Sunday, June 7, 2015

MASTERPIECE ACADEMY (MLA STYLE ESSAY)

Naiomi Desai
Dr. Preston
AP Literature and Composition
6 June 2015
Masterpiece Academy
            What is a Masterpiece? It is an artist’s best work through the use of various mediums about a topic that the author has passion, knowledge, and dedication on. Montaigne’s use of the word ‘espouse’ creates a sense of the emotions mentioned above and allows the readers to interpret that Montaigne espouses writing. Throughout this year, all of the students, some more than others, have learned to look beyond the typicality of authority and its requirements and focus solely on the necessity of learning and its importance throughout an individual’s life. With experiencing the class by being treated as college students and colleagues by the teacher, the students definitely were given the choice to create a unique atmosphere and set a unique agenda for the class. We were trusted with a great amount of trust and many of us earned it with the amount of hard work and effort that we showed in our work. Even though we didn’t always honor and respect the trust we were trusted with, we were certainly aware of it to an extent.

           

            One piece of work that I read that rang true to me was “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini. The protagonist, Amir, and the obstacles that he goes through in his life spoke volumes to me because the culture he grew up in was extremely similar to the one I grew up in. Another piece was “The Poisonwood Bible” by Barbara Kingsolver. Even though I do not have siblings for me to connect with the characters of the book to that level, I could still comprehend and sympathize with each of the difficult choices that the characters had to make in their lives. Kingsolver includes the theme of growing up and learning through one’s experiences and all of us could connect because we are in the same situation, learning and rowing up. Finally, the last work that we read in the class, which I could connect with, was “Hamlet” by Shakespeare. I related to Hamlet’s inability to make definite decisions because we are all at the age of adolescence where confusion with self-identification is extremely high. These works even though can be read and related to by any individual, in this era – young adults are the ones that would truly be able to extract the meaning behind the plot, themes, characters, etc.



 


            This class reconnected me to my passion of writing through all the creative writing assignments done in class, especially the masterpiece. I was able to get back to poetry and write lyrics to a song and then sing it to present it in front of an entire class. Initially, I wanted to major in literature to continue my passion but I have decided to write personally, for my self, and learn and grow from there by having an audience read it once in a while.



            The process of Open Source Learning itself has made me laugh out loud throughout the year, not because it is ridiculous or unreasonable but because such a technique is available, where a students’ thoughts, opinions, and preferences are taken as much into account as the authority’s, if not more. It almost seems unreasonable and unrealistic to be true but this class proves as a stepping-stone for the other traditional environment classes to follow. One criticism that I do have is for a little more motivation provided for the students by the teacher. This motivation can be in form of a grade or an award but it would definitely increase the participation of students and their enthusiasm about learning.



               Most of the Masterpiece presentations had one unifying theme: journey. Whether that journey was of life, high school, learning, growth, community, etc. The theme of journey then connected all the classmates in a manner that might not have been possible otherwise. The first example is obviously mine. My masterpiece was, me trying to unite the seniors and attempting to pull them out of a stressful and mentally and psychologically requiring year. In attempt to do that, Jisu and I wrote a song with a video that depicted any typical high-school student’s journey from a nerdy, scared, and confused freshman to a confident and definite senior. Another example of journey is Shailynn Joseph, when she made a video about herself and how she became who she is. A similar video was also made by Susel Garcia, who started the video out with herself as a little girl and showed herself growing up. Two more examples are those of Lillyana Navarette and Millicent Angulo. Both of these young women used the theme of journey to describe how they came to be passionate about what they are: medicine and basketball. Lilly shared personal stories while Millie used a family tree to come about it.




            I have always been taught to consider myself as somebody who’s a learner: a zero in the world. My dad always says that if you consider yourself a hero, then the chances of you learning and being passionate about acquiring knowledge in life will be close to nothing. I learn from a toddler all the way up to my elders. Everyone and everything, even, has something to teach: it’s a matter of our perspective that allows us to learn and what we learn. I have found a mentor ever since sophomore year; but this year, she did help me with college and scholarship applications. I am not a hero. I am merely an ordinary person, who’s getting through day to day problems and becoming more experienced with each obstacle.



            The journey of life is like the rain: unexpected but a necessity. It’s necessary to be in pain. It’s necessary to have problems. It’s necessary to be in the heat because a human being is a traveler in the world. With heat comes shade. With journey comes rest. With pain comes happiness. You just need the determination and hard work to keep moving. It’s the traveler’s job to keep walking.






MY MASTERPIECE



Incorporating writing with music to describe high school journey of every person!

Song: Black and White
Remixed with: I see the light (Tangled)
Written, sung, and created by: Jisu Yoon and Naiomi Desai

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

SONNETS


  • Shakespearean sonnets are two quartets and then a couplet.
  • Patrarchan sonnets are divided in an octet and a sestet.
  • The sonnet is a satire to the Patrarchan sonnets - which are more romantic and idolizing.
  • It changes tone at the last couplet from criticizing and insulting the woman Shakespeare loved to praising her and accepting to love her for the way she was.
  • The "shift" is visible because of the time change but also, coincidentally, the rhyme scheme also changes - making it more obvious.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

EXTREME CHARACTERS

I liked the journal topic for today so I decided to post about it instead of writing it in my journal because I know that if I write in that little book, no one is going to be able to see or read it. So here it is:

Extreme characters: what are they? Crazy? Over dramatic? Unrealistic? I would say they're personas that we can learn from in modern world. I consider them to have personality of somebody not afraid of their opinion and their goals. They're certain. They're sure. Lady Macbeth was crazy, true. She was evil, true. She was psychologically unstable, maybe. But she was someone that none of us can be nowadays: definite, confident, and even manipulative (which all of us need at some point in our lives but don't have it). I believe that extreme characters allow us to view the world in a more acquiring sense: making us believe that it depends on us and our efforts and desires to achieve anything as long as there's perseverance and future vision involved in it. En finale (yes, I'm aware that this probably does not exist now, but hey, I could start it!), extreme characters are what you wish to be - positively, of course (I'm not a psycho, I promise!) - but is not  realistic to ever be that way.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

ACT 4 STUDY QUESTIONS

4.1
1.  There are 3 witches in this scene.
2.  The first apparition says to be wary of Macduff and careful of him.  The second tells Macbeth he should be a strong willed ruler- bold and brace.  In other words he should not accept defeat.  The third warns of attacking armies coming, and tells Macbeth he won't be defeated until the kingdom of Norway attacks.
     Macbeth doesn't feel safe after the apparitions.  He has worries about Macduff's intentions and the possibility of an oncoming attacking army.  Yes he should feel unsafe because he is in a very precarious position.
     After the fourth, the line of kings, Macbeth is terrified.  He saw the ghost of Banquo at the end, whom he killed.  This frightened him as well as drawing out his guilt.
3.  In line 158 Macbeth learns from Lennox that Macduff is running away to England.  In response Macbeth decides to send someone try to kill as many of Macduff's family members as he can.
4.2
1) Lady McDuff seems to feel betrayed and angry at McDuff because he left them (her and her son) to die. She was advising her son to dislike his father because he fled when he discovered that Macbeth is planning to kill him.
2) The purpose of the scene between Lady McDuff and her son is to have his son have false impression about his dad. Also, the scene assists in the growth of the theme : fair is foul and foul is fair. This is because Macbeth is willing to kill McDuff in order to achieve what is"rightfully" his and McDuff fled, afraid of Macbeth's actions towards him. It also shows how McDuff's son refused to believe that his father left them to die, showing devotion, faith, and trust.
3) The entire McDuff family ends up being killed by Macbeth.
4.3
1. Macduff's family has been killed. 
2. Malcolm doesn't want to go home because he's afraid of judgement since he ran away. Malcolm is suspicious of Macduff bc Macduff has his own personal agenda. He might be secretly working for Macbeth since he left his family. Malcolm tests Macduff's loyalty to him and he passes. When Macduff starts to leave Malcolm takes back the lies he's told and trusts Macduff now- they're now allies. 
3. Malcolm says he's a bad king but Macduff says Macbeth is a way worse king and that he needs to return to restore peace and justice. Avarice bothers Macduff more in a king, it sticks deeper with kings in the terms of greed and lust.
5 coming soon...
6. Ross tells Macduff that his family is dead, it takes him a while to tell him. Macduff says they must save their grief for later and Malcom says to turn their revenge into a medicine for their grief. Macduff says "he has no children" and he is referring to Malcom because he says he needs to mourn and "feel like a man" when Malcom tells him to dispute it like a man. To be a "man" in this play means to have feelings and don't hide but don't let them cloud your judgement.
7. Malcom, Macduff and Ross are ready to attack Macbeth's castle, they just need to go there.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

ACT II STUDY QUESTIONS

2.1
1.The opening gives a sense of forboding, things are not as they should be. The discussion serves to have Banquo acknowledge the weird sisters rather than claim they are a hallucination. 
2. Macbeth is extremely stressed about having to Duncan and he is attempting to talk himself into committing the deed. He talks about it as if he is in a haze, a dream and he continues by making it a reality and committing the deed.

2.2
Coming soon
2.3
1) The porter, in the third scene of act ii, is drunk and is pretending to be the Porter of the gate to hell. In the play, Macbeth has the trait of equivocation, where he manipulates his listener by circumlocution and the expectations of the other person without actually committing. For example, he does this when Lady Macbeth asks him to kill King Duncan.
2) The thematic function of Lennox describing the night as unruly was because that night was when King Duncan was killed by Macbeth. It was "unruly" not only for King Duncan but also for Macbeth because the guilt and fear of getting caught will always make him say and do things that might be suspicious, dark, and unruly. The scene is necessary to show Macbeth's transformation from the character before the murder vs. the character after the murder. This also connects back to what the witches had said earlier in the play: Fair is foul and foul is fair.
3) Macduff reports that the king has been murdered. Lady Macbeth appears to be horrified that this act could take place on his household. Macbeth is in encaged and kills the chamberlains. Malcolm and Donalbain decide to flee Malcolm and will go to England and Donalbain will go to Ireland. They're fleeing because they fear they will be murdered.
2.4
1. The function of the dialogue between Old Man and Ross is to discuss the strange happenings that have been occurring such as how an owl killed a falcon, the horses went wild and are one another, and several other things.  This wicked behavior symbolizes and foreshadows the promotion of Macbeth to the thrown. 
2. Macduff tells us from the castle that Macbeth has been made king by his fellow lords and that he will travel to Scone to receive the promotion and get crowned. He tells us that Malcolm and Donalbain are suspected of the murder of Duncan. They are suspected because they fled the scene.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

MACBETH: CHARACTER MAP

A character map that I absolutely loved is this one:
http://www.anoisewithin.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2014/01/ANW_Macbeth_Character_Map.pdf
The content is straight and to the point without digression and also its structure is easy to get a read on.

This link might not be the best one in terms of credibility but it does have content that's easy to understand and analytic enough for the readers to get a grip on Macbeth.
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=Macbeth+character+map

This one is basic but helps in getting the characters "unmixed-up"
https://accf78fc-a-8e141b81-s-sites.googlegroups.com/a/puhsd.k12.ca.us/mrs-smith-english/Home/english-10/macbeth/macbethcharactermap.jpg?attachauth=ANoY7cpO09PQaEvNhbRbljiiIpksmOF0sDSJReT0OHNhMwO4tJPdTbHMztM7sk_nBf6rxY9U6CvaAHA9w6lzg6Axol6F2yrypVP100ZNFV7wq2yIB2us6A7rqCOQEirVCk1tYlLqqOLZAzQ3o7qQttJotT-lgg48YuzTmn7oU7chPRBLbhoNhZw1kvAXInJwZul-2DT_peLSTrAhFYec2uprqESJFzmRQF-JtlFRLQZtSudiTUb9MEXnUsOriCNHCWo4ZoWFtVBiwE7pqopYpF40jjEhKQFjMQ%3D%3D&attredirects=0