Hamlet

Hamlet brought back lots of memories for me because my second grade class put on the play where I was Laertes. My teacher was kind of a big Shakespeare fan… I guess anyone who tries to teach it to second graders would have to be. Anyway, I loved it in second grade because I got to be in a sword fight and die. It was kind of a big deal. Because of this I was familiar with the basic plot of the play, so I knew what to expect while reading it this year. It was kind of cool to read it again because I actually remembered some of the lines that my teacher took out of the play (the simple ones that second graders could understand at least a little). Hamlet is actually one of Shakespeare’s stories that I like for some reason. I don’t know if it is just because I actually understand it, or if I’s because it brings back funny memories or what. However, if I hadn’t been familiar with the plot I don’t know if I would have liked it as much. I think this because it is a play that is supposed to be one of the best ever, and I think I would have been let down if I went in expecting this fabulous story. Don't get me wrong, it is a good story, just not as amazing as some people make it seem.

craziness

I’m not quite sure if Hamlet is actually crazy or if he is just acting. I think that if my father died I personally would go crazy. And then if my mother married his brother… I would be a little crazier. Then I’d find out that the mad she is married to my fathers killer…I would be insane at that point. Add on to it the fact that he is seeing a ghost that he doesn’t know whether to trust or not and everyone is acting weird because they think he is acting weird. So basically, his whole life has changed, and now he is responsible to avenge his father’s death. I think that if he isn’t actually crazy, he should be. However, what ever he is, it defiantly gets exaggerated when he is around people to make them very uncomfortable. Which brings up a question I have, why does he have to act crazy? If he wants people to believe him shouldn’t he act sane? If I was trying to prove a point I wouldn’t want people to think I was crazy, I would want to act mature and slowly get a few people on my side then just keep convincing people that I knew what I was talking about, and then by then you would have enough people to get done what needs to be done…without acting like a crazy person. 

stupid people

Banning “The Most Dangerous Game” would be very stupid in my opinion. In fact I think that most banning of books is ridiculous. Personally “The Most Dangerous Game” was my favorite story we read freshmen year because it was actually exciting. It did not make me want to go hunt people, and if parents are worried about there kids wanting to hunt people after reading this story, something must be wrong with there child other than reading the story. I think that there should be no line drawn for high schoolers, once you are in high school you need to start learning about the real world. Parents should not be overprotective of there children, especially over something like reading fiction, because when they get out into the real world there will be no one to protect them from reality. Obviously because of the reading level you have to pick out certain books for different grades but I think that if they are able to read and understand a story, then they should be mature enough to handle it. Especially in the case of an AP class, I think there is absolutely no line. I think anyone that is willing and able to take an AP class should be able to read anything that is out there.

I don't understand Virginia Woolf

I am reading To The Lighthouse for my outside reading book and I literally don’t understand 90% of what Virginia Woolf writes. She is very well known and supposedly amazing, but I honestly hate the way she writes. Hate is a strong word but in this case it is true. The first 124 pages are only 7 hours in the story and it drags on and on. If the characters were doing something interesting in those 7 hours maybe it would be okay, but nothing interesting happens. Also it is written as though you are reading the characters thoughts so it can be very random and (I don’t know what other word to say) annoying. Also, the way she writes, sometimes a whole paragraph is one sentence. I read something online that says one of the sentences is 101 words long…101 WORDS…that’s just not right. I can’t understand what she is talking about because of this, it all just runs together and makes no sense because it isn’t written normally. Because I hate the book so much it take so much effort to make myself sit down and read it, and the whole time I am reading it I’m thinking “oh my gosh how am I ever going to write an essay about this?” but seriously, how am I supposed to write an essay on a book that I have no clue what is happening while I’m reading. Oh well... Good luck to me.

It was fate...but not really.

What is based on fate and what is based on free will? This question always makes me think a lot. It makes me wonder if fate is even real? Obviously things do happen that we don’t choose to happen, so yes I guess that is considered fate. But the choices we make in life are all based on free will. One does not do things for any other reason than that they want to. If Oedipus didn’t want to be the guy that killed his father, maybe he shouldn’t have killed anyone. This is a simple way to do things that people seem not to understand. If you are scared that you aren’t going to succeed in life and that maybe it is your fate to be something less than your potential, then I’m sorry but you are dumb. It would be your choice to give up or work hard, it has nothing to do with an outside source. I do understand that things like some deaths and natural disasters have nothing to do with choice, but a lot of things that people blame on fate are just decisions that they make. If you fight hard for what you want in life, it is most likely that it will happen. But it will happen because you wanted it to, not because you were destined to live that way.

Hatred from the beginning

The thesis statement… why is it so dreaded? Because it has been in our lives for so long and we are still getting it wrong. Okay, so this may just be me, but that why I hate it. It’s one sentence… you’d think it would be easy, but its not. It is one sentence that you have to base your entire paper on. So, if your thesis is bad, like mine usually are, your entire paper will be bad. Analysis papers are my least favorite things in the world. I am the kind of person that needs there to be a right answer. Analysis is somewhat based on opinion. Opinion that I feel like will be wrong. But can opinions be wrong? This is something that I have yet to learn. But back to the thesis, how to I express my opinion into one sentence? Another thing that I don’t like about the thesis is that there has always been a set formula to write one, like we talked about in class, but now it seems like all that has gone down the drain. It should be easier not having a set formula because you get to do what makes sense and what is easier for you. Well… it doesn’t seem easier and I will continue hating the thesis statement.