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Archive for April, 2010
by maddiedrdg0910 on April 28, 2010 at 8:49 pm · Filed under English
“Don’t go.”
“I have to.”
“Why? No one else is bothering to fix this.”
“That’s because this is no one else’s fault.”
“Why are doing this to yourself?”
“I don’t know. Moral obligation?”
I’m one of the people who feels the need to take responsibilty for everything and everyone. When I’m doing group work, it makes me anxious when the teacher assigns a part to another student, because I feel it’s my job to make sure we get everyhting done. You could call it maternal instinct, as I feel like my groupmates are my childeren if I know them. It’s like an animal’s first instinct. They do what they feel is needed and without a second thought – or even a first one. However, there is another definition to duty – what is expected, or even required, of you from other people. In the “Griffin and the Minor Canon” by Frank R. Stockton, both the Griffin and the Minor Canon experience a sense of duty.
The Griffin and the Minor Canon both have duties; whether they be self appointed or set, expected duties. The Griffin feels a great sense of duty when the Minor Canon leaves. On page 138, it says, “One morning he looked into the Minor Canon’s schoolhouse, which was always empty now, and thought it was a shame that everything should suffer on account of the young man’s absence.” The Griffin feels it’s his job to help the town, since the man who used to do that was now gone. I think that anyone would feel this responsibilty, not just the Griffin. He did this because he’s kind and sensible, and wants to do the right thing, not what’s easiest. But the Griffin isn’t the only one who feels a sense of duty.
The Minor Canon goes though two different types of duties. One was what he felt he needed to do for his job. On page 130, it says, “Apart from his duties in the church, where he conducted services every weekday, he visited the sick and the poor, counseled and assisted persons who were in trouble, and taught a school composed entirely of the bad children in the town with whom nobody else would have anything to do.” The Minor Canon does what is required by job, by even goes further as to do whatever he feels is the right thing to do, like involving himself with people who would have otherwise been avoided. However, the Minor Canon also has duties forced upon him by the people around him. On page 136, it says, “It’s your fault that the monster is among us. You brought him here, and you ought to see that he goes away…it is your duty to go away and the he will follow you.” Being the responsible man he is, the Minor Canon would never refuse such a task, as he wants to make sure he takes care of all his duties. The fact that the Griffin and Minor Canon have that sense of duty is what bonds them and makes the get along so well.
by maddiedrdg0910 on April 8, 2010 at 6:20 pm · Filed under English
Going at something alone doesn’t really make a difference. Unless you’re Rosa Parks or Ruby Bridges, then one individual usually won’t start a revloution. Changing the way things are is like trying to play an invasion game alone while the other team has more players than you can count on your fingers and toes. You’ll get trampled. Unifying to make a difference is the most efficient way, and this is part of what happened during the Harlem Renaissance.
Think about why we have teams in invasion games. Without other people to support you and work with you, reaching the goal is an utterly unnacomplishable, unrealistic task. Sure, some people are flat out undefeatable and can spark a flame to a movement that will go down in history – cough cough Rosa Parks. Its like a wave washing up the shore – a wave that could destroy sandcastles and wash away the sand. A drop of water wouldn’t do much damage. The Harlem Renaissance was a lot like this.
The Harlem Renaissance was the wave that changed everything for African Americans. They united through literature, and flocked to the cities to try and have their work published. Together they increased the pride and confidence in the race. All of them bonded together and flourished – and if they hadn’t, they wouldn’t have accomplished anything. Working in numbers is a major tool if you want to make a difference.
by maddiedrdg0910 on April 7, 2010 at 8:35 pm · Filed under English
Where would the chameleon be if it couldn’t change its color to fit its surroundings? Dead. Where would the arctic fox be if it didn’t develop a thick coat of fur over time? Dead. Where would the bison be if it couldn’t learn to travel in groups? Dead. Adaption is like our built in survival guide. It’s what keeps us alive. We all do it, expecially Wanderer from the Host, by Stephenie Meyer.
Adaptation is a survival skill for a species, man or animal. Think how far we’ve come – from having the brain of a monkey to talking being able to talk to someone who’s across the planet. For animals, the change is instinctual. For humans, if you look at us as animals, we’ve adapted over time also. But if you think of us as people, sometimes there are situations when you have to force yourself to adapt. Wanderer in the Host did this exactly, and if she hadn’t, her death would be a given.
As humans, we adapt in more than one way. First off, our bodies naturally adapt to everything involuntarily. In the summer, our skin darkens to protect us from the more direct rays. Also, when we our body is under stress, we get an adrenhaline rush in case our body needs to fight something off or run away. In the Host, Wanderer adapts to extremes. First she’s caught in the desert, next she’s cramped into a rough, tiny hole in the wall of a cave. Adaption is the key to survival, and we see it every day.
by maddiedrdg0910 on April 5, 2010 at 9:50 pm · Filed under English
Everything ends, we all die, life is unfair, blah blah blah. There’s a lot of unfair things in life. They’re like spiders; you run into one in the least convenient of all places, and they spin webs of difficulties that you have to rip through. Learn to deal. There are things in this life that no one can explain, let alone control. Mourning over such “petty”, various matters is pointless. You have to learn how to adapt to these things, and learn not to question them. Now personally, I don’t believe in aything, but Countee Cullen believed God was responsible for all this. He knows God is fair, but there are unfair things he created that have no explanation, and he thinks it’s unfair that God should give him a gift such a being a poet, but making him black.
Countee Cullen was very opinionistic over God. He has full faith in God, but if God is so fair, then why are there things on this Earth that are utterly unfair? In Yet I Do Marvel, by Countee Cullen, he says, “Why the little buried mole continues blind, why flesh that mirrors Him must some day die.” These are just examples of the many things that God created that aren’t always fun. He thinks that God is to busy to stoop down to our level and provide explanation to us for every little thing. One major example of this is the segregation of African Americans.
Its funny, how someone can give you a gift that you have no use for. It’s almost a tease. This is how Cullen felt. In his poem, he said, “Yet I do marvel at this curious thing, to make a poet black, and bid him sing!” He’s saying how God makes him a poet; tells him to sing about all the happy things in his life, and then makes him black. What’s he supposed to write about? How a white man spat on him the other day? Even if he did find something to write about, no one would pay attention to his work. After all, he is black, and getting forward as a black man in those days was next to impossible. It’s like giving the mole eyes, but making him blind. What’s the point of the eyes? What’s the point of being a poet? He knows God is good, but there are a lot of things he questions him on.
by maddiedrdg0910 on April 4, 2010 at 1:06 pm · Filed under English
I, too, will be ready.
I am the younger sibling.
They tell me I’m not ready
When I suggest something new.
But I know I am ready,
to break away from their posession.
Tomorrow,
I’ll be off on my own,
after I’ve suggested something new.
They won’t dare
Try to tell me,
“You’re not ready,”
Then.
Besides,
They’ll see how mature I am,
And be rueful -
I, too, am ready.
