I think that as of right now at the end of chapter 5, we are reaching the climax of the story. In my opinion no major conflicts or events have occurred to change the course of the story. The conflicts currently among the characters, specifically the secrets between Daisy and Tom have still not been resolved. I think that Daisy and Tom will find out about each others secret love affair and there will be tension causing them to separate. I believe that this will be the climax of the story and it will be instigated by Gatsby. In a perfect story I envision Daisy getting together with Gatsby and Tom moving away to be with Mrs. Wilson. I feel that Gatsby will develop more as a character to become more open and honest with Nick and Daisy. I feel that there is much truth to be told from Gatsby's past which will describe how he became the man his is today. Another character that I think will develop more is Daisy. She is very polite and keeps her mouth shut, even if she is hiding a dark truth. I see Daisy gaining more confidence within herself to be able to stand up to Tom and tell him the truth about her love for Gatsby. As of right now the most prevalent themes revolve around money, class and love. I think that love will be further developed along with the characters showing that honesty is the key to love. Not only love within relationships but the love one has for their life and themselves.
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Theme: Class divides society and shapes the interactions between people
DIVIDE US, UNITED US by Gary R. HessThey want to divide us. They want us to see color, to see religion, to see ethnicity, and see gender, to anger us and separate us so we don’t see the truth of what really divides us: money. You can sit there and think about all the crimes that are meant for us. Now think of their penalty. Now think about all the crimes meant for the rich. What’s their penalty? As you sit back and think of a reason why please keep in mind we all have to lose and what they have lost and tell me how this can be. When one of us lives and dies it might make a line in the paper. When they live and die, books for generations are written of their “excellence” and their “prosperity.” But…we… No, we are not meant for this world. We are not meant for this Earth, and if we try they push us back, and if… and if we succeed we become them or else we fall back. This world is not meant for the poor and not meant for the moral. It’s meant for animals. This class war– yes this class war has been going on for decades or more and we are losing. And losing hard because they divide us. We see Republican and Democrat, and we see black or white, gay or straight, instead of seeing what combines us: our struggle. To get through this struggle we must unite and find a way to win this fight and beat this life to bring us back to crack this… War. Overall now that I have finished reading The Tempest I would say that I enjoyed the play because of its differences from any other Shakespeare play I have read. Honestly, I am not a big fan of Shakespere since it can be hard to understand which makes reading it frustrating. However, while reading the Tempest I was able to grasp the general plot line with the help of the side explanations and act summaries. Evidently, the Tempest is different from Shakespeare's other plays because it revolves around magic and spirits. I liked that Shakepeare used magic to symbolize power in Prospero’s character. Throughout the whole play we thought that Prospero was seeking revenge on the other characters for taking away his throne and leaving him to live stranded on the island. In the end, this was not the case. Instead a switch flicked for Prospero and he offered the men forgiveness for wronging him. I like how Shakespere was able to unexpectedly change the theme of the play through the growth of Prospero’s character. The character that I can relate to most in The Tempest would be Prospero. Throughout the play he felt betrayed by his brother Antonio for helping Alonso overtake his throne to become the King of Naples. He was planning to seek revenge on them for wronging him those many years ago. This situation reminds me of a falling out I had with my best friend. In grade 7 and 8 my bestfriend and I were inseparable. We did absolutely everything together and knew every little thing that happened in eachothers lives. I trusted her with everything. When highschool came around, we no longer hung out or told each other what was going on in each other's lives. I was replaced with new friends, becoming practically a stranger to her. I felt completely betrayed and full of anger. It wasn’t until this year when I decided to let go of the past. She came and sat beside me in my french class and at first I was shocked and felt super awkward. However, I saw that this was her trying to start over so I forgave the past and gave our friendship another chance. By the end of the semester we were close friends again, sharing stories about what was happening in our lives or laughing about past memories. Prospero did the same thing by offering his brother and Alonso forgiveness for betraying him. In the end everyone was happy and all it took was for Prospero to let go of the past. It feels much better to forgive and move on than to hold a grudge on the past. In the twentieth century, the most well known abuse of power seen by a government was done by the German Nazi’s. This group of evil individuals was led by Adolf Hitler. Hitler lead the German’s during World War II and was the reason for the Holocaust. Before World War II, during the Great Depression, the German’s were in massive debt and the economy was rapidly failing. At this time Hitler stepped up and convinced many German’s that the Jewish people were the reasoning behind all of their failures. He decided to assimilate all the Jews they could find across Europe during the war and put them into concentration camps. Millions died in these camps from starvation, being shot, burned, gassed and more. What happened to these people was truly horrific and unimaginable. Overall, I would consider Adolf Hitler to have succeeded in his plan. He convinced the German people that Jewish people did not belong and then proceeded to kill them off. In the end he was stopped by the allied forces at the end of the war when they took back their land and defeated the German’s. The few survivors still in the concentration camps were liberated but had such an awful reputation that no country was willing to accept them. Adolf should never have been given power in the first place since his thoughts were irrational. He took complete control over an entire group of people and his country, turning Germany into a dictatorship. After watching the overview video on “The Tempest” I would say that I am most looking forward to watching Prospero grow as a character. Based on what I know, he starts out as a controlling character, full of revenge. As the play goes on he develops as a character and may even be capable of forgiveness. I think that I will enjoy Ariel the most as a character. In the video we watched Ariel is referred to as a spirit that belongs to the elements. When Propero first arrived on the island Ariel was already there, stuck in a tree because of Caliban’s mother. Prospero frees him but he is now his slave. I feel that I will enjoy his character and complex relationship with Prospero since he wants to be free but respects his master. Lastly, I feel that Shakespeare decided to do something completely different for his last playwright because he wanted it to be the best one yet, giving the people something unforgettable. By bringing in spirits, using candle light, and recreating a shipwreck, Shakespeare took this play to a whole new level. He challenged himself to give the audience nothing they have ever seen before. For this reason, he had to use a different theatre called “The Black Friar”. This theatre allowed him to suspend people in the air and use candle light. In the video they discussed whether Shakepeare played the role of Prospero and if “The Tempest” was actually about himself. It is difficult to say what I think before actually reading it, but I do think it could be possible. The video stated that the final speech given by Prospero seems to be a formal farewell to the theatre. I am curious to read and find out more. Almost three years ago, I experienced first hand what it was like to be wronged and I had to decide whether to seek revenge or offer forgiveness. I was trying out for the top hockey team of my age category and there was one girl left to be released from the team. I had a spot secured, or so I thought. The coach, who was the sister of one of my good friends called me that night to tell me I did not make the team. I had no warning. I was in complete and utter disbelief when I heard what she had just told me. All my friends made that team and I had just been the assistant captain of a team before that with all the same girls on it. I was so upset and my family was outraged. They scheduled a meeting with her, talked to the board and even parents and coaches stepped up and contacted the board telling them this was ridiculous. As much as it upset me and how poorly she handled the situation afterwards, I did not seek revenge. I knew that it had already been made a big deal and I hated that. There was nothing I could do to change what had happened, even getting back at her would do me no good. I almost quit hockey that year but I persevered and moved on. In the end I made the team that was a level below the other one. I met so many new girls that year and I was the captain of a team for the first time. I had so much fun and some of the girls I met through that team are my best friend's to this day. That family never spoke to me again, not even my friend. Overall, as much as I wish I could get back at that coach for wronging me, I know it was the right decision to move on and be the bigger person. “As Long as the Rivers Flow” 180-240
Overall I can definitely say that I enjoyed my novel. I found it easy to read and the plot was always moving along, introducing new events to keep me intrigued. The novel talked about many deep subjects such as sexual asault, rape, suicide, alcoholism and depression. Although I found it sad and hard to read at some points, the author did a good job at explaining the root of these causes. After reading it I feel like I have a much greater depth in my knowledge on First Nations people. The theme I feel that is most prominent in my novel is that challenges can only be overcome by the act of forgiveness. This theme is recurring and applies to many of the characters. For example, Martha had betrayed Raven and Spider when they were babies, leaving them to grow up without their real mother. At first they both expressed anger towards Martha but as time went on they understood that in order to be happy in their new life they had to forgive Martha. Then there was Martha who was sexually assaulted by Father Antoine, leaving her broken for the rest of her life. At the end of the novel she finally meets him at a healing circle. Father Antoine is not willing to admit to his years of wrongdoings, however Martha along with other families forgave him. They had to forgive him so that they themselves could let go of the past. I can relate with the theme since I see this happening all around me everyday. A good example is that my friend and I both got in a very big argument one day and she refused to apologize thinking that she was not in the wrong. I spent a few days fighting back, telling her my side. I knew that the only way for us to work through it was for me to forgive her and move on because the truth is you can’t change someone who doesn’t see any wrong in what they are doing. A text to world connection with this novel would be that Martha’s story is very similar to many other Residential School survivors in Canada. All the events that happened in the novel are based off of real life history. Many children were sexually assaulted in residential schools leaving them permanently damaged for the rest of their lives. “As Long as the Rivers Flow” 120-180
Currently in my novel Martha has just moved back to the reserve from Toronto after the death of her mother. Just before she left she finally found her long lost son Spider, who was a homeless alcoholic. She brought him back to the reserve to unit their family. Meeting Raven for the first time was difficult for the both of them since Martha had been absent from her life for the first 12 years. Their house was full of awkward tensions and very little communication. However they were doing well because of Martha’s job as the band offices bookkeeper. The current problem is that Spider has just run away after Raven chased him out of the house with a rifle at hand because it punched Martha in the face while drunk. I think that this conflict will soon be resolved because Spider will find himself while living alone, without alcohol. I think that by overcoming his alcoholism his relationships between Martha and Raven will drastically improve. I feel that this will also give Raven and Martha a time to grow closer to one another. By the end of the story I think Martha will have explained why she left Raven so many years ago and Raven will learn to forgive her. As for the theme; one's past can drastically affect their future outcome, is still an ongoing issue to this point in the novel. I think that it will continue to develop but show how it is possible to get better and overcome the past. There is always hope. Lastly I think that the novel will end with Martha, Raven and Spider all getting along happily living on the reserve together. Martha will be working, Raven in school and Spider will have figured himself out. In the end the two children will forgive Martha for being absent throughout their life. “As Long as the Rivers Flow” 60-120
I am now halfway through my novel and it is certain to say that I am enjoying it much more than I was a quarter of the way through. At this point in the novel, Martha is out of residential school and is now approximately 30 years old. Through her late teens and twenties Martha grew significantly as a character. Not long after her return from residential school Martha started to drink and party with the other teenagers as a way to escape their past. One night she had sex with another boy and ended up getting pregnant. When the baby came along they named him spider and the two of them lived in a run down shack together as a family. Within 8 months Spider was taken from Martha from Children's Aid Services since she was an awful mother, always drinking, leaving him unattended. So she moved back in with her mother alone, completely heartbroken. However this was a wake up call for Martha. She knew that she had to stop drinking and clean up her act. Therefore, through her twenties she relearned how to hunt, cook and speak her native tongue. For this reason, the relationship between her and her mother grew immensely. Much later on Martha gave birth to a baby girl that she named Angel. She set off by herself, leaving her mom home to take care of Angel to go to Toronto. There she hoped to build a new life for herself where she could have a good job that was able to support her and Angel. Along her way she wished to find Spider. I like the novel much more now because it is easier to read and full of hope. I also enjoy learning about what the First Nations think of our modern world. “As Long as the Rivers Flow” 1-60
If I were to sum up the first quarter of my novel into one word it would be astonishing. At this point in the novel the main character named Martha has lived through ten years, from age 6-16 at a residential school. In those 10 years Martha went through the unthinkable. She was sexually assaulted by the priest of the residential school, beaten by nuns, tied to a pipe, put in confinement and much much more. From the early age of six Martha was striped of everything she had ever known and loved for torture and lonliness. Her 10 years at the residential school completely destroyed her, leaving her with severe depression and ptsd that she would carry on with her throughout her life. I cannot even begin to understand what Martha went through or how she managed to get by. I found reading her story challenging in itself and it made me extremely uncomfortable, so I can’t even relate in the slightest to how she must have felt. The things I consider the biggest problems in my life such as school and friend drama wouldn’t even be considered an issue compared to Martha’s life. I simply cannot comprehend. Although the novel is hard to read I do find it hard to put down because I want to find out more, and how she lives on remembering her past. At this point in the novel it is hard to come up with a theme since there has been no solution, just her experiences. However with that being said a possible theme to consider would be, the dark memories of the past affect one's future outcome. This is shown when Martha’s experiences at the residential school scar her and leave her with emotional trama even after leaving. |
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June 2020
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