Hamlet Act 1

Perspective is an important theme in Hamlet, but also serves as a huge conflict for the characters as well as the audience. How are we really supposed to trust their judgement if they call into question their own.
When Horatio confirms that he sees the ghost as well, it seems as though he trusts and believe's in the unclear actions of the ghost, and whatever may be the cause of his appearance is extremely important, and it would be wise for those closest to him, such as Hamlet, Marcellus, Gertrude, Claudius, etc., to listen to the ghostly figure.
It seems as though Marcellus cannot see the ghost or believe in his appearance because he really doesn't have a natural sincerity in viewing matters from other's perspective other than his own. It seems as though, he is the type of man who needs hard evidence of something to have reason enough to believe in its truth or existence.

Coleridge and Shelley - Imagination and Narrative Voice

1) The power of the imagination is often exalted in Romantic poetry. In your opinion, does “Kubla Khan” celebrate the imagination or caution against its indulgence? To whom might Coleridge be writing and for what purpose(s)?

"Kubla Khan," a poem written during the Romantic period, does in a way celebrate imagination as well as caution against its indulgence. It is written in a way that is very creative with reference to a lot of images and people and certain things that are normal objects but are described in a very extra-ordinary way in the poem.
But on the contrary, the author had written this while under the influence of something unnatural as he awaken to write his poem, and that caused him to visualize these objects in this extra-ordinary way. The dream was converted into this excellent and brilliant literary work that many are fascinated by, but seems as though it was a direct result of his influence.

Coleridge could have possibly been writing to all of the people that do not or more sadly, cannot tap into their imagination and creativity to just let their minds wander a bit. I think Coleridge is a huge fan of "out of the ordinary" things and really pushes himself not to be limited in thought. Yes, his influence for "Kubla Khan" produced those words in his poem, but what if deep down they were there all along? And what if the influence only allowed himself to bring it out?

Jonathan Swift Teacher Prep

PART A

1.) Questions:
a. Does he want to take over their land?
b. What is their understanding of one another?
c. Is he calm because he is scared or is there another reason?
d. Do they sort of understand one another without exchanging the same language?


2.) Excerpts:
Page 653
- “I thought it the most prudent method to lie still, and my design was to continue so till night, when, my left hand being already loose, I could easily free myself…:”
I would like to discuss what he means in this part of the excerpt. He says his method is to lie still all day and then just wait to see what else they will do because he could easily free himself if he wanted.

Pages 654-655
- They speak different languages; they obviously are not the same size; they are trying to understand why he is there and he has his own reason, just not sure, what it is. Would like to know what the class thinks.

Page 655
- “But the remembrance of what I had felt, which probably might not be the worst they could do, and the promise of honor I made them, for so I interpreted my submissive behavior, soon drove out those imaginations. Besides, I now considered myself as bound by the laws of hospitality to a people who had treated me with so much expense and magnificence.”
So he is calm because of his promise of honor. He could easily unbind himself but he will not.

Page 656
-“And producing his credentials under the Signet Royal, which he applied close to my eyes, spoke about ten minutes, without any signs of anger, but with a kind of determinate resolution; often pointing forward, which, as I afterward found, was toward the capital city, about half a mile distant, whither it was agreed by his Majesty in council that I must be conveyed. I answered in few words, but to no purpose, and made a sign with my hand that was loose, putting it to the other (but over his Excellency’s head for fear of hurting him or his train) and then to my own head and body, to signify that I desired my liberty. It appeared that he understood me well enough, for he shook his head by way of disapprobation, and held his hand in a posture to show that I must be carried as a prisoner.”
This excerpt shows that with a simple nod or tone of voice, or even actions, such as Gulliver’s passive posture, can signify appropriate communication between people.


3.) Prediction:
The class may find it hard to know exactly what the understanding is between one another because they attack him first off, signaling dislike probably out of fear, then they feed him and give him something to drink, which of course must give a sign of trust or like in their new prisoner.

PART B

4.) The teacher group:
Discussed different questions we chose, gave our answers and then started discussing some ways to present our ideas to the class. The good: interesting to see our questions were somewhat similar. That means other classmates might have the same, so it’s probably a good question to ask. The bad: Did not really know how to effectively propose our ideas, but we tried our best. J I learned that teaching is harder than it looks! However, if you are a good teacher it can be done. Really, you just have to ask yourself questions that you think the class would be interested in thinking about or ask something that you know they would have difficulty answering so you could discuss it more.

PART C

5.) Working with other teacher groups:
We have decided to present using a large poster. We are going to write our questions on there and below them, list some reference pages so they could easily access the answers. We chose to just write only the questions we formulated on the poster because we would like to keep our predictions to ourselves to see if the groups we are teaching actually had the same difficulties that we have hypothesized. While asking them the questions we have written down, we are also going to ask questions to help get their minds working in the right direction, possibly leading them to an answer that we have or one that we could discover together.

"The Chimney Sweeper"

1. I strongly support the claim that Romantic poets hoped to bring about social and political change through their writing. Also, I do agree with the editors of my text book in thinking that Blake’s poetry had the power to enact change in society by appealing to the imagination of the reader. It is sometimes hard to imagine results without logical reasoning, especially if you’re someone who cannot conclude anything without fact. But using your imagination opens up so many windows you never knew existed. Sometimes fact and reason, limits our knowledge or capacity to “think outside the box”. When it comes to such things like child labor, reason doesn’t even seem reasonable. I do not think children under the age of 14 should have to work and children under the age of 16 shouldn’t have to work hard.

2. The editors might have included the Parliament transcript as a primary source document because it is an actual account of something that has taken place.
I think having the Parliament transcript available to read actually enhanced the poems that I read. The meaning of the poems or the underlying messages were much clearer. I could see the same vision in my head of a helpless child, who is forced to do something out of not having an option. The poem from experience, even though is intended that a much older mind is being presented, still sounds as if the little child in him is hurting him, even now.

1984, O'Brien proposes a doctrine to Winston...

• What role does the doctrine play in maintaining the system of oligarchical collectivism?

The doctrine that O’Brien proclaims to Winston in this passage, plays an important role in maintaining the system of oligarchical collectivism because he is telling Winston, that since he has not fully come to a conclusion like everyone else that there is no other way but to conform, then he will drive himself insane trying to stop what has already been deemed unstoppable. O’Brien says to Winston, “You believe that reality is something objective, external, existing in its own right. You also believe that the nature of reality is self-evident. When you delude yourself into thinking that you see something, you assume that everyone else sees the same things as you. But I tell you, Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes; only in the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal.” In telling Winston that reality is created in the mind of the Party and not the individual, he clearly lays out the premier idea of oligarchical collectivism, the idea that everything exists to benefit the party, primarily Big Brother. Winston is in every way correct in his oppositional thinking, but is greatly out numbered.
The doctrine’s purpose is to persuade Winston to forget about the system ever changing because it will never die and will only get stronger over time, whereas he will only grow weaker, mentally and physically, because it is extremely hard for a single person to change a reality for everyone.

• What role does the doctrine play in Winston’s fate at the end?

The ending of 1984, is indeed true to the saying, “If you can’t beat them, then join them.” After battling with his internal struggle of holding his values and morals for a good cause, he can no longer resist the Party that he is very much apart of. Instead of secretly hating them, he then openly shows his conformity with a single smile. He finally realizes that life is much easier accepting the way things are instead of fighting it all by yourself.
To me, the doctrine foreshadows Winston’s fate in a sense, because at the closing of the novel, Winston’s view of reality that was supposed to exist in its own right, did in fact perish because this view only existed in his mind, and the reality of the Party was again victorious and has shown once again its immortality to yet another who was in disbelief.
He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother. (Part 3, Chapter 6)