Crucible Essay Draft Reflection

While researching, drafting, and revising my essay I didn't face a whole lot of problems. The worst thing that held me up was the trouble with putting my thoughts into words that flow together well. Sometimes when I'm writing, everything will go together and then I'll get to a sentence and my thought process gets tangled up inside my head, it's a problem. Thankfully, it doesn't happen often. Along with that, that I need work on strategically placing my thoughts into words. Sometimes I have so much information and it just doesn't come out right. I felt personal success when I received my essay from my friends that had peer edited it. There wasn't much wrong with it, and I felt proud.

I found the pre-writing activities to be very helpful. Putting together a prospectus and an in-depth outline made the writing of the essay much easier because it gave me a great starting point. I would definitely use those methods in the future. One thing I would try to do better is put together a more in-depth introductory and closing paragraphs, I seem to struggle with writing those.

My peer editing experience - although I love my friends- was not great. I got very little feedback on my paper, in some cases, none at all. I was given back my paper with very minor things to fix. I thought I must just be a really good writer, but turns out that I just didn't get the right editing experience. I'm not sure there would be much  to change to enhance the efficiency of the peer editing system.

I think my strengths are having strong talking points and being able to support them. Weaknesses are definitely not having as much experience with serious essay writing in the past. Sometimes, I lose my focus and accidentally repeat something or word something awkwardly. I am planning and focusing on clean cut topic sentences and specific details during my revisions. I hope that I can revise this essay to be the best that it can be.

Into the Wild Personal Response #1

 "Chris was very much of the school that you should own nothing except what you can carry on your back at a dead run". This quote spoke to me  while reading Into the Wild because it demonstrated the true purity in Chris's ventures. He wasn't going on this trip for the fame or fortune, or even to have a good reputation, he did it to experience what so many had before him. In my opinion, this quote means that one should not have excessive amounts of anything-- only what is needed. I think very highly of his belief. He trusts fully in nature to help him through the cold months and marvels in its beauty during the warm ones, I find that incredibly courageous and meaningful. I think the value of a minimalist lifestyle comes from within rather than something tangible. By living minimally for as long as he did, he expressed feelings he might not have expressed, he learned things he may never have learned, and he found out who he is in the world. Living minimally, in my opinion, has many great effects. I would do the same thing, if I wasn't so wimpy. I envy that he had the boldness to set out on such a journey the way he did, for I could never. I think it takes a great deal of self-reliance (Look! Emerson got to me!) and bravery within oneself. These are characteristics that many lack, but Chris McCandless was lucky enough to have these attributes to take him on the journey of a lifetime. 

My Connections with Nature -- Seeing What All the Thoreau Hype is About

I step outside into the vast space. I take a deep breath and lie myself down on the soft bed of grass, expecting it to be cold, I'm happily surprised that it is pleasant. I peer around, eyeing the leaves cascading down from the trees above, and tumbling around the field of grass, spanning over the wide open space. I close my eyes to let my other senses speak to me more clearly. My cheek is brushed by a gust of wind, not cold or hot, a pleasant, refreshing breeze. My hair begins to flow with the breeze, it's so tantalizingly great. My ears, so small, can hear some of the biggest things, the singing and talking of birds. These birds are artwork; they are miracles. With the Great Mother and the Divine Father as creators, it's hard not to be so wonderful to the senses. I bask in the glory of their presence. With my eyes remaining closed, my body is entranced by the gleaming sun. The heat transferring down does not only heat my body, but my soul. Although the sun conquers many other nations, I feel that it is my own. Such a personal connection draws me to nature, keeping me within its grips.Slowly, I open my eyes to the world yet again, feeling refreshed in more ways than one. I feel closer to our earth; I feel one with nature. Hanging above me is the infinite blue sky that lights up the world. Just when I believe that nothing could be better in the world at this moment, I notice large fluffy clouds. The clouds block the sun and bring harm to our weather. I ponder on this, which brings me to the question, do the clouds represents obstacles in one's life? Does He want us to realize that nothing can be perfect? I want to think so. Sitting up, I spot several insects gathering around a leaf. I gather an odd sense of hope; do these small insects show us that our fears are smaller than we perceive them? I believe that and it brings me to thoughts of success and pride; to over come the bug is to achieve true success. A leaf dangles from the tree above, the wind teasing it. Minutes later, the leaf drops down and I realize that the leaf has ended its cycle on earth.This leads me to the actualization that nothings so beautiful lasts forever. I stand up feeling rejoiced in all of the new things I have uncovered.

The Character Analysis of John Proctor

1. John Proctor is a major character in the Crucible. He is also very dynamic and a 'foil'. Dynamic means that he is changing throughout the story, while a 'foil' is someone who's personality traits sort of contradict each other. At the beginning of the play, we perceive John as a devoted husband and farmer, but, as he evolves we see that he isn't as perfect as we thought. Through Act II he almost comes off as a jerk to his wife, and we see borderline resentment. Then at the end of the act, John switches back to that devoted husband and overall good man by showing us that he genuinely cares about the accused witches. Now, John is a foil character because you wouldn't suspect that a husband of three boys and a farmer that lives miles out of town would be an adulteror, especially with such a young girl. He proves to the audience that he's a real human, too.

2. John has overall good qualities. He knows right from wrong and has good morals. What I admire most about John is that he doesn't just believe anything that is preached to him. He openly comes out in Act I and says he doesn't believe in witchcraft. That was such a bold move, especially as a Puritan! I think that cheating on his wife is the biggest mistake of his life in his eyes. He can't live it down because his wife won't let him. I don't believe that he had any evil motive to do such a thing. John deeply regrets it. I don't know what kind of emotion that overcame him in that moment.

3. John faces a man vs. society style conflict. His wife and dear friends have just been accused of witchcraft and it is beyond his control. He does anything in his power to convince the others of their innocence, but they don't listen to him. This particular conflict complicates his life by restricting him from giving justice to his wife. Another conflict that John possesses is man vs. man. John vs. Abigail, to be more specific. We all know that Elizabeth and John have been having marital problems in Act II, and I think this conflict in particular puts a lot of strain on them.  Elizabeth begs John to tell the town of Abigail's false accusations, but he isn't sure he can. This is an interesting conflict in the aspect that we don't know what is going to happen. Will Abigail win? Or, will John? I believe that John will overcome both of these conflicts in the remainder of the play. I don't know how, but I know he will.

from Sinners in the Hands of God... In the perspective of a Puritan child

Church on Sunday morning is my favorite part of the week. Our whole family gets together, wears our best clothing, and heads to hear the latest news from God, spoken from Reverend Edwards. He has the most special relationship with God, Mama always says. Mama hasn't always been a Puritan, but Papa's brother is Reverend Edwards, so she has to be Puritan if she wants to live with our family. She doesn't mind being a Puritan, I don't think. We sit in church, and Reverend Edwards is starting to yell. I try to listen in, but my mind wanders. Several minutes later I notice that my mother is looking nervous, and clutching her cross ever so tightly. What is going on? I listen in, for real this time. Reverend Edwards is saying things like "He is drunk with your blood" and "almighty merciless vengeance". I look over at Papa and he has a determined look on his face. I look over at Mama, and she is starting to cry now. Reverend Edwards is full of energy and not stopping with these words. I turn to Mama and ask, "What does Reverend Edwards mean when he says, 'The God that holds you over the pit of hell'?" She looks at me with wide eyes and appears to be frightened. She looks away without answering. I turn around to find that many other Mamas are crying, too. I'm so confused. What is going on?

At home on Sunday afternoon, there is nothing but silence. Being the youngest of my four siblings, they try to keep me sheltered from why Mama is crying, but I can figure it out. Do they not know I'm 7 years old now? Papa has been gone all day long with Reverend Edwards, I suppose they'll be back for dinner. Until then, I think I'll go lay with Mama and make her feel better.

At dinner that night Reverend Edwards and Papa seem full of happiness, talking about more words that make Mama cry. I hear them say "anger and the wrath of God" and another that goes like "God is a great deal more angry with great numbers that are now on earth". Why is God mad? Have we done something to upset him? I know I haven't, I've kept myself clean and pure, gone to church, and said my prayers. What's so bad about that? I think Mama feels the same way, because now I am starting to feel scared. How can I be a better Puritan? I don't think I can. Am I going to die in hell? I'm not hungry anymore, so I dash off to my cot, while Mama races after me. She looks at me and knows why I left dinner. We're scared. We're scared of Reverend Edwards, of hell, and of God. She lets me get in bed and recover from the day. She knows that I'll need to some time to think, because she has been through it, too. We've both finally realized how imperfect we are, how we will never be good enough for God. We just sit in silence while we hear the laughter of Papa and Reverend Edwards roar from the kitchen.

Blog Entry #1: A reflection of my writing

I have always enjoyed writing. From the moment I learned, I was constantly writing stories and plays. In high school, I realized that my grades showed that I actually was a pretty good writer. I rarely ever got anything lower than a B+ on a writing assignment. I could say that those grades were just showing a talent for writing, but then I'd be wrong. I have a passion for writing. Whether it be creative, persuasive, narrative, or argumentative, I love it. Of course, I am still a teenager, and if I don't feel like writing that day, then I don't. I handle major writing assignments well. I start with an outline, then continue on to a first draft. I like someone with more experience to read through my first draft to tell me how I can improve it. Then I go on to edit it and come up with a second draft, this one I usually have a peer read. After the two drafts are done, I finish up my paper with a quick edit and read through. Bam. Paper done. I feel confident with my ability to write, although I'd love to improve as much as possible! For strengths, I definitely think mine are being able to express my wide vocabulary and play with my words. Weaknesses are plenty as well. I have major writer's block lots of times and I could use some help on sentence structure. I'd like to learn more about how to write in a way that just flows better. I think that sentence structure would be a big part of that.

Personally, I am most excited for the 'Realism, Naturalism, & Racial Issues in America' unit because I just adore argumentative writing and discussing controversial topics. I love to debate my feelings on a subject. Now for least excited, (I'm sure this is a popular one) the Poetry unit is definitely going to be my least favorite. I've always hated poetry and the Poetry Out Loud competition. I think I can do well on most units, I usually do. Worried? I'm not very worried for any units, I think that I can learn anything that I want.