Memorial Day Break

I spent most my time over the break down the shore and on the golf course. On friday I had a baseball game that we unfortunetly lost; it was not pretty. On Saturday I went to work from 7 to 11:30 and went down the shore with my dad. On Sunday I went to see my sister's soccer games down the shore. After the game, we went back to our shore house and met more family. On Monday, I went back to work and got out (meaning I caddied for a golf group), and got home at 4. After work, my friend and his step-dad invited my dad and I to golf, and I barley made it through 13 holes. Tuesday was a sad day knowing that it was the last day of break, but I felt a whole lot better when the Mets finally won.

Outline

BODY PARAGRAPH 1
What is the topic/idea of this paragraph?
The theme “power” in Macbeth

What quote(s) ideas from research will you use to help prove your points?
a. How power corrupts naturally when you are greedy

b. “In a world where fair is foul and the natural order is completely subverted, Macbeth becomes completely confident in his grab for power,

What example(s) from the book(s) will you use to help prove your points?
a. Macbeth believes a prophecy from 3 strange looking witches that he obviously cannot trust, and kills King Duncan based on that prophecy.


b. Macbeth is killed in the end by Macduff showing how greed for power will corrupt.


BODY PARAGRAPH 2
What is the topic/idea of this paragraph?
The Theme power in Animal Farm

What quote(s) ideas from research will you use to help prove your points?
a. The idea that Napoleon’s power corrupts in the end

b. Napoleon’s greed for power leads Animal farm to fail

What example(s) from the book(s) will you use to help prove your points?
a. In the book Napoleon puts himself in charge in the beginning of Animal Farm


b. In the book, Animal farm fails, and it becomes the society they tried to change.







BODY PARAGRAPH 3
What is the topic/idea of this paragraph?
The theme Greed in Mabeth

What quote(s) ideas from research will you use to help prove your points?
a. “This play explores the bounds of greed, guilt and insanity, and the idea of fulfilling one's destiny.”

b. “This production of "Macbeth" reminded the audience and cast members alike of the importance of controlling greed.”

What example(s) from the book(s) will you use to help prove your points?
a. Macbeth believes the three strange witches’ prophecy because he is greedy to become king


b. Macbeth is driven to kill a man out of greed

BODY PARAGRAPH 4
What is the topic/idea of this paragraph?
The theme Greed in Animal Farm

What quote(s) ideas from research will you use to help prove your points?
a. “Orwell's fable illuminates his satirical theme: man's vulnerability to man's greed for power.”


What example(s) from the book(s) will you use to help prove your points?
a. Napoleon was greedy in the way that he seized power in Animal Farm


b. He blames all the bad things that have happened on Snowball so he does not get in trouble

CONCLUSION
What should we now understand after reading your paper? Where idea(s) does your paper lead to?
a. Greed can lead to many bad descions that can hurt you in the long run


b. If you do something bad to gain power, it will naturally corrupt.

Cornell Notes

1)
Title: Animal Farm: Overview
Author: Paul H. Robb
Year Published: 1991

Main idea #1: Gaining power through tyranny

Summary: Napoleon was a greedy tyrant that spread fear throughout Animal Farm; this gave him power

Quote: “…under the leadership of Napoleon, the techniques and hypocracies of tyranny begin to appear.”

Question: Why does greed for power lead to these techniques?

Main idea #2: Power

Summary: Napoleon had the power to make people confess to doing things that they did not do, and get killed for it

Quote: “The most Blatent and most effective techniques used by Napoleon are the show trials, the abject confessions, and the summary executions.”

Question: How can power drive other people to kill themselves?

Main idea #3: Power

Summary: Men are so vulnerable to being greedy for power

Quote: “Orwell’s fable illuminates his satirical theme: man’s vulnerability to man’s greed for power.”



2)
Titile: He says/ she Says: Shakespeare’s Macbeth
Author: Mary Ives Thompson
Year Published: 2005

Main idea #1: Power

Summary: Macbeth was determined to gain power after hearing the prophecy from the witches and being convinced to kill Duncan by Lady Macbeth.

Quote: “In a world where fair is foul and the natural order is completely subverted, Macbeth becomes completely confident in his grab for power,”

Question: How can a man believe such a prophecy from three random strangers?

Main idea #2: Power

Summary: In most books you see males succumbing to their temptation for power, yet in Macbeth you see a female succumbing to it also.

Quote: “She [Lady Macbeth] is intelligent, she craves power, she is strong enough to determine what action she must take to achieve her goals, and she is willing to turn to unsavory means to achieve her ends.”

Question: Why are males usually the one’s to succumb to power

Main idea #3: Power

Summary: Men are the figures in life that are the ones to do something on order to attain power.

Quote: “…the only way she [Lady Macbeth] can achieve power is if her husband first attains it.”

Question: Why can’t women do anything to achieve power?



3)
Title: Not All Books Are Created Equal: Orwell & His Animals at Fifty
Author: Katharine Byrne
Year Published: 1996



Main idea #1: Power corrupts

Summary: Power that is gained is bound to corrupt in time.

Quote: “The tendency of power to corrupt must always be recognized; people's hold over their own fate must prevail”

Main idea #2

Summary: There is an attraction to power in many things, and they are all looking to use it for themselves.

Quote: “Power corrupts, and there are forces at work seeking to wield it.”

5 Sources

1)
Macbeth Power

Macbeth Power
Spark Notes
Themes Motifs and Symbols

This source is basically about how power corrupts in the play "Macbeth". I can relate this to the book "Animal Farm" where power also corrupts


2)
Macbeth Greed

Macbeth Greed
The Washington Post
St. Andrew's 'Macbeth' Shows Greed Is Bad
Proquest

This article is a review of the play "Macbeth". It shows throughout the play how greed can cause a lot of trouble.




3)
Animal Farm Greed

Animal Farm: Overview
Reference Guide to English Literature, 2nd ed
Literary Resource Center

This overview is about the book “Animal Farm” and the main themes that are seen. I am focusing on the Greed aspect of the overview.




4)
>Animal Farm Power

Power in Animal farm
Katharine Byrne, Not All Books Are Created Equal: Orwell & His Animals at Fifty
Questia

This overview is about the book “Animal Farm” and its main themes. It focuses on the power hungry characters and how the power corrupts.





5)
Animal Farm Power II

Animal Farm: Sixty Years On Robert Pearce Gives a Historian's-Eye View of George Orwell's Classic Novel
Magazine article
Robert Pearce
Questia

This overview is about the book “Animal Farm” and its main themes. Power is a very big theme in this book, and I will use this source to help relate “Animal Farm” to the play “Macbeth”

Socratic Semenar

-The book is moving slow

-It has been dragging on, until you hit a certain point

-There is a lot of dramatic irony

-David knows a lot of secrets from his parents

-He cannot give himself away

-Real life situation because we have overheard our parents' secrets before

-The father can save his reputation by turning his brother in, yet he helps his brother

-The brother deserves the punishment

-Personaly I would never rad out my family

-You cannot choose your job over your family

-David is telling the story the way he sees it

-The fact that whenever David finds out about something we find out about something

-The story is not really biased

Socratic Semenar

Sibling Rivalries

BODY PARAGRAPH (FROM MONTANA 1948)

One of the main themes in the book Montana 1948 is sibling rivalry. In the book there is one specific sibling rivalry between Wes (the dad) and Frank (his brother). The narrarator explain that Frank was a charming man that had a lot of athletic talent that Wes did not have. “He had been a star athlete in High School and College,” Wes was envious of Frank because of his abilities that he did not have, and envy is a definite cause of sibling rivalry. Because of the two boys’ abilities, a competition arose too see who was the better son.



ESSAY BODY PARAGRAPH (FROM RESEARCH AND MONTANA 1948)

Sibling rivalries are very tough to deal with, yet there are tactics that help you work through it. As you may know, sibling rivalries are frequent in families, “ Siblings compete even when they’re not together.” (Henry 2008). People have found ways to grapple sibling rivalries and use it to excel in different activities. Instead of arguing over things, use that fire that you feel and let it motivate you to produce better results in that subject. In the book Montana 1948 there is one scene where Frank, Wes’ brother, came back from the war. While Frank was giving his war speech, Wes was in the crowd smiling and applauding. Wes definitely felt some envy towards his brother, yet all he did was ignore it. Ignoring something can be a useful tactic to shy away from sibling rivalry as well. This tactic can take away the competitiveness between siblings. The tactic of motivation is not seen in the book; instead, he ignored it which is an equally effective alternative.



There are several tools to use in order to write an effective essay.
If you are working on an essay based on research use these tools to help guide you:
- A good topic sentence
- Good use of research
- Strong analysis on the research
- Good use of the book that you are relating to
- Strong analysis on the book
- Strong conclusion that sums up your paragraph

If you are working straight from the literature use these tools:
- Strong topic sentence
- Good example from the book
- Strong analysis on the example
- A conclusion to sum up your paragraph

There is a distinct difference between writing an paragraph based on reasearch, and writing a paragraph based on a piece of literature. When you write a paragraph based on literature you are focusing on that one piece. When you are working from research, you are opened up to more topics that you can relate to the piece of literature.

Go to this link if you need to see a well-written paragraph:

Well written paragraph

Bibliography

Harwell, Todd S., Kelly R. Moore, and Michael R. Spence. "Physical Violence, Intimate Paretner Violence, and Emotional Abuse Among Adult American Indian Men and Women in Montana." Science Direct. 2003. Science Direct. 29 Apr. 2008.


Some of those who work at Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, studied about possible American Indian physical violence in 7 reservations of Montana. Random people who lived in the reservations were interviewed through an adapted Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System telephone survey in 2001. Emotional abuse was defined as fear for one’s safety or being controlled by another individual.

Guilt

Guilt is something everyone has do deal with when they make a bad decision, and it is amazing how guilt can change our actions. People today make bad decisions and afterwards do very bad things. One example of guilt is the story of Judas. In the bible it is told that Judas made a deal the Pharisees so that he would get paid and the Pharisees take Jesus (one of his greatest friends and a leader of his) into custody and later kill him. Judas showed the Pharisees where Jesus was and received his money. Within a couple of hours, Judas felt guilty for his actions and wishes he had never done them. He then took the money and gave it back to the Pharisees; later on he hung himself because he was so guilty for what he had done.
In my life, unfortunately, I have felt guilty many times, yet there was this one time where I really felt down. About a year and a half ago I started to play the most frustrating sport in the world, golf. I went over to my grandfather’s house one night to watch a Notre Dame football game. He went downstairs for a minute and then came up with a club in his hand; it was the Callaway Thunderbird Driver. My grandpa loves golf and this was one of his favorite clubs that he was giving to me. A few weeks later I took it to the driving range for a couple of practice hits where the worst thing possible happened, the club snapped. I felt so guilty that I could not talk to my grandpa for weeks. My guilt led me to man-up and apologize to my grandfather, and it almost made me quit the game. What this story shows is that guilt can lead you to make decisions that you would not expect to make.
In the play Macbeth guilt plays a very big role in the plot of the story. Lady Macbeth, Macbeth’s wife, convinces Macbeth to kill King Duncan so he can become king. Macbeth commits the crime, and ever since, Lady Macbeth has felt very guilty. She would, in the middle of the night, start sleep-walking and talking. At one point she was trying to wash blood off her hands during her sleep. Later on in the play, Lady Macbeth goes and kills herself out of guilt. Guilt can do many things to a person and can effect the way they act in the future.

Tips for coping with guilt


Guilt and Depression

Feminism

The idea of feminism is very strong in society. There are many women who really devote their time to making sure that all their rights are equal. Then you get some women that just act plain stupid for attention. There is a definite stereotype for women who thrive for attention; this is the image of a sexual woman. Whenever you think of that type of woman, you think of the celebrities like Paris Hilton or Brittany Spears.
These two women, to many people, are stupid women who want attention; there is a deeper meaning as to why they do these type of things. Believe it or not, they know how to “work the system”. Even though they are acting stupid, they are still making a lot of money and getting a lot of attention for what they do. This is really weakening the idea of feminism today in society, because people cannot give the same respect to women like this, than to regular people.

In the play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth plays a huge role of feminism. She plays the part of a strong, determined, and powerful woman. This is what feminism is about, the idea that women are indeed equal to men. I say this because in many forms of literature, you see that men are portrayed as strong, determined, and powerful person. I definitely think that feminism still exists today, yet I do not believe that the female celebrities in today’s society are good role models for the upcoming generation.

Feminism

Anti-Feminism

Socratic Semenar

Here are some main points of the discussion:

- You can tell what is going to happen during the shakespeare palys
- It is hard to read Shakespearean language
- It is very suspenseful
- Very fast paced, and it makes it hard to follow
- Femenism with Lady Macbeth
- She has a little of femenism, yet there is very little
- She is the master mind behind killings
- She should not be a role model
- She takes feminism to the extreme
- Paris Hilton is not a good role model, yet she knows how to work the system
- Because of money she is high status
- She does everything and she is unsucssesful
- Mothers are good role models and celebrities are not because they were never there for you
- Oprah is just a huge power source
- She does nice things, yet I think she does it for attention
- She gives away money like it grows on trees
- There are stereotypes for men and women regarding power
- Men are said to be strong
- Women are said to be sexual



Comments

- Today we do not get many people who help the needy, we see a rich person like Oprah and we feel like she is doing it for attention
-There is a definite stereotype for both men and women regarding power, and Paris Hilton really relates to it
- I do not feel bad for Macbeth, because his greed for power took over his commen sense.
- I would not like to hear my futrue because I would be thinking about my every step
- Todays semenar really showed that Lady Macbeth did not relate to society today. People like Paris Hilton find so many other ways to find power than plotting to kill people .

From Distinguished Leader to Criminal

A person with a respectable past that has committed a horrible crime is none other than our former president Richard Nixon. Former president Nixon, after his first term in office, felt the need to spy on his opponent that was running against him for the presidency. This scandal all took place at the now famous Watergate office complex, where 5 burglars broke-into the Democratic National Committee’s office. Investigations found that the burglars were bound to the Committee to re-elect Nixon. It was ironic that after the men were caught, 4 of Nixon’s cabinet members resigned.
Nixon committed this crime to give him a better chance of winning by finding out what his opponent was planning. This plan was definitely not justifiable because it is cheating; and if you have to cheat to become president, you probably won’t be a good president. It’s like the game of baseball: A player takes steroids to improve his game, it’s not the right thing to do, yet he does it to give him a better shot at performing better. In the play Macbeth, the main character Macbeth encounters three weird witches who prophesize of him becoming king. Taking the king prediction into consideration, he begins to plot against the current king, Duncan.
The weird witches and his wife, Lady Macbeth, persuade him into killing king Duncan. This was absolutely not a justifiable reason to commit this horrible crime. First off, he took advice from three ugly, wretched, witches that he had never even seen before. Second, even if he killed the king, the king’s son was the heir to the throne. Finally, this was a selfish move, that he only thought of himself when he committed this horrible deed.
When people cheat in any situation, they do it for power. They feel like they have more control, thus giving them more power over the situation.

For more information about the Nixon Scandal: NIXON
NIXON II

For more information about Macbeth: MACBETH

The Beginning of a Work of Art

With every great book or movie, there must be a part that just jumps out at you and makes you interested. The beginning to a book or a movie is a pivotal part to its success, and without a good beginning, people become less interested. One movie that had a beginning where I was immediately interested in is The Bourne Identity. This movie starts off with a man lying out in the ocean during a thunderstorm. A fishing boat comes and picks him up; the fishermen on the boat take him inside to see what is wrong. As they examine his back, they see several bullet-holes and become perplexed.
After watching that first scene, I immediately became interested in finding out who shot him and why they shot him. The point I’m trying to make here is that if that movie had a lousy beginning, I probably would have stopped watching it and I would have missed out on what would have been my favorite movie. The beginning of this movie explains the sense of curiosity, which is a big theme in the movie. While the audience watches the movie, they are wondering who this man is; what is interesting about this is that the plot of the movie is for the man to find out who he himself is. In the play Macbeth, the beginning scene includes three witches in a kind of eerie environment.
They begin to talk to each other about this person named Macbeth, and that they will see him at their next meeting. Right off the bat this play seems like a very sneaky and negative one, because of the first scene. This immediately draws the attention of the audience and urges them to read more. These two examples really show how a strong beginning scene can mold what could possibly be a great work of art.

For the intro of Macbeth, visit this site: MACBETH

For more information on the Bourne Identity, visit this site: BOURNE

Random Stuff

The Mets home opener is Tuesday, April 8 against the Philadelphia Phillies. It should be a good game, yet I think that the Mets will pull out a win. Johan Santana will start the game for the first time at Shea. Many people are looking at his spring training games and saying how bad he his. My take on the argument is that you need to give a pitcher time with a new team, then he will pitch to his best ability. For more info go to this site:

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