Journal 10

At the end of the play Othello, an insightful speech is delivered by the hero, Othello.  Othello gave his speech in order to encourage the witnesses to remember him for his good qualities instead of his wrong doings before he killed himself.  Othello says, "...must you speak of one that loved not wisely but too well, of one not easily jealous, but being wrought perplex'd in the extreme."  In that quote Othello tried to convince the audience that he loved Desdemona passionately even though he made a mistake, and he would not have been a jealous man if he had not been tricked by Iago.

Journal 9

The play Othello written by William Shakespeare focuses on two major themes.  The first theme is free will, which means the freedom to make decisions without external circumstances.  Free will is demonstrated in Othello through the determination of characters to take course of action.  For example, Iago claimed to not be completely at fault for lying to Othello about Desdemona’s faithfulness because Othello could choose to believe Iago’s lies.  Another example is that Roderigo agreed to help Iago by accompanying Iago and accidentally giving him money.  In that case, Roderigo could have ignored his love for Desdemona, but instead he chose to listen to Iago so he could pursue Desdemona.

            The second theme is determinism.  Determinism is synonymous with fate in that events cannot be changed by the human will.  Othello’s relationship with Desdemona is often thought to have been an inevitable failure for many reasons.  One of the reasons is that Desdemona and Othello were not compatible.  For example, Iago implied that Othello is too old and ugly for Desdemona who is young and beautiful; also, racial differences could have caused tension.  Iago played a minor role in undermining the love between Othello and Desdemona.

Journal 8

We boil at different degrees.

Emerson is saying that some people resort to anger faster than others.  I think this because boiling is usually associated with anger or frustration.  The different degrees could represent the amount of time it takes someone to show that they are upset, or it could relate to the things that may push them over the edge.   I know from being with my family that everyone has a different way of seeing things.  One ill-humored comment that one person does not take seriously, could be taken into deep consideration by another.  Being aware of someone’s temper is definitely a great way of avoiding conflicts because upsetting someone is not worth it.

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not been discovered.

Emerson uses the weed to symbolize an unimportant life.  Emerson is stating that all life has value even though that life may be irrelevant or negligible.  We should take it upon ourselves to spend time understanding virtues of those who may seem smaller than us, because in reality, they have much more value than we could ever imagine. The weed, relates to a human being, possibly someone who is less fortunate.  Why do we dismiss people as invaluable, when we really have no idea what they are capable of?  We should learn about others, and we might discover a virtue within ourselves.

All life is an experiment.  The more experiments you make the better.

Emerson, in his essays, often concluded that in order to obtain knowledge or understanding, one should use experience.  In Emerson’s essay Experience, he says, “Intellectual tasting of life will not supersede muscular activity.”  In other words, physically experiencing something is greater than thinking about it.  So if a man does more experiments in his lifetime, he is more likely to live a happy life full of understanding.  I agree with Emerson’s statement because I think people learn best through living, or to name it, trial-and-error.  I know from my personal experiences as a cashier that a supervisor can tell me how to do something, but I do not completely understand how to do it until I try it for the first time, learning from my mistakes as I go along.  When I finally know how to do something correctly after experimenting, I feel a great sense of satisfaction, probably more so than I would if I had gotten the task done the first time.  Life should not always be about achieving perfection right away; it takes time and practice to learn something, so experimenting is the best way to even come close to perfection.

Journal 7

      The poems, “The Raven” and “To a Waterfowl” represent different characteristics in writing.  “To a Waterfowl” is more classical, meaning there is a more organization, reason, and a universal message.  “The Raven”, on the other hand, has romantic characteristics in that it has more personal emotion.  Both writers, Poe and Bryant, use birds as symbols in their poems.  In “The Raven,” Poe uses the raven to represent a demon-like creature dooming the main character to grief.  Both birds are also connected to supernatural powers. At first, the main character of “The Raven” thinks that the Raven was an angel sent by his love, but he then believes that the creature was sent by the underworld to tell him there is no hope.  Unlike “The Raven,” the narrator of “To a Waterfowl” believes that the bird is living for God and has somewhere to go (heaven) after his earthly life.  Another difference in the poems is the setting.  “The Raven” takes place indoors and at night, where “To a Waterfowl” takes place during a peaceful sunset outside.

Journal 6

Ben Franklin's The Autobiography

1. In Franklin’s plan for self-perfection, he listed thirteen virtues that should be practiced.  Similar to an experiment, Franklin attempted to practice every virtue without fault, and when an error was made, he would take note of it in his journal.  Franklin finds that it is nearly impossible to live out the virtues without making mistakes.  Franklin eventually comes to a point where he is ready to give up, finding that perfection was not easy to obtain.  Franklin also discovers that some virtues were more difficult to master than others such as, Order, which he claims he never accomplish in old age.  Franklin comes to the conclusion that even with ambition, he could not reach his goal of perfection.  However, Franklin states that he is happy that he attempted perfection.

2. I think that a plan such as Franklin’s would improve me as a person; however, I do not believe it would make me perfect.  Franklin addressed his experiment for perfection as more difficult than he thought because he was more full of faults that he had ever imagined.  I know that I would fall very short of perfection due to my many faults.  Though, I do think that people should practice these virtues, all while understanding and accepting mistakes.  My top virtues are as follows: temperance, chastity, humility, order, and silence.

Journal 5

Paragraph 1

            The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

            Emotional and logical appeal

            How can you be sure the colonist will win?

            Faulty analogy and begging the question

Paragraph 2

            God is on the American side

Ethical Appeal

We do not really know if God is on either side or any side at all.

Begging the question – knowing what God wants

Paragraph 3

Thomas Pain is trying to get people to fight for freedom as soon as possible so they do not leave it up to their children

            Emotional, ethical, and logical appeal

            We should not fight because problems will work themselves out.

                        Things could possibly get worse

            Bandwagon – not a man lives on the continent…

                        False Dichotomy – gives two extreme options

Paragraph 4

            Argument by analogy – the kings is like a thief, so we should fight him

            Emotional Appeal

            The English are too powerful; the Americans would be overwhelmed by the Crown’s force.

Thomas Paine – Paine uses mostly emotional appeal in order to be persuasive in a passionate way.  Because he uses emotional appeal, his arguments lack logic, and it becomes easy to make counter arguments using logic.