Much Ado About Nothing 2

One scene in the play Much Ado About Nothing especially portrayed a gender stereotype. At Claudio and Hero’s wedding, Claudio announces that Hero is not a maid. Claudio thinks he saw Hero the night before with another man, “What man was he talked with you yesternight /Out at your window betwixt twelve and one? /Now, if you were a maid, answer to this” (IV.1.81-83). He accuses her of an extremely dishonorable action. Upset, Hero responds, “I talked with no man at the hour, my lord” (IV.1.84). The Prince and Don John continue talking of what they saw that night. Leonato is so ashamed of what he hears, “Hath no man’s dagger here a point for me” (IV.1.107). Notice how no one believes Hero. Later Borachio comes forth and admits, “How you/were brought into the orchard and saw me court Margaret in/Hero’s garments, how you disgraced her when you should/marry her” (V.1.201-204). Borachio was the man with “Hero” who was really Margaret. Suddenly The Prince and Claudio believe Borachio over Hero. Claudio shows his belief, “Sweet Hero, now thy image doth appear/In the rare semblance that I loved it first” (V.1.235-236). When Hero tells everyone she is still a maid, they do not believe her. When Borachio admits his mistake, they believe him. Hero told the truth, why didn’t they believe her in the first place? The major stereotype revealed is that men are believed before women. I believe that Shakespeare was attempting to teach the readers a lesson about misjudging others. He was adding more personality to the characters while presenting a general message.

Much Ado About Nothing

I believe that lying is ethically wrong but in certain situations depending on the significance of the lie, it can be ok. In the play Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, many characters are caught lying. Lying for self-gain has a different ethical view than lying to help others. One scene in this play that is not ethically wrong is when Don Pedro, Leonato and Claudio lie about Beatrice loving Benedick. They lead Benedick to believe that Beatrice loves him. “Bait the hook well; this fish will bite” (II.3.102). In the middle of their lying speech they realize Benedick is believing them, “He hath t' en th'infection. Hold it up” (II.3.113). They lie to help him be kinder and maybe even love her “back”. This lie is for the good of Benedick. These characters lie, while Benedick is listening, to help him. They weren’t lying for self-gain but to assist their friend in finding the right woman. Although many times lying is considered okay, there are also situations when characters lie and it is ethically wrong. Towards the beginning of the play Don Jon tries to stop Claudio from marrying Hero. He goes to his assistant Borachio for help. In the process of Don Jon trying to stop the love Borachio confesses, “Not honestly, my lord, but so covertly that no dishonesty shall appear in me” (II.2.8). In this case Don Jon and Borachio are being unethical. They choose to lie for their own good. Their lie will only hurt others no help them.

Poetry #1

A Tear Fell
By Marge Tindal
I shed a tear today
Silently, I felt it fall
You caught it
shared it
held it
felt it
then
suddenly
it wasn't
so big
after all

In the poem A Tear Fell, by Marge Tindal, personification is used to compare a teardrop to pain. A Tear Fell is a short poem that simply explains what a true friendship should be like. Marge Tindal uses first person to describe her tear, “I shed a tear today,/Silently, I felt it fall” (1-2). This line basically describes the teardrop through the way it felt. After that, Tindal tells how the friend helped the situation, “You caught it,/shared it,/held it,/felt it” (3-6). Now we become familiar with how a friend should react to someone else’s pain. In the last few lines the author learns, “it wasn’t,/so big,/after all” (9-11). This presents the idea that after tears are released so is the pain. Through Tindal’s comparison she shows that tears can minimize the amount of pain.

I found this poem compelling because of its deep meaning. I really felt connected because I have many good friends, so this poem is relevant to my life at times. I thought she used short simple words that made this poem meaningful. Her set up also made the poem very different from the others I read. Her comparison of tears to pain made it seem as if she had experienced this before. Marge Tindal really showed how a simple tear could make your problem seem that much smaller. Overall, I really enjoyed this short but sweet poem!

Quarter One Reflection

Overall, I did well in this class. I feel like I wrote pretty good papers for just getting back into the swing of things. I learned a lot about writing. Specifically on how to write a meaningful thesis for analyzing novels. I also learned about analyzing photos and videos. Some different camera techniques I learned were low, high, and flat angles. I learned how leading lines can tell a lot about the meaning of the photo. I also didn't realize how much thought is put into photography or film making. Coming into tenth grade I wasn't very confident with wrting my thesis statements but now that a quarter has passed, I feel like I can write a strong thesis easily. I think I'm struggling with the MLA style formatting process. I never seem to know if I'm doing it correctly. Sometimes I make dumb mistakes when citing novels even though I know how to do it. I should try to get it right the first time because I know I can do it. My class environment is a good fit for me. For the most part, I don't feel intimidated by anyone in my class. In small groups I'm fine with talking and dicussing with other classmates. I feel that I get a lot out of my classmates, they are very helpful and have good ideas. To further strengthen our learning community I feel like I can participate more. To expand on that, I can share more of my ideas with others. Often, I don't like my ideas so I don't share but maybe now I can get more feedback if I share. My main goal for quarter two is to bump up my grade from last quarter. I would like to try a little harder and get better grades on my quizzes and such. Hopefully I am able to meet my goal and set a higher one for third quarter.

A Million LIttle Pieces; Post Five

How is this novel similar to other pieces of literature that we have studied in class?

A Million Little Pieces is similar to the few novels we have studied, this memoir deals with struggles or conflict like many other works of art. I think the novel most similar to this memoir is Extremely Loud and Incrediby Close for a variety of reasons one being the major conflicts the main characters struggle with throughout the story. In both novels we are able to see that the characters have many issues to deal with in their daily lives. In Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Oskar has to live with the guilt of his father's death everyday. In James Frey's A Million Little Pieces, James has to live with the fact that he is an alcoholic and drug addict. These novels are similar in the sense that Oskar and James deal with their problems in certain ways that which most people wouldn't go about dealing with them.

For example, both characters feel the need to ease their pain by injuring themselves. Oskar's guilt from not answering the phone leads him to give himself bruises. Most people like to take it out on someone else rather than making themselves feel worse. The same goes for James, he does not like his life so he decides he wants to end it. James says before he leaves the dining hall for the last time, "Have a nice life, Leonard" (101). This is the first clue to us that James needs help and isn't dealing with his conflicts properly. Usually people want to fix their life rather than end it immediately when they become frustrated. Another way in which these two books are similar is how both Oskar and James don't feel like talking to anyone about their problems. In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close near the beginning we find out that Oskar doesn't have a real good relationship with his mom and he doesn't like to open up to her. James is the same way, his parents worry about him and he's not willing to open up and share with them what's going on.
"My mother speaks.
'Are you getting better? '
'I don't know.'
'Do you feel any better?'
'I don't know'
'Are you learning anything'" (135).
We can see the similarities between the two characters from different novels. They aren't willing to "talk it out" and they deal with pain in abnormal ways.

A Million Little Pieces; Post Four

How does going through these conflicts help the characters to learn more about themselves?

Throughout the memoir, A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, many learning opportunities are presented to James. Because James has been drinking since he was seven and doing drugs since he was twelve, there are many things he is able to learn about himself. One major aspect of James' life he learned about was that he doesn't want to be who he is. "I don't know what happened or how I ever ended up like this, but I did..." (131). James so badly wants to get better. Coming into the facility, he doesn't realize what he's getting into. After James is going through treatment, he figures out that it's much more difficult then he thought, "Everything's fixable. That's easy to say, much harder to do" (131). James gets easily dicouraged and makes himself believe things aren't fixable. He knows he has many problems that need work but he's unsure of how to go about re-creating his life. "I don't know if they're fixable. I don't know if I'm fixable" (131). Really anything is possible, James just needs to believe in himself. The reader and James learn that he doesn't have the faith and courage to get help.

A Million Little Pieces; Post Three

What are the major struggles and conflicts that your characters encounter? How do the characters face the conflicts?

The main character in A Million Little Pieces, James Frey encounters many conflicts and struggles througout this memoir. James, as mentioned in an earlier post, is an alcoholic and drug addict. He began drinking at age seven and has not been sober for six years. As you may already notice, James’ major struggle in this novel is alcoholism and drug addiction. At the beginning of the novel James is put in a treatment facility to overcome his illness. So at the start his main problem is trying to live without drinking and doing drugs. His four days of being sober bring us to the middle of the story where we learn about his second problem, wanting to commit suicide.

For many hours James contemplates leaving treatment and in the end he decides it’s time to die. He becomes extremely frustrated with his life, to the point where he has planned to leave the facility, “I step out from beneath the cover of the door and I start walking” (104). In this case, we see that James has decided to face his conflicts by leaving the facility. The day before James leaves the center he finds out that, “The first is that you are lucky to be alive. The second is that if you ever have another drink or use any type of hard drug again, there is a good chance that you will die” (92). This is how James plans to escape his struggles of alcoholism and drug addiction.