Daniel A's English Journal

Do you like books? News flash: most people my age probably don’t. I’m talking about the generation of people who are currently in their teen years. My generation of people. Why do you think they don’t share the idea of enjoying books? Let’s not trap ourselves in our own bubbles and just face the facts: my generation dislike (or in some cases hate) books. I will analyse, answer and explain some how some of these reasons are just plain stupid. This problem will ultimately lead to a generation of idiots who rely on technology too much and will turn out to be a lost cause.

‘Books are boring’. This is the opinion of many people I know and (I’m sure) many people my age. I can understand that as technology advances, movies become better, quality of life improves so on blah blah blah, but seriously? Some people have never even read a book. Now, why do you think this is? It’s because they think books are boring and crap and this is partially the fault of the older generation. As we were growing, some of our predecessors tried to cram books into our heads, not saying they had ill-intentions, but this eventually lead to an association between books and school/education. At some point every school boy/girl would have thought that school is boring and eventually thought “Well, books are boring”. They are mistaken. Everyone has a book that appeals to them. Books are only as boring as you let them be. People my age only know the books that they hate and not the books that they will truly like. This was the mistake committed by our predecessors.

‘They’re long’. This is one that annoys me the most. Have you ever heard the saying ‘time flies when you’re having fun’? Well, same applies here. When you hate a book or dislike it, you’re going to find it long, boring and will have no initiative to continue reading. Well guess what? You can just put the book down, you have no obligation to read the book. However, if you really love a book then you will be literally begging for extra time to read it and trying to cram it into whatever time possible, probably wishing it was longer. It’s like saying “summer holidays are so long.” sometimes the longer the book, the better.

‘Movies are so much better’. Um…since when was an imitation better than the real thing? That applies here. Movies will not be better than the books (bar the odd exception) because most movies are based on books. The worst scenario by far is when someone hasn’t even read the book of a movie and they just say the film is better. I mean, seriously? You cannot just assume that. Especially if you’re one of the people who have never read a book. Books are mostly better than movies because when you’re reading a book, your brain creates the scene that you’re reading, so it is your perfect scene. On the other hand, when watching a movie, you are seeing someone else’s idea of what is happening. I’m not saying movies are bad. Believe me, when you finish the book, you will be dying to see the movie. I really love movies, but that does not mean that movies are better than books.

So as I have said before, there is a book for everyone – and I mean everyone – so if you’re listening to this and you hate, dislike or have never read a book. Look for your book. I guarantee you will find it….so shut up and read a book.

How are flaws presented in Othello and a variety of other poems that you have studied.

In this essay, I will be studying and analysing how flaws are portrayed in Othello and a variety of Robert Browning’s poems. I believe that flaws are presented in Othello and the Browning poems through the actions of the characters. The use of sins represent human flaws in the characters. To find these, I will be looking into “Porphyria’s lover”, “Soliloquy of the Spanish cloister”, “The Labritory Ancien-Régime” and Othello.

Flaws are presented in Porphyria’s Lover through the use of the sin ‘envy’, which is shown through the actions of the protagonist. In the poem, the speaker finally obtains his desire (Porphyria) and then acts upon these feelings. The character flaws of ‘The lover’ are fuelled by his desire and envy which eventually lead to the murder of Porphyria. “Happy and proud; at last I knew Porphyria worshipped me”. From this quotation, I can see how the phrase ‘at last’ shows the lover had strong feelings and a long lasting desire for Porphyria. I believe it was not the envy in itself that was the flaw of this character, but the character’s twisted logic that developed as a result of the sin. Building on my previous point, I believe that the protagonist questions religion towards the end of the poem due to the lack of consequence from his decisions. As it was common for religious people to attempt discarding their sins, when the protagonist acted upon a sin, he challenged religion as no clear consequence arose. This can be seen in the end of the poem when the protagonist states “And yet God has not said a word!”.

In The Tragedy of Othello, pride is a major factor in the downfall of Othello, causing the tragedy. The pride which Othello seems to hold from the beginning of the play is constantly manipulated by Iago’s ideals and speech. Although it was not pride that explicitly caused Othello’s downfall, it was Othello’s actions and paranoia which caused the tragedy. Shakespeare presents Iago’s manipulative nature to the audience through the use of dramatic irony. We can see this through the use of soliloquies in which Iago shares his plans to create tension in the audience due to the anticipation of what is to come. This is further shown through the constant repetition of the phrase “honest Iago” which is used to contrast Iago’s true manipulative nature with his fake ‘truthful’ and ‘honest’ nature. Throughout the play, we can see Iago using Othello’s pride to manipulate and fuel his paranoia. This eventually causes the murder of Desdemona resulting in the tragedy of Othello.

In the Soliloquy Of The Spanish Cloister, flaws are presented through the use of the sin ‘wrath’. In this poem, Brother Lawrence is being accused by the protagonist of falling from grace and into sin. This is quite hypocritical as the protagonist also sins by being wrathful towards Brother Lawrence, shown in the last line of the first stanza “Hell dry you up with its flames!”. The protagonist’s wrath causes him to be blinded by fury and make some rash decisions, this can be seen in stanza IX. “Or, there’s Satan!”–one might venture Pledge one’s soul to him” this talks about pledging his soul to Satan, which is taboo in the most severe form. The monk’s nature develops throughout the poem, climaxing in the last stanza through his final decision. I believe this decision was the monk’s true flaw.

A similar scenario is presented in Othello, through the use of his pride. Othello’s pride is shown through his high status and love for Desdemona, which can be seen in the quotation “She chose me”, which shows pride in their love. Although Othello takes pride in his achievements and possessions, this flaw is taken advantage of and is exploited by Iago. Othello’s pride causes him to make rash judgements when his pride is at stake, causing him to turn on his friends and even himself at times. Iago takes advantage of Othello’s hubris to manipulate his judgement and trigger these rash decisions in order to torment Othello as much as possible. Shakespeare presents these flaws by emphasising Othello’s short temper and rash decisions.

Flaws are also presented in The Laboratory-Ancien Regime, through the use of the sin ‘wrath’. In the Laboratory-Ancien Regime, the protagonist is cheated on by her husband and in response to this, takes revenge and causes suffering to the husband. This can be seen through this quotation “He is sure to remember her dying face!” as it implies her feeling of victory. From this, I can see how wrath motivates the protagonist and causes her to commit murder, in a similar way that envy caused the murder in ‘Porphyria’s lover’. This shows similarity to Othello and the other poems, in how the sin ultimately causes the climax of the poem, resulting in the death of the husband’s lover.

As a conclusion, I can see how sins are used to present flaws in these poems and how these sins are the human flaws which each human possess. These flaws cause the characters to make judgements that are fuelled by sins. The author uses these sins to progress the story and help reach the climax in each story/poem.

By Daniel Alvarado

Note: Bold are the things I will probably need to change when re-editing

Do you like books? News flash. Most of the newer generation probably have a different opinion. I’m not talking about babies or five year old’s. I’m talking about the generation of people who are currently in their teen years, my generation of people. Why do you think they don’t share the belief of enjoying books? Let’s not trap ourselves in our own little bubbles and just face the facts. My generation dislike (or in some cases hate) books. I will analyse, answer and explain some of these reasons that are just plain stupid. This problem will ultimately lead on to a generation of idiots who rely on technology too much and will just turn out to be an epic fail.

‘Books are boring’. This is the opinion of many people that I know and (I’m sure) many people of my generation. I can understand that as technology advances, movies become better, life quality so on blah blah blah, but seriously?! Some people have never even read a book. Now why do we think this is? It’s because they think books are boring and crap and this is partially the fault of the older generation. As we were growing, some of the older generation  tried to cram books into our heads, not saying they had ill-intentions, but this eventually lead to an association between books and school/education. At some point every school boy/girl would have thought that school is boring and eventually thought “Well, books are boring”. They are mistaken. Everyone has a book that appeals to them. Books are only as boring as you let them be. My generation only know the books that they hate and not the books that they will truly like. This was the mistake the older generation committed.

‘They’re long’. Have you ever heard the saying ‘time flies when you’re having fun’? Well, same applies here. When you hate a book or dislike it, you’re going to find it long, boring and will have no initiative to continue reading. However, if you really love a book then you will be literally begging for extra time to read it and trying to cram it into whatever time possible, probably wishing the book was longer. It’s like saying “summer holidays are so long.” sometimes the longer the book, the better.

‘Movies are so much better’. Um…since when was an imitation better than the real thing? That applies here. Movies will not be better than the books (bar the odd exception) because most movies are based on books. Also, what really pisses me off is when someone hasn’t even read the book of a movie and just say the film is better.  I mean, seriously? You cannot just assume that. Especially if you’re one of the people who have never read a book. Books are mostly better than movies because when you’re reading books your brain creates the scene that you’re reading, so it is your perfect scene. On the other hand, when watching a movie, you are seeing someone else’s idea of what is happening. I’m not saying movies are bad. Believe me, when you finish the book, you will be dying to see the movie. I really love movies, but that does not mean that movies are better than books.

So then, as I have said before, there is a book for everyone – and I mean everyone – so if you’re listening to this and you hate, dislike or have never read a book. Look for your book. I guarantee you will find it….so shut up and read a book.

Bored. The teacher’s voice drones on as I stare out of the window, captured in a mesmerising daydream on whether simultaneous events really do occur simultaneously, accounting for light’s speed. Which is something I would say if it was a normal school day. It’s funny how fast things change. It used to be intelligence and determination that mattered in school, but now it’s hair & eye colour. I guess that comes later. I might as well start from the beginning.

I guess it started with the politics. When that man on the posters with the tidy hair and neatly cut moustache got elected as chancellor and appointed himself as Führer of the country. Fervent rallies quickly turned to doctrine as the people’s fear was turned against them. My country was used to flawed policies so I saw this as something that would pass in time, but the banners that adorned my city did not.

Mrs Gottschalk did not arrive. Another teacher strolled in, confidence in his stride. “Welcome” he said, an icy coldness in his voice, “Starting from today, every person in this class will have a new timetable”. He read out a list of everyone in the class. Almost everyone. All except David. I tried to catch his eye. The teacher continued, “The ones called out are to report to me to collect their new timetables.” David put his hand up. The teacher shot him a mere glance of disgust before disregarding David. He lowered his hand and called out, “But what about me, sir?”  A bird flied past the window. The teacher turned his full attention onto David and repeated “Starting from today, every person in this class will have a new lesson plan.” David looked puzzled, “I don’t understand sir…” A quick hand movement  beckoned David to the front.

The teacher inspected David. “Boys and girls, let’s have a quick Biology lesson before second period” announced the teacher. “The Jew doesn’t understand, allow me to explain” David shuffles his feet. “This disgusting specimen is an example of the sub-human species trashing and corrupting our perfect society. Who else would be responsible for the unfair terms that the treaty was agreed upon? It was all of the lower life scum polluting our culture.” I felt a flare in my chest. Anger.

David looked down, ashamed. “And those things come by many different names, Jewish, Gypsies, Pacifists, the list is endle-” My legs moved before my mind commanded them. My knees wre trembling, I couldn’t look him in the eye. The teacher took three steps towards me, grabs my collar, hissing like a Kreuzotter “It seems some must be disciplined”. David looked shrunken, smaller. The air whistled through the classroom and the cane struck my flesh. I jerked, the instrument brings about a new wave of pain. I felt reality slipping into darkness. It wasn’t the pain that haunted my dreams.

It was his smirk.

How has Pride been shown in MLD and one other poem you have studied?

Pride is shown in ‘My last Duchess’ by the Duke. I believe that pride is more clearly portrayed in line 9 and line 10 when he says “(since none puts by The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)” from this quotation in which he explains that only he can reveal his painting, I can see that the duke displays pride in his achievement; murder of the duchess. Pride is also shown by the Duke due to him being so open about the murder of his wife and his threat to the counsellor.

Pride is also shown in the poem Ozymandias by the ‘king’ Ozymandias. Although we do not meet Ozymandias, his works and statues created for him portray his character as quite a cold, proud character. I can infer this from line 11 “Look on my works, yet Mighty and despair!” In which he is proudly showing off his cruelty as his ‘works’. This poem and The Last Duchess show both show Pride by powerful characters.

Summary of chapter 6:
Chapter 6 is set towards the end of summer, this is the time when Dill has to go back home. This event triggers an idea conjured up by Dill to visit Boo Radley’s house before Dill’s departure. Scout protests, but her attempts are futile and she decides to join them when Jem says “I declare to the Lord you’re gettin’ more like a girl every day!”. The key event in this chapter would be the visit to Boo Radley’s house in which they just about managed to escape unscathed. Jem and Dill had to lie about this event.

I believe that Jem realises the sadness of the lifestyle of Boo Radley and what Boo Radley does not have, freedom.

The chapter starts with Scout being excluded from the activities of Dill and Jem. Miss Maudie disregards rumours on Boo Radley and tells Scout her views on Boo and the people of Maycomb. Scout then finds Dill and Jem, planning to contact Boo Radley. After a fail attempt, Atticus catches them and lectures them.

The exchange of Slang does not impede the clarity of communication, nor is it an accurate identifier of one’s intelligence. I disagree strongly with Isabelle Kerr’s article “Twerking, selfie and unlike? Young people don’t speak like that – I should know” This article rants about how great the old English language was and how more recent generations are destroying the Queens tongue.

Kerr spends time in her article explaining her problems with the term ‘twerking’: “I actually had to Google this word.” Uh oh. In this great article on how degrading slang is, Kerr actually used slang herself. “Google” isn’t a real word, it is slang terminology for using the Google search engine, changing the noun ‘Google’ into a verb. So how can this article even be valid if the person presenting it is showing clear signs of hypocrisy? Preposterous.

Kerr blames the ruin of the English language on the youth of today; she often draws upon stereotypes to tell us that “young people” as a group are at fault, stating they face a “constant battle” to “prove we’re not all apathetic, ASBO-wielding yobs who can’t communicate properly.” Excuse me? In this statement, she’s implying that most young people that utilise slang can’t communicate properly.
Properly: “adverb 1. correctly or satisfactorily.”
Communicate: ” verb 1. share or exchange information, news, or ideas.”

So, how does slang hinder the exchange of communication? Is there even a proper way to communicate? To communicate properly, I mean? To correctly share information? Who is to say whether communication, the method and means, the clarity with which I express myself, should be judged? Surely, communication is subjective. We are each senders and receivers, shouldn’t we all take some responsibility for these reciprocal roles that we take part in?

This quotation caught my eye, “And I’m not alone. Some young Twitter users have expressed their rejection of the new words, with one young follower tweeting, ‘what has the world come to?’” Kerr seems to be implying that there is a constant battle for all young people to not be portrayed as the people they seem to condemn. This, again is an act of hypocrisy; throughout Kerr’s whole argument, she states that these slang words are a negative contribution to the English language. Kerr also says that “your generation” only worries about image, reputation and sex and that the slang words are only used to portray such negative things. In reality, she is doing the same thing. Kerr, alongside her young Twitter writers, are worrying about image and reputation by constantly trying to prove that they’re not like the “young people” which she seems to hate. So Kerr is going to rant about image and then obsess about image in an attempt to make yourself look like you’re not obsessing over your image. Where is the logic?

Kerr continues on to affirming, “Words like tweaking, unlike and selfie are nothing more than slang which, just like any fashion trend, come and go. After all, when was the last time you heard someone describe something as ‘groovy’?” The flare that set off her rant is the fact that slang words such as “unlike” have been added to the English dictionary. Then she’s using an example to support her argument through the word “groovy” not being used and that slang is a trend. This is just dumb. Regardless of “groovy” being a trend, it has still been added to the dictionary as slang. This goes against your argument as although it being a trend, it has still been added to the dictionary, so why shouldn’t the other slang terms be added? Is it because the term “groovy” was invented before Kerr was born that she have some sort of biased opinion when comparing modern day slang with older slang? Does she actually think that her generation created slang? Hahaha, don’t make me laugh. Slang has been around for as long or even longer than the English language has been in existence.

The article finishes with Kerr announcing that “Shakespeare will be turning in his grave.” Excuse me? Is she being serious? Is Kerr so devoid of knowledge that she didn’t know Shakespeare is considered an innovator of slang? How can she even use him in her argument? Well, Isabelle Kerr got one thing right. He is turning in his grave to come back and set her argument straight!

By Daniel Alvarado

SUMMARY (first chapter)

At the beginning of the first chapter of To kill a Mockingbird,  two characters are introduced, the protagonist called Scout and her brother Jem. Scout and Jem are out of school due to the time being set in the summer holidays, this is when they meet another character, Dill. Jem, Scout and Dill become friends over time and begin to talk about an urban myth of a person called Boo Radley who lives next door. Boo is described as having “a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time.” I believe that the significant event in this chapter is the dare that Jem has to undertake in which he touches the Radley’s house in order to lure of Boo.

-Daniel Alvarado