English 11 – Reality Reflection

2 Specific Things I could do in my life to open myself up to reality

  1. Education: Throughout my educational career, I have always focused on trying to open myself up. To open myself up to new opinions, perspectives, situations, and to always look at each and every one of these things with fresh eyes. I have always strived to and will continue to strive to form and further develop my own opinion. The only way for me to do that is to try and learn as much as I can from the world around me, to try to be as educated as possible on the subjects that concern me. And to teach me how to analyze, critique, and look at things from as many different perspectives as possible.
  2. Career: My longtime goal in life is to become a first responder. My goal is to study and pursue becoming a Paramedic (for a career, or as a start to something greater). I have chosen this because I want to open myself up to the world. I am becoming more and more aware of the reality that we are facing, with the overdose crisis, etc. Through this career, I am going to see ugly things, the best and worst of humanity, and people in their worst situations. But this is the reality of our lives. I am now becoming more aware of these things, and I want to have a career where instead of standing back and letting it happen, I could play a role in actually physically do something to help, no matter how small my part may be.

English 11 – Final Narrative Essay Reflection

Loader Loading...
EAD Logo Taking too long?

Reload Reload document
| Open Open in new tab

Download

 

Essay Reflection

Overall, with this assignment, I would say that I am pleased with the work that I put in, and the result that came from it. With this assignment, I was able to effectively take use and manage my time given to produce a good piece of writing, I feel.

What went well on the essay, I would say, is the use of literary devices that we learned in class. The description of the situations and showing the emotions through description I think was the strongest part of my essay. This helped with the tone and the flow of the story.

Where I think my biggest struggle with this assignment was, is the structure of the story. Doing the plot diagram prior to writing was helpful, but I found myself easily deviating from the path I intended and had to work to get myself back on track. Certain parts of the story were more drawn out than they need to be, and others may have been too short. If I could improve on one thing in writing this essay again, it would be the better structure of ideas and transitions.

English 11 – Act 1 Review Exercise

  1.  8)How does Biff react when Bernard warns him that he might flunk math? How does Willy react? Why does Willy react this way? Why does Willy take out his anger on Bernard? (p. 20)

Biff reacts as if he hadn’t even heard what Bernard had said. This shows that he puts little to no importance in his math studies, and he completely disregards what Bernard is saying. It’s obvious that he hasn’t been studying before then. Bernard warns that Biff will fail if he doesn’t start studying. At first, Willy reacts responsibly. He suggests to Biff that he better go off and study. Biff again, disregards what both Bernard and his father say, and continues to change the subject. When Bernard reacts to this, Willy then responds angrily defending his son and calling Bernard a “pest”. Willy responds this way because of his views on success. He believes that if you are well liked, you can get anywhere in the business world. He goes on to explain that even though Bernard can get the best marks in school, when they get out, it won’t mean anything, and Biff will be five times ahead of him because he is able to make an appearance and create personal interest.

  1. 9) In Willy’s eyes, Bernard (p. 20) and his father Charley (p. 18) share the same flaw. What is it? How does Willy contrast his sons to Charley’s son?

Willy believes that both Bernard and Charley are unlikeable and too focused on working and doing everything “right”. Willy compares Bernard to his sons by mentioning that Happy and Biff have personality and are interesting people which is what will set them ahead in the business world. Willy believes that Bernard’s current success in school will not help him at all once he enters the real world and would rather focus on building likeable people who will get ahead by using their charisma and charm.

  1. 10) According to Willy, what is the single greatest quality of “the man who gets ahead”? (p. 21) Do you agree or disagree with him? What does it mean to “get ahead”? Explain using examples from life.

Willy thinks that “the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead.”(pg.33)Willy’s sole belief is that a person should be popular and well-liked and then they will “get ahead” and success. I don’t agree with him, cause well-liked cannot be used in every staff in life. For example, although you are well-liked, however, the score won’t change because of your well-liked or you are popular, you need to rely on your own efforts.

 

  1. 11)Willy tells Linda that “people don’t seem to take to [him].” How does this compare to how Willy describes his reputation to his sons on page 19? Why is there a difference between how he talks about his feelings to his sons and to his spouse?

When speaking with his sons, Willy tells them that he is looked very highly upon in his industry, implying that no matter where he goes, he can make money just because people like him. Willy states that he “never has to wait in line to see a buyer. Willy Loman is here. That’s all they have to know, and I go right through.” This shows how highly he wanted his sons to think of him and how he thought that his success would immediately result in the respect he wanted to gain.

Willy has a hard time expressing himself in the way that he actually feels. Linda is the closest person to Willy in his life, and in comparison, to everyone else, she would be the one he would be best able to open up to. When talking to Linda, what he says reflects his true feelings about his sons. In reality, he thinks they, Biff in particular, are failures. He believes his son is lazy, unmotivated, uncharismatic, and generally not meeting the expectation Willy set for him. This he says openly to Linda. Yet, while speaking to his sons, he completely hides this opinion, and encourages them blindly. Willy believes in an aspect of being “Well Liked”, and he will change his attitude to fit that best depending on the situation. And he wants to be well liked by his sons, so he appeals to them as best as he can.

English 11 – Problem/Situation Questions

  1. Yes, John and Emily are both deceiving themselves in thinking that they will able to finish doing well in their English class. It is a long way to go from a C or D to an A, and it would require more than just one project to bump their marks up in such an exponential way. It is something that happens often with many people, it is very easy to say to yourself that you will be able to do better if you put the work in. It gives them a sense of comfort in their lives in thinking that. But in reality, when it comes down to it, they will most likely procrastinate in doing the project, or not be able to complete it to their full potential because they will not have the time to do it. It is dangerous to rely only on the thought of thinking you will be able to do it.
  2. The result of the schedule they are following will be overall negative. At high school age, it can be a very bad thing to overwhelm yourself with so many different activities. It draws you away from school and increases your level of stress in a huge way.
  3. If they do not do well on their English project, they will very likely blame others before themselves. It is easy to blame the teacher’s marking, the project, how much time they were given, etc. In reality, they are all just excuses to make themselves feel better for not being able to plan out and manage their time better.
  4. What I would do differently is plan ahead. Prioritize school before other things and take on additional activities only if they work around school. It is absolutely possible to have a busy schedule, as long as you plan ahead, and stay coordinated and on top of all your work and activities.

English 11 – American Dream Paragraph

The American Dream. It used to be something that everyone in North America used to strive for. It used to be something that we used to think we had to strive for. Today, I believe it has a very different meaning, and people are starting to realize that it is losing importance.

Historically, as a whole, the “American Dream” has been portrayed through 5 components. The belief that other nations should replicate America’s development, faith in a free market economy, support for free-trade agreements, promotion of the free flow of information and culture, and the acceptance of government protection of private enterprises. But the reality is, this is not what most people think of as the modern “American Dream”. In simple terms, the idea is to be successful in school, get into a good university, have a successful high paying job, marry, buy a house, start a family, and retire. It has been portrayed as the baseline of what American’s think their lives should follow. It is supposed to be something to strive for. And those who don’t meet it, are regarded as failures. Either in their own perception or through the systematic exclusion within their social groups for differing from this so-called “norm”.

I disagree strongly with this idea. I believe that America is based on the freedom to do what you want to do with your life, yet that is often forgotten. Nobody should feel bound to a set idealistic value of what your life should be. We should be encouraged to explore, to venture outside of the box, and to find something that gives our lives meaning.

English 11 – LOTF Character Instagram Project

Instagram account: @simon_lotf111 https://www.instagram.com/simon_lotf111/ 

For my Character Instagram project, I chose to replicate my account after Simon. Simon, from Lord of the Flies, is one of the most important and integral characters in the story. He is a calm, wise, passive younger boy in the group, yet holds an understated importance to the story and to the group of boys. Simon acts almost as a Jesus-like character, holding the group together as best as he can. He is the only one caring for the younger children, and he tries to keep the two age groups living together as smoothly as possible. This demonstrates the type of character that Simon is.

Through characterization in the story, he appears as a peaceful, wise, spiritual and nature loving boy in his personal life, and that was the theme that I tried to convey through the Instagram account I created. One of the most common themes found in his posts are nature-based, inspirational posts, to which “Simon” explains further. He is very connected with nature and uses it as a way to find balance and peace in his life. From a more passive point of view, he tries to convey those feelings and share that with others through his Instagram account.

Within the story highlights of the account, you can find posts about the hikes he takes out in the forest, away from the group. This is a common practice of Simon in the novel. Both his stories and his posts show that he enjoys being out alone in nature, as this helps him keep a level head throughout the mayhem of the events on the island.

Simon also posts about the huts. He was in charge of building the huts for the group and took pride in doing so. He shares a photo to let the others know of the huts and welcomes anyone who needs and wants shelter to come down and help out if they’d like.

Lastly, he posts briefly a story highlight supporting the fire. He sees the importance the fire holds in them getting rescued and encourages the others to come and help with keeping the new fire on the beach alive. He usually likes to stay out of the “political” issues, but after the group splits into two, he finds that it’s important to try and encourage anyone he can to help out.