Lying in Much Ado About Nothing

Lying can be good or bad, although it commonly seems to end up with negative results. I think that lying for the sake of wrong-doing is bad (such as lying to your parents that your little brother broke the vase, when it was really you), while lying to protect someone or just for good intentions can be good (such as lying to a friend and telling her that her crush really likes her so that she'll pluck up the courage to ask him out). In Much Ado About Nothing, lying proves to be both good and bad.

Don John lies frequently for the sake of evil. For example, when he lies to Claudio and Don Pedro about Hero's virginity and plays a trick on them to make them believe that she is no longer a maid. He told them, "I came hither to tell you, and, circumstances shortened (for she has been too long a-talking of), the lady is disloyal" (III.2.91-93). That was obviously a lie, because we know it was Margaret and not Hero that Claudio and Don Pedro saw in the window. And in this case, lying proved to be a very bad thing, because it resulted in Claudio dumping Hero in a very traumatic way. He tells the public, "She is none [a maid]:/ She knows the heat of a luxurious bed;/Her blush is guiltiness, not modesty" (IV.1.37-39). Because of Don John's lie, Claudio and Hero's marriage was ruined, which proves that lying can be very harmful.

Lying can also have benefits. In MAAN, Claudio, Don Pedro, and Leonato lie about Beatrice's feelings for Benedick while Benedick is listening. They say that she is madly in love with him, when in reality she has no such feelings. However, Benedick believes the lie, and realizes that he himself is in love with Beatrice, thinking, "Love me? Why, it must be requited!" (II.3.186) Similarly, Hero and Ursula lie about Benedick's feelings towards Beatrice. This forces Beatrice to realize her own feelings for Benedick. She says, "
And Benedick, love on; I will requite thee, /Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand" (III.1.117-118). This allows Beatrice and Benedick to open up to each other, and so they can have a happy relationship. So in this case, lying is a good thing. It was for good intentions, and ended in positive results.

Poem (yay for unimaginative titles)

Flying at Night

by Ted Kooser

Above us, stars. Beneath us, constellations.
Five billion miles away, a galaxy dies
like a snowflake falling on water. Below us,
some farmer, feeling the chill of that distant death,
snaps on his yard light, drawing his sheds and barn
back into the little system of his care.
All night, the cities, like shimmering novas,
tug with bright streets at lonely lights like his.


I think this poem is saying many things. In the first line, "Above us, stars. Beneath us, constellations" implies that everything in the universe is part of one thing, and everything is related to something. The next two lines compare the death of a galaxy to a snowflake falling on water. This could mean two things. One, even though death may seem like a big deal, it's really insignificant. A snowflake falling on water is nothing of concern. It could also mean that when something dies, it just changes, and joins others in death. When a snowflake falls on water, it turns into water and joins the rest of the water molecules. So those who die simply join a new world. The part of the farmer shows that most people are still afraid of death. "Drawing his sheds and barn back into the little system of his care" show that people take comfort in what they know. The last two lines once again compare the universe to life on Earth. It also cheers up the mood a bit with "shimmering novas" and "bright streets." What the poem is saying overall is that life on this planet is like life in the entire universe. Death is a reality, but in the broad scope of things, it is insignificant, and we should take joy in the living.

I like this poem mostly because of the mood it sets. The way it compare normal human life to the cosmos gives the poem a very relaxed feel. Or maybe that's just me. But when I read the poem I imagine a lot of shimmering stars and galaxies, and then lights going out as some of it dies, but it doesn't matter because there's still so much light left. For a spacey person like me, that's pretty cool. I also like the overall message. Basically it's saying that death is no big deal, but it manages to say it in such a nice way.

So Endeth Quarter One

Finally, a quarter of the year is done! It actually went surprisingly fast, so hopefully the rest of the year won't be that bad. Actually, no, I take that back, it'll still be complete and utter torture, I just know it.

Somehow I managed to scrape off an A for the first quarter in English, though it was by less than one percent. But an A is an A, so I'm quite happy. My biggest problem was writing the essay for summer reading. That definately pulled my grade down. I have problems with idea organization and expanding ideas and all that jazz. But at least now I've learned what I need to improve on, so my next essay grade won't be quite as horrific. Even though my essays still suck, I think I've improved since last year. My thesis statements have gotten a bit better, so that's nice to know. Hopefully by next quarter I'll get better at writing, which is kind of the point of English class anyway...

My class in general seems to be much more talkative than other classes that Ms. Froehlich deals with. Although it's quite entertaining, I'm afraid Ms. Froehlich might be getting severe headaches from our class, which isn't exactly a good thing. I'll consider getting her Asprin for Christmas. I myself might want to work on participating a bit more. Actually, I don't think I've ever spoken in class once except when forced. So I may want to work on that.

Outside Reading, post 5

Quite a lot happened in the last eighty pages on A Great and Terrible Beauty. In a nutshell, Gemma learned that her mother had the same power as she does right now, and that her mother's friend is out to kill Gemma and her friends because they have the power too. For some reason this doesn't seem to bother Gemma very much, because she learned that her mother had killed a girl many years ago as a sacrifice to opent the realms and gain control over all magic. Gemma's mother said that the only way to restore the magic was to forgive her for doing such a horrible thing. Feeling angsty, Gemma disobeyed her mother's warnings and pleas and opened the realms. Naturally, chaos ensues, and Gemma's mother's friend, who's name is Circe, tries to kill Gemma and her friends. Pippa gets left behind in the realms while the other three manage to escape, but Gemma goes back to save Pippa. When she is in the realms alone, Circe tries to kill Gemma yet again. Desperate, Gemma says "Mother... I forgive you" (Bray 392). Somehow this destroys Circe, and Gemma is able to go save Pippa. However, Pippa does not want to go back, because she doesn't want to marry the man she is engaged to. So she eats some special fruit which forces her to stay in the realms forever. In a way, she committed suicide. So Gemma, Felicity, and Ann were saved, but Pippa died. Basically, that's the end of the book.

The theme the author is trying to press, in my opinion, is that forgiveness is rewarding to everyone. Gemma forgave her mother for not telling her about magic and killing the girl, and it saved Gemma's life. Later on, she forgave Kartik for stalking her and incessantly telling her to quit doing magic. She knew that he was just trying to help her, and that he intended no harm, and she should have been less cross with him. She tells herself, "Forgiveness... I'll hold on to that fragile slice of hope and keep it close, remembering that in each of us lie good and bad... choice and regret... No one can live in the light all the time" (Bray 402). She's telling herself that everyone makes mistakes, but there is no good in getting all moody and depressed about previous choices. It is best to move on, and know that what you do in the future is more important than what you have already done in the past.

This book reminds me the most of "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close." The main similarity of the books is the overall message. In ELIC, Oskar was hurt because of his father's death, and felt like he would never get over it. In AGTB, Gemma and her friends also feel many pains. She acknowledges this, telling Felicity, "We're all damaged somehow" (Bray 399). However, both books encourage healing, accepting the past and moving on into the future. In ELIC, Oskar finally decided to cooperate with his parents and get help to help him get over his father's death, rather than choosing to wallow in his grief. In AGTB, Gemma also learned to finally move on from her mother's death. At the end of the story, when her mother is taken from her in the realms and never to be seen again. She knows this, telling herself, "My mother is dead... She's truly gone now. I am alone. And somehow, this is as it should be" (Bray 393). She knows that it is better for her to stop missing her mother so much, because there is nothing she can do except accept what has already happened in her life.

Outside Reading, post 4

In this section, Gemma finally opens up to her friends and tells them about her strange powers, and her ability to visit another world, the realms. She takes her friends to the realms, and immediately her friends are intrigued and fascinated. Once the girls are in the realms, they realize they can do magic, and of course this delights them. Gemma is also quite interested, but mostly because in the realms she can visit her mother. Gemma's mother warns her about her powers, telling her she must not take them out of the realms, or else something terrible will happen. What this terrible thing is, Gemma's mother refuses to say. She talks about some kind of evil taking over the world, the usual doom, "It isn't safe yet. Once you do that, once you bring magic back through the portal, it's fully open. Anyone who knows how could get in" (Bray 291). Obviously Gemma is frustrated, because she wants to know the truth, and her mother is being quite vague. However, she follows her mother's orders. After all, she went through all the trouble of entering the realms for her mother in the first place, so she wouldn't want to bluntly disobey her in such a fashion.

Kartik continues to demand that Gemma stop using her magic. He sends Gemma a note, pleading with her to stop entering the realms. Gemma notices that "There's another word scribbled hastily, then crossed out. Please" (Bray 283). Previously we have only seen Kartik as a tool of sorts, some kind of force opposing Gemma and trying to prevent her from doing magic. However, after this, we can understand that Kartik is truly desperate, and actually cares that Gemma is safe. The fact that the words please is crossed out shows that he is trying to keep a strong image of himself, though he still cares about Gemma's well-being. Meanwhile, Gemma is starting to have somewhat tender feelings for Kartik. Even though she is often annoyed with his interference, she often has what she considers dangerous thoughts about him. When Felicity tells Pippa of the one time Gemma kissed Kartik to allow the other girls to get past the Gypsies, and that she was a "Noble, self-sacrificing girl who endured his kiss only to save us", Gemma thinks "It is so convincing that I almost believe her myself" (Bray 272). This proves that Gemma is denying the fact that she may have a bit of a crush on Kartik. This information makes the reader think that perhaps Gemma is afraid of her own feelings, and that even though she does tend to be rebellious at times, she still is fearful of associating with Gypsies, supposedly wicked people. Perhaps she is not as brave as we have once thought.

Later on there is an assembly day, when the parents of the girls at Spence Academy come visit. It is during this scene when the weaknesses and the longings of the other girls are emphasized. Felicity was so happy at the thought of her father for the first time in two years, but then completely broke down when she got a form letter from a secretary that her father would rather go to another event. This shows that even though she puts on a brave, happy face, inside she longs to have someone who cares about her. Pippa also is having troubles. Her parents have arranged her to be married to a fifty-some year old man. She absolutely loathes him, as the other girls well know. However, when they see the two of them together for the first time, they are stunned by how frail Pippa acts. Usually she is a spunky girl, but around her fiance she is quiet and withdrawn, and on the verge of tears. She is definately looking for true love, and now her dreams have been shattered. Ann also is hurting, because her parents have been dead for years. During the entire day Gemma notices how Ann is constantly nervous around all the other parents, and wishing she could be left alone. However, she puts on a brave face and tries to be optimistic. This shows that even though Ann usually seems plain and simple, she is undergoing much pain from the loss of her parents. Maybe there is more depth to her after all.

Photo: Sun-Tree

Outside Reading, post 3

As the school year progresses, Gemma gradually becomes closer to her friends, Felicity, Pippa, and Ann. Part of the reason is because they have all joined a little club, which they refer to as the "Order." Another reason, however, is that the girls are simply opening up to each other a bit more than before. Gemma learns that Pippa is not only the vain and slightly bratty. She is a dreamer, always thinking of true love and happiness. Unfortunately for her, her parents have arranged for her to be married to an old man whom Pippa detests. Pippa is growing thoroughly depressed and constantly dreads the day when she must marry the man she can't stand. She would much rather enjoy her life with her true friends than with some cranky old man. She tells her friends, "I'm only seventeen! My season has barely begun. I intend to enjoy it, not be married off to the first poxy old barrister with money" (Bray 164). Pippa is motivated by her dreams, and now that she knows that she's going to be stuck marrying some random old man, she is slightly downhearted. However, she still tries to be friendly, and always hopes that someday a perfect man will find her.

Problems begin to arise among the four girls. They have discovered the diary of a girl who died in a fire with her friend over twenty years ago. The diary speaks of magic and other realms, and the girls become intrigued by this. They experiment with spells, curious of the outcome. While Felicity, Pippa, and Ann are doing this out of fun, Gemma knows that all of this is real because of her visions. However, she continues not to tell anyone of her visions. This shows once again that she doesn't want anyone involved with her own troubles. She wants other people to be happy, and prefers to struggle alone to save others from stress and worry.

Later on, when she encounters Kartik yet again when he attempts to warn her to stop her visions, she finally defies him to his face. After viciously biting his hand to make him let go of her, she tells him, "From now on, I shall do exactly as I wish and you cannot stop me. Do not follow. Do not watch. Do not even attempt to contact me or you'll be sorry indeed" (Bray 246). This shows that Gemma is resilient and stubborn. Once her mind is set, everything must go her way, and if something attempts to stop her, she won't stop to make sure they know she isn't going down without a fight.

Outside Reading, post 2

After spending more time at finishing school, Gemma finally gets to make a few friends. Although she isn't very close to these girls due to contrasting personalities, she does spend a considerable amount of time with them. One of these girls is Ann. Ann is Gemma's roommate, and is very shy and plain, although she longs to fit in with the popular girls. There isn't much depth to her character; so far she hasn't said anything insightful or inspiring. She just seems to be a random girl that Gemma talks to. A slightly more interesting character is Felicity. After Gemma saved Felicity's reputation by covering up for her, Felicity's once hostile attitude towards Gemma changed dramatically. She sincerely tells Gemma, "I think we're going to be great friends" (Bray 117). Much more interesting than Ann, Felicity is lively, charming, and has a knack for wriggling out of trouble.

One main struggle Gemma goes through is the mysteriousness of Kartik. Kartik seems to pop up out of nowhere at random times and insists that Gemma concentrates on stopping her visions. Gemma is mostly irritated by this, wishing he would explain himself fully. However, Kartik's messages are just a cryptic as ever. She thinks, "I hate him, standing in my room as if he owns it and me, issuing warnings and insults, sharing nothing" (Bray 121). As much as she despises Kartik, Gemma does learn from him how vulnerable she is to the outside world, and she learns that she must be careful.

A slightly more bothersome struggle is the continuence of her visions. Gemma got several strange visions, one of a girl named Mary telling her about magic, visions, and much more that puzzled Gemma. Another vision was that of her mother calling to her. This made Gemma extremely anxious, because she becomes under the impression that her mother is out there somewhere, able to be reached. She becomes determined to somehow find her mother. Even after Kartik tells Gemma to ignore her visions, she tells him, "That was my mother in the woods today. And I'm going to find her" (Bray 123). This shows that when Gemma's mind is set, she can be very stubborn and refuses to take the advice of others, which may lead to trouble in the future.

A Great and Terrible Beauty, post 1

The book I'm reading for my outside reading assignment is A Great and Terrible Beauty, by Libba Bray. The main character is a sixteen year old girl named Gemma Doyle. Gemma has lived in India with her mother all her life, and she aches to go to London. Why she does is not fully explained, but her mother refuses to let her go, and Gemma is unhappily stuck in India. One day Gemma has a vision of something trying to attack her mother, and her mother committing suicide. The vision comes true soon after. Two years later, Gemma, who has mostly gotten over her mother's death, though still haunted by her one vision, goes off to London to attend finishing school. As soon as she arrives she hates it, thinking "I had wanted to come to London, and now that I'm here, I couldn't be more miserable" (Bray 22). Gemma is a free spirited girl, who can not stand the strict code of the school, or some of the students. Two students in particular, Felicity and Pippa, seem particularly malicious. One time they framed Gemma's room mate, Ann, trying to tell the teacher that Ann had stolen Felicity's ring. Gemma stood up for Ann, which proves that she is a kind girl who believes in sticking up for yourself.

However, she soon has troubles much greater than the drama at finishing school. Gemma sees yet another vision of a frightening monster attacking her in a dark alley. She is completely bewildered, with no idea what to make of it. She is even frightened, thinking "I'm going mad... Help me" (Bray 34). However, she does not want anyone to worry about her, and she keeps this frightening knowledge to herself. This shows that Gemma thinks she can take care of herself and does not want the pity of others. Whether she actually can or can't has not yet been determined. Later on, a strange boy named Kartik comes to Gemma and tells her to stop her visions.

Memoirs

People write memoirs for a few reasons. One is to help others learn from their own life experiences. After many years of living, people have gone through many tough times, and have most likely learned from many mistakes. By writing a memoir, people can describe in detail how they have went through those times, and how they learned from their past. Then readers can learn from other people, and hopefully they will not make similar mistakes, or if they do, they will know how to deal with them.

Another reason why people write memoirs is simply to tell history from a certain point of view. For example, in Black Boy, Richard tells his story about dealing with the segregation. Any history book will tell the reader plenty of information about how miserable the lives of African Americans were before segregation was banned. However, by reading a memoir, people can relate personally to those involved, and will understand the content to a greater extent. People write memoirs because they want people to understand how their life in particular was affected by a certain event. They want others to hear their story, and be able to see an event from a stance other than the viewpoint they were introduced to in history books.

Richard's Hunger

What types of things does Richard "hunger" for and what are the effects (positive and negative) of hunger?

Richard is hungry in different ways. He is almost always literally hungry, as in lacking food. It is constantly on his mind, and he thinks, "I began to wake up at night to find hunger standing at my bedside, staring at me gauntly" (Wright 14). However, Richard is hungry for things other than food. After learning to read, Richard often makes a pest of himself by asking incessant questions, "I soon made myself a nuisance by asking far too many questions of everybody. Every happening in the neighborhood, no matter how trivial, became my business" (Wright 23). This proves that Richard is developing a hunger for knowledge. He becomes eager to learn new things, and wants to understand the ways of life.

There are several different effects from Richard's hunger, mostly from his figurative hunger. From his physical hunger, he develops a bitterness towards the cause of his hunger, "As the days slid past the image of my father became associated with my pangs of hunger, and whenever I felt hunger I thought of him with a deep biological bitterness" (Wright 16). Because his father is neglecting the family and therefore causing them to starve, Richard feels great animosity towards the man. Richard's hunger for knowledge leads very different results, both good and bad. The good is that Richard begins to understand the problem of racism in his city, such as the newspaper sympathizing the Ku Klux Klan (Wright 132). The bad is that he grows to be rebellious with his family, disagreeing with their points of view. While Richard's grandmother is highly religious, Richard decides, "Before I had been made to go to church, I had given God's existence a sort of tacit assent, but after having seen His creatures serve Him at first hand, I had had my doubts" (Wright 114). He begins to think for himself, choosing to follow his own path rather than his family members. While it is good that he doesn't blindly follow others' leads, it does lead to tension in the family which often results in violence. Grandma, Aunt Addie, and Richard's mother all punish him when he disagrees with their ideas, and this makes Richard even more rebellious than before.

Works Cited

Wright, Richard. Black Boy. New York: Perennial Classics, 1998.

Richard: Good or Bad?

Although Richard often does rather stupid things, such as burning down his own house and killing an innocent kitten, he isn't a bad kid. Whenever he does something that is considered bad, he feels guilty for what he did. After setting the house on fire, he thought, "I had done something wrong, something which I could not hide or deny... Perhaps everybody in the house would burn! Why had I not thought of those things before I fired the curtains?" (5). Also, he learns from his mistakes. Rather than doing the same wrong over and over, he learns that what he did was harmful, and knows that he must not do the same thing again. After writing curse words on all the neighbors' windows, and being forced by his mother to wash all the obscenities away, he thinks to himself, "Never again did I write words like that; I kept them to myself" (25). He is still young, and because his conscience has not fully developed, he has a reason for acting before considering the consequences.

Bad behavior should be blamed on a person when he or she acts and wishes for harm to come. Behavior should be blamed on environment when the person was influenced by others, when they didn't know exactly what they were doing. Richard's bad behavior was influenced by his environment. He is in fact a smart boy; he learned to count to 100 in an hour and learned to read unusually quickly (23). When he is older, he even pities his father after seeing what he has come to, even after leaving his family (34). This proves that Richard is a forgiving person at heart, and doesn't want harm to come to anyone. However, because of the segregation in Memphis and the lack of attention he receives at home, he was often naughty, even though he truly isn't a bad person.

First Blog

Here is my first blog. I'm sure no one would have figured that out from the title. And I'm sure everyone is amazed at how fascinating my blog posts are.

Well, this sure is exciting. And I absolutely can't wait to go back to school on Monday.

I like sarcasm, in case you haven't noticed.