Earliest Memory

One of my oldest memory is when my siblings and I were being babysat. We were all sitting in my living room watching tv when we heard people banging on our house and yelling from outside. Then all of the sudden I turned my head to see three people in masks pressing their faces up to the window and yelling. Terrified, my babysitter grabbed my one year old brother and we all ran upstairs to hide behind my parents bed. Terrified, we sat there while the banging and shouting continued and she called her dad to come over and help. Luckily they only lived a few houses down the road. Then she told us that she would be right back and she went to the top of the stairs to yell down to them, who were now all outside our front door. "You guys better go away or I'm calling the cops!", she yelled. Then the door started to open and my siblings and I went to the top of the stairs to see what was going on. There in the doorway stood three teenage girls with deer in the headlights expressions on their faces, and my babysitters dad standing behind them. It turned out that her friends were trying to play a joke on her while she was babysitting, thinking that we would already be asleep. They were then told to apologize to us, and they shamefully went home.

Comfort Zones

In this section of The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Jeannette is definitely pushed out of her comfort zone. When she meets a boy named Billy who wants to be her boyfriend, she thinks he is harmless and agrees to be just friends with him. Billy then begins to start forcing himself onto Jeannette, causing her to have to bite his ear in order to get him away. This pushes her out of her comfort zone because she isn't a particularly violent person, and she sometimes holds back from sticking up for herself. In this case she showed how she has the ability to protect herself. Also, when Billy comes back to Jeannette’s house and threatens her with his BB gun, Jeannette and Lori get her dad’s gun and start to shoot at the window and at the ground where he is running. This is another example of how Jeannette is pushed out of her comfort zone by defending herself. Something that I’ve experienced in my life that has pushed me out of my comfort zone is taking part in singing performances and competitions. Over the past few years I have taken voice lessons and although its not something that I plan on continuing with for the rest of my life, but its definitely helped me to be more comfortable in front of people. 

Memoir Connections

In this section of The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Jeannette takes on many hardships. One of the most prominent hardships that she had to overcome was when the door on her car swung open, and she fell out onto the road. She sat on the road watching as her car drove away and thinking that they weren't coming back for her, and maybe that they were better off without her. This stood out to me as a representation of how much harder her life is than most other children’s lives her age. No child should ever think or have to worry that their parents might just decide to not come back for them. In my life, I had been fortunate enough to not have had to experience many hardships that are anything close to what Jeannette had to go through during her childhood. One of them that has had an impact on me in particular is living so far away from my extended family, especially my mom’s side. It has shaped me into who I am because it has taught me to not take time with them for granted. Even if sometimes I might feel like I’d rather hang out with my friends then have to take a trip down to see my family, I know that since I don’t get to see them very often, I have to take the time that I can get. 

Fake Text Message

Between Banquo and Fleance.

Spider Web Discussion

Overall, I think our discussion went really well. I high point of ours that I noticed was that there were some really insightful questions asked, and the answers to those questions were on topic and thought through. I really didn't think we had any clear low points, because everyone contributed with something meaningful. I felt pretty good with my contribution to the discussion, although next time I'll try to speak more than twice. The discussion contributed a lot to my understanding of the text. A lot of the questions I had or things that I wasn't sure about in the story were cleared up or answered. I liked how the whole class was involved rather than splitting up into two groups because that way there were less pauses of no one speaking. Also, we got to touch upon all different topics in the story, without having to worry about the topic being taken by the group before. I think we had a very successful spider web discussion.

2.1 Macbeth

In act 2 scene 1 of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the dagger has more of a meaning than just a hallucination that Macbeth sees. For example,  in Macbeth's soliloquy he says, "Or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?" (2.1.49-51). In this line Macbeth is starting the realize that the dagger isn't actually there, and that its just in his imagination. When he says, "Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain" he is hinting at the fact that his mind isn't in a good state, and that his brain is fevered from the plan of murdering Duncan. In addition, in Macbeth's soliloquy he also stated, "There’s no such thing. It is the bloody business which informs Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one half-world Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse The curtained sleep" (2.1.48-52). Now Macbeth knows for sure that the dagger isn't actually there. In this line he is stating that he now knows that the murder he is about to commit is making him see the dagger. Then he goes on to talk about how half of the world is asleep while the other half is being fooled by evilness. In act 2 scene 1 of Macbeth, the dagger symbolizes the murder of King Duncan, and Macbeth sees it because he feels guilty for what he might do. 

Anthem: Chapter 2

In the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand, the author’s message about relationships is that they aren't supposed to be formed. For example, when Equality 7-2521 is thinking about Liberty 5-3000 he says, “We do not know why, when we think of them, we feel of a sudden that the earth is good and that it is not a burden to live” (41). Equality 7-2521 is really starting to like Liberty 5-3000 and this is something that would be very frowned upon if anyone were to know.  Everyone is supposed to be equal, so nobody is allowed to form relationships because this would cause them not love everyone the same. Equality 7-2521 knows that its unusual that he thinks this way, and thats why he is confused about the feelings that he has. In addition, when Equality 7-2521 was finally talking to Liberty 5-3000 for the first time, “We felt our lips drawn tight with hatred, a sudden hatred for all our brother men. And the Golden One saw it and smiled slowly, and this was the first sadness we had seen in them" (45). This is a moment in the book where both of them are starting to realize how the government is holding them back. They know that they aren’t supposed to be having any sort of feelings for anyone, but they are letting lose a little bit. In the novel Anthem, the main character is beginning to stray more than usual from the “social norm”, and is showing how sometimes you can find a relationship when you weren't even looking for one.