The Conclusion

              

            Within a year of ups and downs, stress and triumph I've come to grow as both a person and a student. Looking back, this evolution has been reflected in my writing. I can’t say objectively that my development has been positive or negative, but I can conclude with some sense of finality that my change of academic identity has been permanent. Through the course of assignments and the gauntlet of blogs, I’ve found an identity as a writer and as a student. Such is the power of not only reading, but truly understanding great authors and the stories that they brought to the public. These works continue to influence the way we see the world, and the way we see some of the most important components that identify us as human. Romeo and Juliet changed the definition of what it means to love as did Of Mice and Men, Animal Farm changed politics, and To Kill a Mockingbird changed friendship and the way we recognized those around us as people with emotions. The world could not be the same without these fictions to guide us, and neither, I suppose, could I.

By far my favorite post that I have presented was my blog on “Lobsters”. While insignificant, it was the only blog where I was able to successfully show some sense of humor and not the cloudy mist of words that I’m so accustomed to confusing my audience with. This delivers me to my next epiphany: the moment in which I realized I could make a far greater impression as a writer if I used recognizable diction. I believe I identified myself with this plethora of words, but words are only letters and shapes until people put them together in a way that makes sense. Just like a lump of clay is shapeless and unidentifiable, so too are words until they are shaped from the inside to form into something that readers can relate to. In fact, I have often likened my writing style to a cardboard cake. What is on the paper is pretty and appears intelligent, but cut into it, and it becomes apparent that it is cardboard and hollow. In order to master a language that I find so important and so expressive, I had to diminish my use of words and re-identify myself as a writer.

It’s difficult to say what my blog was all about. The easy answer would be to say that it was all about the assignments and books I was reading at the time. To do so would be to take the easy way out, for as always, my writing was greatly influenced by my life at the time. Writing is an excessively subjective activity, as is reading and dissecting the works of great authors. In retrospect, I believe the reason I enjoyed and resented reading some of our assigned works was probably do to the fundamental cycle of exhaustion and “bucking up” for the “final haul”.

In the end writing was always the element in which I felt most at home. Upon this “roller coaster” adults call life and students call an education; my keyboard slash pencil was always steady to record my emotions through the works of the literary greats. Whatever changes in my life, the stories I know and love will always be present to guide me through the transitions I face. In the words of Nadine Gordimer: “Writing is making sense of life. You work your whole life and perhaps you’ve made sense of one small area.” While I still haven’t made sense of life, I believe I finally understand who I am as a person as an extension of who I am as a writer.

Reflection

Strangely enough, throughout this first year of school, some of my favorite assignments have been the ones where I am either working off the record for extra credit, or when I am working with a group. One of the things I am most proud of is my video for extra credit in our Great Expectations unit. I really enjoyed finding those clips and editing them until I reached a final product that I believe exemplified some of the pivotal components in the novel. Admittedly, the book itself was not my peak within this year of English, but I find that I was able to capture what caught the audience within the novel in my trailer.

Furthermore, I think it was quite fun to make a video for an English class. Increasingly within our culture, technology is becoming more and more imperative to achieve a high position job in any field. As literacy within film rhetoric evolves into the key method of reaching vast groups of people, the definition of what English is being redefined as well. I think the ample opportunities for technological integration within this class was a great chance for students to improve on these skills.

Poetry= good times

                 I have been fortunate enough to have some extremely positive experiences with poetry, leaving a lasting impression that I still carry with me today. Now whenever I think of this important extension of creative writing, I undergo the echoes of those childhood memories, transporting me to a period of Earl Grey tea and toast with butter and jam. Gathered like a flock of partridge, jammed like a pack of sardines, my siblings and I would nestle peacefully around our mother as she read from our poetry compilations at breakfast.

                During those moments, wrapped in that nascent cocoon of familiarity and essential warmth, I felt my own individual sun brighten. For the first time the sky came closer, but didn’t fall. I was equipped with the inspiration to write my own rambling limericks, haikus and more. Like a bear in winter, I dreamed my way through the writing of great figures of literature like Shakespeare, Blake and Dr. Seuss. Floating up within my thoughts, I found a solace within the power of words, a place and identity that I could truly call my own.

                Like most kids, I nagged a lot. “The Tiger” drove me and my brother and sister into fits. We hated that poem so much; I suppose its old timey language alienated us. And yet, perhaps through some outside intervention, this exposure to poetry yielded a positive change within us. We had a vast range of diction for kids our age, an equally vast imagination and endless literary aspirations. My sister finished her first hundred page book when she was ten. My brother and I also attempted (and failed) to complete such an accomplished saga.

                However, while I might not be able to write a full novel, because of this poetic exposure I now have a passion for poetry as not only a form of writing but as a part of human expression. I have won online poetry competitions for my work, and I know I have my old poet friends to thank for that.

Diddy/Opening Song

Commercial Revised

Conflict

 

I believe one of the most prevalent conflicts within Romeo and Juliet is based around the conundrum of individuality. Within the play, the characters are specifically attempting to define themselves from their families, fighting against extreme conformity, manipulation and influence to establish themselves as unique adults. Juliet in particular struggles with this conflict, manifesting within both her actions and the subtle nuances of her behavior. For instance, in the balcony scene, between professing her love for Romeo she frequently indulges impulses to go inside of her house. This quiet detail shows her as an immature individual, too naive and innocent to be faced with the difficult and mature decisions she will soon be presented with. However, as the passion between her and her bold counterpart intensifies, deepening their connection through a cycle of dependence as an extension of social desperation, she slowly liberates herself from this urge, breaking through this proverbial wall and allowing herself to embrace womanhood. 

Obviously, I have never experienced anything quite so indicative of my emotional evolution as Juliet in the play. However, I believe that there is always evidence of a psychologically viable maturing and defining within all teenagers. Faced with a transitional period within our lives, we embark on a process of establishing ourselves as individuals beyond our families. We embrace new social groups, habits and more that aid or degrade this process, evolving into a pattern of mistake and triumph. This developmental period has been scientifically proven to be imperative for the social and emotional growth of the individual, allowing us to develop our maturity and nurture our wisdom through an arduous pattern of learning from repetitive mistakes. I think this conflict, essentially a tangible moment where one realizes that childhood has culminating into adulthood, and that furthering one's development involves separating oneself from one's family, is always an integral part of the human development, and as an extension, our continuing connection with this Shakespearean story of growing up.

Everywhere!

Shakespeare's work as a whole has been a substantial authority over all facets of the media, theatre and more. Romeo and Juliet in particular conveys the structural mastery and ingenuity of content to extend itself to all reaches of culture, silently influencing the way we percieve and express love. I grew up on Shakespeare comic strips, condensed, abbreviated replicas of these literary giants. Because of this, I was uniquely posed to find their interpretations within the world around me. Of course, what I found was largely affected by what I was exposed to, reducing my observations to a plethora of classics and Pixar films, dominated (of course) by the ultimate big "D". Its true, the way I saw the world was through the eyes of the Disney cartoonists, nurturing a comprehensive imagination and a rich love for all things fiction. Disney also hosts a unique reputation for borrowing from Shakespeare, perhaps most extensively so within the Lion King movies. While the first is a clear paralell of Macbeth, the second reflects Romeo and Juliet. Here's the link, I apologize in advance for the music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEiE7GDDEB0

There are also Romeo and Juliet "esque" themes in Pocahontas, the Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. Ooh, Walle too. The whole "forbidden love" thing is ripe with use.