Gatsby and the Roaring 20's

     I always used to think that the roaring 20's were a glitzy, glamorous, and beautiful time period. The first world war had just ended and America was filled with optimism. It was the "party decade". (If only they knew about the stock market crash and Great Depression to come). However, when I read the Great Gatsby, I saw that the upper-class society of the time was incredibly greedy and had materialistic values, whereas the real human values of friendship, family, and love were forgotten about. Therefore, I believe that, on the surface, the 20's may seem like a fun, exciting time, but if you take a close look, there were deep issues in society.
     By the way, if anyone is considering reading The Great Gatsby, do it. You won't be disappointed. I have also seen the new Gatsby movie and it is also fantastic.

My thoughts on Amir

As we're just finishing the Kite Runner, I thought I would share my thoughts on Amir. It seems like people either love him or hate him. I'm more towards the side of liking him. I think that everything he does that is wrong is just him being very scared, and he always feels bad about what he did after. For example, when he makes fun of Hassan for being illiterate, he is just doing it because he is scared that Baba likes Hassan better than him, Amir, Baba's own child, which I'm sure anyone could understand. Then after, he feels bad about it and realizes that he shouldn't have done it. As well, when he doesn't stand up for Hassan in the alley, it is just because he is scared of being beat up by Assef, and by not being able to take the kite back to Baba. We know how guilty he feels after this because this incident haunts him for the rest of his life. It isn't until he meets Assef again, years later that he realizes that he has to stand up for what is right and learns the lesson that Baba has been trying to teach him for years. He laughs as Assef punches him because his guilt is leaving him because he has finally redeemed himself, and because he has finally learned Baba's lesson. Therefore, I think that Amir was a good person, just very scared because of everything that happened to him and how he was treated by Baba.

How does ambition impact people?

Just like with Lady Macbeth, I think that ambition creates a sort of tunnel-vision effect to reach your goals. Without ambition, you will not achieve anything, which is what she warned Macbeth. However, I think that too much ambition can lead to selfishness, just as with Lady Macbeth. She had no affection towards others because she was so concentrated on reaching her own goals. She even said that, if it helped her move forward, she would have "dashed the brains out"(1.vii.58) of an innocent child. Therefore, I think that Lady Macbeth's ambition, in a way, lead to her demise because of how she encouraged Macbeth to commit the murder so that she could be Queen.

Macbeth memes

Bad LUck MacbethI dont always

Duncan's Murder

           I think that, although Macbeth actually committed Duncan's murder, it was mostly the fault of Lady Macbeth and the witches. First, it was the witches who made the prophecy and who placed the idea of becoming King into Macbeth's head. After the prophecy was told by the witches, he admitted that he had "black and deep desires" and the idea of sickness was introduced. The reader gets the feeling that Macbeth was suffering from a sort of mental illness that leads him to kill Duncan, and we see it to develop until he hallucinates the dagger just before committing the murder. Lady Macbeth also played a big role in Duncan's murder. She pressured Macbeth into committing the murder which pushed his illness or "deep desires" much farther, calling him a coward. Not only this, but she also helped to set up and cover up the murder. In conclusion, Macbeth would never have killed Duncan if it hadn't have been for the witches and Lady Macbeth.

Fate and Free-will

          I don't believe in fate. I think that what happens to us is a result of the decisions we make. What we can't control is a result of the decisions of others. I think that this quote is interesting and presents some very good points: “There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under the jurisdiction. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I can read and eat and study. I can choose how I'm going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life-whether I will see them as curses or opportunities. I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts.” - Elizabeth Gilbert. What you think dictates how you spend your time and, in turn, what happens to you, and what happens to the people who you interact with on a daily basis. This is why people always think that decisions are scary because they are final, and can change everything.

Which character is most similar to me?

      I think that the character that I am most like is Pelajia. I am not as worrisome or clear with my opinions as Philomena, I am not as energetic as Annie, and I am not as tough or brasen as Emily. Pelajia wants to leave the reserve to go to Toronto, so she wants a better, more enjoyable life for herself, and I think that I have high aspirations much like Pelajia. I'm a perfectionist, and I know that I must work hard and do well in school in order to be able to pursue the career that I wish to in the future. The fact that Pelajia was fixing her own roof in the beginning of the play means that she's a motivated, hard-working person. While I can be a bit of a procrastinator, I put lots of effort into everything I do.

Life on a Native Reserve (The Rez Sisters)

             In the beginning of "The Rez Sisters", we get a brief view of what life on a native reserve is like. Honestly, I hadn't seen or heard much about native reserves before this, but I had expected them to be much like what we saw in the beginning of this story. At first glance, it seems as if life in a native reserve is rather uneventful and that the people are not well off, and fairly poor. I think it was good to have started the play with Pelajia fixing her own roof as it was a good way to outline and almost symbolize everything that is said by the characters and is observed by the reader about what life in a reserve is like.The reason that I think that their lives on the reserve seem uneventful is that Pelajia says, "I'm just plain old Pelajia Rosella Patchnose and I'm here in plain, dusty, boring old Wasaychigan Hill... Wasy... waiting... waiting... nailing shining shingles with my trusty silver hammer on the roof of Pelajia Rosella Patchnose's little two bedroom welfare house"(pg.2) and also because the bingo seems to be a big part, if not the center, of their lives. But, it is a big part of their life because it gives them hope that they may win money and gain a better, easier life. This is what tells you that they are poor, as well as the fact that Pelajia refers to her house as a "welfare house". They are always hoping to win the cash prize, and Philomena wants to go to Espanola to win the bigger prize and, as she says, if she won, she would buy a better toilet. So, I think it will be interesting to learn more as we go, but life on a reserve seems pretty difficult from a first glance. What did everyone else think about reserves before they read this, and did it change after reading the beginning of the play?