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Some say knowledge inspires, others say knowledge motivates, I say knowledge dances.

It dances in front of whoever is on the path to seek it. It dances and it tempts and its ambiguity ignites a curiosity with a flaming light that cannot be extinguished. While one may be following the light, seeking warmth, they often fail to see that they could potentially be burned. The thing about looking for knowledge is no one really knows what they are going to find. I've always wondered about the people who search for knowledge. Sure, there are some who stumble upon greatness, but at what cost? Knowledge consumes the mind, heart, and soul. It is with the burning light of knowledge, that people can cure. Yet that same light knowledge is a fatal instrument of harm. Once knowledge is discovered and ignited, it can spread like a wildfire that no one could ever stop. Sure, knowledge is power. But power is dangerous, especially in the hands of the wrong person.

So while knowledge can create a world light and warmth if it is in the hands of a selfless being... knowledge, in the hands of one with sinister intentions, can disintegrate the world surrounding us into nothing more than ruins and ashes. 

Psychoanalysis

Psychological critical theory helps give insight into the different ways characters behave. There are unconscious and conscious aspects of psychology. Both of these give insight into why literary characters endure the emotional experiences that they do. In Hamlet we will be able to further understand the decisions made by the characters by using psychoanalytical techniques. These techniques were developed and improved by Sigmund Freud. In trying to learn about each character it is important to know that every character is different and that their life experiences will continually affect the way characters react to a situation.

Senior Year!

Well, well, well. It is certainly easy to say that these past six weeks have been, in a word, interesting. It’s my senior year and I intend to live it up and have no regrets.  That’s the great thing about knowing it’s your last year. You kind of just do whatever it is you want to do. There’s no reason things should be left unsaid. While all of this sounds fun, there’s an entirely different aspect of senior year… COLLEGE APPS. Let me tell you, this process is no walk in the park. Especially because I’m applying to 15. I just got my final list set and I must say I’m getting very anxious for the future and what it will bring. While I am excited for college, I also don’t want to forget about these moments happening right now. I want to prolong the friendships that I have developed over the past four years, as well as show pride for my school because I don’t have much more time here. And though I cannot wait for what the future will bring, I must say that I plan on living every remaining day here to the fullest. I truly hope that my peers pump up their spirit and do the same.

Trauma

     Trauma. It’s a word that by definition means emotional or physical shock after a disturbing experience. I used to think I wanted to be a “Trauma Surgeon”. This job entitled the ability to take a time-bound medical complication and relieve the pain from the patient as efficiently as possible. Trauma surgeons never have time to think, they go purely by instinct, because they know that their patient does not have much time. Whether trauma is physical or emotional, the reality is that severe pain will be felt.

Where and when does trauma begin? Maybe it can starts at your high school’s first football game. You can hear startling news and, with blurred vision and skewed sensibility, you can sprint to wherever you must go, purely by instinct, to find the news that you have to hear, but hope to be untrue.

The next thing you know, you are in the emergency room, waiting to see your family member. When you are allowed into their room, you immediately see the potential devastation of what a substance can do to a body. You realize that life is fragile, and why the substance is illegal. Perhaps you hold your parents’ hands and you wonder how it ever got to this point. You pray that this never happens again. It’s tough, but that’s trauma… and trauma lingers. Even when the family is alive and safe in the comfort of their home again, the memory of the solitude felt while being in the waiting room endures, seeded in your brain. The worry in people’s eyes seems gone on the surface, but never totally goes away. However, while there is so much fear and sadness, no one will make the same mistake again. More importantly, no one ever takes anyone for granted anymore.

      Trauma can be unpredictable, such as a natural gas explosion, that devastates the lives and homes of many, or a terrorist attack that takes thousands of American lives. There is so much that we don’t know about trauma. But this much I do know: as much as it hurts you, you certainly learn from it and grow.

Weekly Response #2: My Thoughts

This week I went to my first college counselor appointment, and it got me thinking about the future. It's ambiguity tempts me, yet simultaneously repels me. I am thrilled to move on, yet hesitant to leave the foundations of my childhood. It's scary, to be thinking that a year from now I'll be in a dormitory, surrounded by few, if not, none of my classmates from BHS. As I begin compiling a list of the colleges that I will apply to, I can say right now that none of them are going to be easy to get into. As I think about what is riding on a simple online form that I will submit to a variety of admissions offices, I realize that the future, regardless of what I feel about it, should not be my focus. My present will decide my future. I can no longer look at the application and say "I would prefer not to." It is time for me to motivate myself to do the best that I can do in every aspect of my life. I will be a better student, sibling, daughter, and friend. Now is not the time for me to be lazy in any aspect of my life. I intend to make the most of the time that I have remaining here. If I have burnt a bridge, then I'll do what I can to rebuild it. I will take responsibility for my actions. I will live with integrity, so that those who look up to me will do the same.
 I will no longer be waiting for my future, I'll be creating it.

Critical Response #2: Bartleby, the Scrivener

Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville is a story about a lawyer and a stubborn employee. It illustrates the perspective of a man who witnesses the life of one who has lost all hope in the world. As the plot thickens in the story, Melville utilizes repetition in Bartleby's actions to convey his lack of motivation and care about what happens around him. Melville also subtly inserts irony into the story when he causes the extremely professional lawyer to move his office for the convenience of simply one man. The story asserts a sort of hopeless viewpoint in terms of the world. Bartleby represents the lack of faith in what is happening in the world around him. In reading the story, the reader understands that the world was so cruel to Bartleby, and he lacks the desire to go on living. Bartleby’s emotions help the narrator find his own emotions. Subsequently, the narrator gains compassion. Character development in this story is key in getting a tone of despair. The author's writing techniques, in terms of character progression and irony, lead to a moving work of literature that many can learn from.

Critical Response to Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour

Author of the story, Kate Chopin

8/29/10




In "The Story of an Hour", author Kate Chopin effectively communicates the irony of the life and death of the spiritually restricted Mrs. Mallard. When Mrs. Mallard finds out her husband has died, she is so happy to be free of her husband, who she had loved on occasion but she had also felt confined by. Her oppressed nature is implied both on the surface and also figuratively. Her name, Mrs. Mallard, is symbolic, because mallards are the ducks that have the white collars around their necks. On top of that, she never is addressed by a first name until after her husband has been announced dead. In a sense, she lacks her own identity until her male oppressor is no longer alive. Also, the desperation, relief, and hope that Mrs. Mallard finds due to her husband's death can be identified when the author states, "But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely." (16) This is all ironic because while most people grieve the death of their spouse, Mrs. Mallard finds a "monstrous joy"(16) in it. When Mrs. Mallard finds out in the end, that her husband is not, in fact dead, she dies. While the doctors think she died due to too much joy, the readers know that she was truly not happy at all to see her husband.