beginning of the story when the narrator approaches and enters the house.

Now of course every haunted story has to have a psychopath or crazy person, that's haunted stories 101. In "The Fall of the House of Usher" this person is Madeline since, well lets face it... She dies and comes back to life. Not to mention before her "death" she was very ill with a mystery sickness. She also has an incestuous relationship with her twin brother which just adds to her psychotic personality giving her an abnormal and twisted back story. Perfect for a haunted story!

Another thing I would use for my (hypothetical) haunted story is Personification. With this, the author can make an inanimate object come to life and be that much more scary. If I were to say there was a full moon out tonight vs. the molten moon peered down upon me, isn't that much more eerie? Such as Poe did with the house when it is described to be crumbling away and decaying, just like how the family of Usher is decaying, probably due to incest.

Poe did a fantastic job of leaving the end of the story open to mystery, definitely worthy of copping. With this, it will add mystery and give the reader questions that will never be answered which will in turn make the reader think about the story more.

Finally, the last thing that would be amazing to have in my own scary story copied from Edgar Allan Poe is to have someone rise from the dead. Hey, it worked for Poe and it worked for Frankenstein and they were both a huge hit. With this it adds a thrill and excitement and a fantasy that will also satisfy America's obsession with the occult.

Now I do not like challenges, nor would I like one so sorry Mr. T I don't know what I'd do differently than Poe if I were to create my own short story.

The Occult in America

The average american has an obsession with the occult where they cant get enough of the supernatural, mystical or magical beliefs or phenomenons. They will  absorb themselves in television, movies or books obsessing over the vampires or demons that appear in them. Young Goodman Brown is one of the first to experience the occult that will start America's obsession with this which can also be compared to Frankenstein.

America is mostly obsessed with the occult because people like to thrill their senses. We also wonder what lies behind death's door and mainly because of curiosity. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown, Goodman Brown happens to come across an elderly man who is found out to be the devil. This can be related to the Salem witch trials which were occurring at the same time where women would be accused of being possessed by the devil and practicing witchcraft.

The occult can also be seen in Mary Shelly's novel, Frankenstein. In this, Frankenstein creates a creature made of deceased people and makes him come to life through practicing Ceremonial Magic and alchemy. This novel helped America's obsession with occult by showing that there is a possible afterlife and making people's obsession grow even more and still fascinate people today.

These show that Americans cant get enough of their supernatural and magical beliefs. Stories such as Frankenstein and Young Goodman Brown provide America with excitement and comfort, but also answers their curiosity. Today we still see several examples of the occult through television or books that are more recent and loved just as much as these older stories are. Some of them include Walking Dead, Twilight, Supernatural, Dracula, Vampire Diaries and many more.

The Anti-Hero Comparison of Ichabod Crane and Han Solo

An anti hero is a central character in a story who lacks conventional heroic attributes. Whereas the traditional hero will stand for the values of courage and self-sacrifice, the anti hero often will act selfishly and without concern for others.

In the original Star Wars trilogy, Han Solo is immediately seen as the anti hero. The first scene where Han is shown in the Mos Eisley Cantina, all he cares about is his money that he will receive from Luke and Obi Wan Kenobi. Throughout Episode IV Han shows the traits of a classic anti hero, some examples include his statement to Princess Leia, "I ain't in this for you sweetheart and I'm certainly not in this for your revolution. I'm in it for the money... I expect to be well paid." He is also portrayed as an anti hero when Leia makes the comment to Luke saying, "Your friend is quite a mercenary. I wonder if he really cares about anything... or anybody." All of these traits show how Han Solo is selfish, only thinks about money, and doesn't care about anything which proves how he is the anti hero in Star Wars.

In The Legends Of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving, Ichabod Crane is clearly portrayed as an anti hero. In the story, Ichabod Crane only wants Katrina Van Tassel for her wealth and land, not for love. This is shown with the quote, "He was satisfied with his wealth, but not proud of it; and piqued himself upon the hearty abundance, rather than the style in which he lived." which shows his greed for money from Katrina in order to make himself better off. On page 16, it is shown how Ichabod Crane becomes obsessive over Katrina's land, so obsessive to where he fantasizes how much money he could make off of selling the land and moving to another state. These quotes also shows how selfish Ichabod Crane is by him only thinking about what would be best for himself with the least amount of work possible. All  Ichabod Crane cares about is his wealth and what would be best for him, rather than anything about Katrina.

Han Solo and Ichabod Crane share the classic traits of what an anti hero would do. Both are selfish, only concerned with what would be best for them and not thinking about anyone else. Han and Ichabod also both have an immense greed for money as that is all they try to achieve throughout both stories, not letting anything stop them from reaching this goal.