Jail

People tend to do things better when they can relate to that something in a personal way. A tennis player can write, and make a good essay about tennis, while an inmate serving 120 years for assault, can easily write an essay about it even if he never finished high school. Hamlet is the story about death, and a mixed series of revengeful actions. This practically defines the lives of a lot of the inmates making it, not easier, but more realistic when the time comes to act.

Having criminals playing as criminals allows us to understand them better as well as the play. For one, by interviewing a man who took someone's life, it is easier to figure out what has happening in the mind of someone like Cornelius. These inmates show what it is like to take another man's life and then having to live with the aftermath of those actions until their life is over. By interviewing them, it's the same as if talking to the real Hamlet who was at one point dying for revenge.

The best thing about having inmates to meet is their variety. This means that every inmate has at least one available idea to every part of Hamlet's speeches. Hamlet questions if he is truly the one that has to kill his uncle and live with the idea of taking the life of another man. There is an inmate for that. If Hamlet is just raging in love for Ophelia, there is an inmate for that. And even when Hamlet has killed and is suffering for the remainder of his life in agony, there is an inmate for that.

There was one inmate that caught my attention that decided to relate himself to Cornelius. He had taken a man's life, and he described it as "the ghost of Hamlet's father was speaking to me through the pages." This meant that he had killed him before his time had come, and he was therefore forced to live in another world, and look at the things happening not being able to do a thing about it. That is what made him a criminal: having stopped someone's life before he was done living, and therefore altering the natural course of the actions that could have made the dead man far more useful in the world.

The last thing that caught my attention was the idea that the inmates have to show their light side if they want to act in the play. The first reason is that this play relates to them so much, that even though they can act it out as a tough person, they will have to lighten up if they want to actually understand it and reflect upon it in order to get themselves thinking about themselves as part of the play. Second, this is a play that they are acting in. They're not stealing, or killing anything, and they will have to lighten up once again (which is not necessarily hard since most of them actually have a family and are used to it).

Having people acting as themselves makes the play more realistic than if any other actor did it. It means that they can grow as they do this, and experience something that will help them come out a little more "sober". That is, if they ever come out.

Straight to the Point

Many people, when reading Hamlet, come across the idea that he is either insane, or just faking his actions to get people fooled. But very few people will think that he is irrational as George Santayana describes it. This means that Hamlet simply overreacted with the idea of revenge. But, it is well known that the first instinct of a person is to to think of avenging the death of a loved one. So instead of calling it irrational, I would call it sudden.

Now, Santayana's essay points out every one of Hamlet's mistakes that eventually sent him to his death. The big one that caught my attention was "he acts without reflection, as he reflects without acting." Now, applying this to the situation in the play where he invites everyone to his self made play, it is pretty obvious that he did not think the whole way through before going in to demonstrate that Cornelius was actually a murderer. The exact opposite applies to when he meets the ghost of his father for the first time. Whether he was actually insane, or faking, it took him a good while to finally deliver the strike to send the king out of power.

Taking a similar character like Laertes, there is a strong opposition seen. Laertes makes no hesitation in going for Hamlet for revenge. The only thing that stops him is the soothing hand of the king that reminds him that the time to strike will come. And Laertes is proof that Hamlet is not exactly sane: The first reflex for most people when they find that a loved one is gone, is simply revenge. Hamlet does feel this, but does not go like crazy to strike at Cornelius. This could either mean that he has gone completely mad, or that he is being clever about what move he wants to make in his game. This explains his constant talk with the excuse that he is just waiting for the right time and Shakespeare can't have him do nothing until that time comes.

Trying to explain a lack of action, or a very sudden action of a character is like explaining to the teacher why you didn't do your blogs in time...... But the best excuse (which is still pretty fake) is to say that he was waiting for the right time.

What we See and Don't See

It is true that Shakespeare has a unique form of seeing things in order to get the audience to wonder. Samuel Coleridge chooses to try to figure out what Shakespeare tries to do as he writes the plays. In his passage, he directs his attention to the difference between the real world, and the world that is being done in the play. He chooses to think that Shakespeare not only tries to put his audience into the world, but to put them in the shoes of one of the characters.

Now, Coleridge argues that Hamlet is an exception to this due to the continual talk. Hamlet has several talks to himself in front of the audience where he will talk about his position, and will allow the audience to make their own judgements on how he should think. The most famous of them all is "To be or not to be" (III.i.) where he question whether he should live or die in this situation. It is particularly strong since most of the audience have experienced this sort of feeling where they have considered the idea to say goodbye to life and just die. Now, since this play is easily misinterpreted, Shakespeare could very well be calling the audience a crowd of crazy people. Since there is a very high chance that Hamlet may be crazy, and having this talk that is so similar to one that most of the audience has experienced, he begins to actually question the meaning of being crazy.

That is where Coleridge's theory of balance between the real world and the world of the play comes in. Shakespeare drags in the audience to the shoes of one of the characters by giving them something they can apply to their own lives and experience a little of that "crazy" Hamlet already has flowing in his veins. Though people will argue that this sort of thing has been done before, the fact remains that never has any sort of writer come in to give real life experiences so vividly as William Shakespeare.

How to Interpret

I had a lawyer once tell me "It's not about the facts but about how they are interpreted and how they are delivered to make them believable." I learned that every great case has many possible twists in which a lawyer can try to make a good argument to defend a case. Hamlet would be among the best cases of them all. Even though it's a nice story and pretty straight forward, it is one of the best demonstrations of how ideas can be manipulated.

Now, Von Schlegel wrote an essay where he generally just states the things that happen that people might interpret in several ways. For instance, the idea of Hamlet longing to be king is often argued as being a crazy thought or just human nature to want more. But he goes far enough to mention that Hamlet kills his uncle and that it can still be argued as not insane.

Some things just can't be argued against. Hamlet is a tragedy and will remain that way. However, people add comedy into it all the time. Schlegel thinks of Hamlet with Ophelia as either a fake love, or just some temporary affair. It's all up to the reader. But there are other things fixed like the idea of the corrupt ones put behind bars and the ghost of his father being there to help.

To conclude, there are some things that just must remain the same and others that can be seen as complete opposites of what they really are.

The Fire Inside You

It's been a long ride. These two have done everything they can to stay alive. But apparently, that just wasn't enough. At this point in living, the man and the son don't really have anything. Aside from a little food, they don't really have anything to loose. But they keep going. Why? They haven't eaten in days and all odds of long term survival al completely gone. So why do they keep going?

Everything in life is done to achieve something. In a world like this, there is little more that they can achieve. And even if they are able to survive through something, there will be something else waiting for them to hold them back. So why keep going? I answer this with one

phrase: It's all about the mentality. In just about any world, there will be obstacles to overcome as well as struggles. Their mentality consists of doing the same thing in this world that they would in any other: keep going because they have nothing to loose.

However, these are especially hard times that they have to go through. They need a new set of ideas to move forward. They need something a little more inspirational to keep going. They need to remind themselves that being human means to prevail and endure even if they know there really is no light at the end of the tunnel. So the really answer to why they keep moving is to demonstrate that they are human and when you have truly nothing to loose, then just keep carrying the "fire inside you (116P.).

What they can't afford

I am obviously not talking about trading like you would in the real world. I'm talking about things that can't happen if they are to survive. I'm talking about thinks like a thief coming to your camp and stealing all you have. Or an injury......

This is around the end of the book when the boy has his leg broken. This is the beginning of the end of the journey. To make things worse, their current camp sight is collapsing and it's raining all the time. This is no time to travel. But they do it anyway. But this is the world of scenarios. They have to face staying put and starving to death, or die on the road in search of food to live a little longer. Either way, they will die.

If I ever was faced with this situation, where I would have nothing to loose, injured, hungry and dying, I would stand up and keep moving forward. The idea is if I stay, I will guarantee my death after very little time. But is i decide to get up, at least I will die trying and "spitting blood" (112P.).

There is a good side to their tale however. If they would have survived, then they would have endured just about every possible situation. And if not, then they would have left a legacy for others to follow. That's the beauty of the human race: You make sure to leave something behind after you die so that others can learn from you and help for the future.

We all make mistakes.........

It's true that we all have the right to make a mistake. But that doesn't mean that it won't come with a big price. In this case, the handgun is the thing that will almost guarantee the survival of the boy and the son. Even though they may only have one bullet left, it is the best use of defense that they have against whatever might want to come at them. And the boy just so happens to make the vital mistake of leaving it back at the shore of the sea while the father was in the water. Even though it brought no serious consequences, this is the sort of mistake that could have meant the end for the two of them.

Another thing that cost them was going out at night. In any situation, this is the worst time to travel. This is the time where you're tired, probably hungry, and in need for rest. This is the time where you have to settle down to regain strength. But they simply keep on pushing. Their mistake was to abandon the shelter at the shore where they would be sure to keep save even if it had been checked very recently.

Truth be told, these two are a one and a half man wolf pack. Though small, one cannot live without the other. And though they have to endure to get through things, I find them to be too soft to survive for long. That is a mistake I found the father to have made. He has let the kid be too soft. Though he loves him and would never do anything to put him in harm's way, it look like he has let the kid remain soft. I understand his mistake since they are both new to this world. But I don't see the kid surviving long without the father even if he does live to obtain a greater age.

Black Horizon

Whenever you look at the sky, or even the horizon, it might be a neat color. It is the color of the earth. It is the color of a healthy earth that lives and supports life without much problem. But the very mentioning of a black horizon is enough to send a chill down your neck. It is the idea of death falling upon the planet and those who live in it. This is in page 91 of the word version of the story when they are at the shore camping. The sight of the sea is enough to bring happiness to a mind. But not here. This is a sad sight. No gulls, and no sign of life anywhere. A dead planet.

As we saw the idea of global dimming in class, I came up with a theory. The greenhouse gases

don't allow the rays from the son to go back into space but at the same time, they block it out

from reaching the surface of the earth. It is the same thing that is happening in The Road except

that it is far more exaggerated and simply kills off the life on the planet. In this story, there is only

the empty shell of what once was the green earth. "There is no sea smell" to the ocean and I find

no reason for them to be praying to god. He left that place a very long time ago.

Without a Plot

When an author doesn't spend time planning out how the book is going to be writtenbeforehand, you can tell. Like Slaughterhouse 5, this book is all over the place. There is a train of thought, but you can tell that the author didn't really plan out what would happen next and instead just went out and wrote whatever came to mind.

If there is one thing that this book has taught me so far is that you must enjoy life while you can. They mentioned in the last interview that people take the idea of an apocalypse far

more seriously than they did about 20 years ago. It is now a far more real possibility. That is part of the reason why this book was so successful; it has become more of a theory of what

might happen instead of some little bedtime story. People like looking at serious things that might happen. It's not so they can prepare for it so that it can happen, but to just have a little taste of what it will be like if it came.

You need a certain passion in order to stay alive. If you become rich in the process, then great. This is the sort of thing that McCarthy said during the third part of the interview with Oprah. And it applies in just about every type of world that will every excist. The man in The Road needs his son in order to give him motivation. McCarthy needs his own son to do the same. And whether it's another human that keeps you moving or the fact that you're doing what you love, it will always help.

Note: I had no plot for this blog

Canary in the Coal mine

I say canary in the coal mine because it is an old method of sending down a canary to a mine and then bringing it back up. It it comes back dead, it means there is too much CO2 and they workers can't go down. It is a form of early warning system. The same thing is true about finding a headless child in the road as you walk by. This serves as an early warning system them simply means "you're a long way from the coast so you might want to hurry".

This just so happens to be the sharpest, most graphic scene so far and it isn't even put into so much detail. It's like reading A child called "it" where there is very little detail in terms of the setting and the events but it is not hard to picture what is going on.

Another early warning system I noticed earlier was the falling ash. Even though they did not make very much of it, it may have been the most dangerous piece in the story. If this turns out to be radioactive material, then they will not live very long at all. The only warnings that these tow are actually taking into account are those that affect them inmediately. Like a seeing a group of people walking in the distance or that dead kid on the floor. They want to avoid human contact as much as possible and with good reason. But that doesn't meant it's the only thing they should avoid.

Continued faith

If I was ever in this sort of situation where the world was simply......dead, I would simply tell myself that god self it a long time ago and loose faith completely. However, the boy and the son still show signs that they remain persevering, and actually faithful to god. And i have no idea why.

This idea had been developing along with the story but I never really noticed it until around page 61 in the word document version. They had just found plenty of food and the father made the kid say a thanks to the people who had provided such feast for the two of them. What caught my attention was the last line of the prayer from the boy that said "we

hope that you're safe in heaven with god" (61p.). Due to the lack of detail and feel in the book, I don't really know well how the man reacted to this last quote. But by the looks of it, they were indeed blessed with what was yet to come. The boy was able to take a bath with warm water at last and they washed their clothes as well. They were almost living like an ordinary family in the house. Does faith and hard work to get the things you want really get you things like these in the worst of situations? Apparently yes in this case.

Looks life fortune really does favor favor the bold. I say this because I don't really think there are too many people like these in the world they are living in now. They are probably the only father and son within 10000 miles. Even an old man says "I never thought to see a child

again (71 p.). If this man old man is saying something like that, then there hasn't been achild anywhere near for quite a long time. So looks like they really are a very bold pair. They act as one instead of two individuals who depend on each other. They make sure the other one is Ok before moving on. They get their act together to mover forward. But most importantly, the love each other.

Register exercise

1. His sir sorry for not attending your class last week but I was very sick. I arrived today from a trip I was for the puente. I wanted to let you know that all my blogs are completed until last week. Furthermore I will talk to you tomorrow for anything else i am missing. Please take a look at them so you can grade them.

thanks, (this is a informal that was trying to be formal)

2. And tonight, let us think back to the sense of unity that prevailed on 9/11. I know that it has, at times, frayed. Yet today’s achievement is a testament to the greatness of our country and the determination of the American people. The cause of securing our country is not complete, but tonight we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to. That is the story of our history. Whether it’s the pursuit of prosperity for our people or the struggle for equality for all our citizens, our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place. (definitely ceremonial)

3. OMG! I love lit. Holy mole, I want to be a poet, yo. J (Very informal)

4. In Brooklyn days, I wanted to be Carlos Ortiz, lightweight champion
of the world from Ponce, Puerto Rico. I gazed at the radiance
of the black and white television till it spoke to me in tongues,
a boy spellbound by the grainy spirits who stalked each other in the ring. (Informal/ ceremonial)

5. I pointed out that his force had overthrown the government that issued visas. But, in this kind of a stalemate, the guy with the gun wins. And that was Ayman.

Eventually, he came up with a solution. I would give him a ride to his hometown, Zawarah, and the visa requirement would disappear. I gritted my teeth and told him to jump in.

That incident points to a fear that many Americans have of the Libyan rebels. Are they just goons who will create their own tyranny or chaos?

Particularly after we embraced Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan, only to see him engulfed by corruption, it’s fair to ask whether the Libyan rebels will do any better. The uncertainties are real. But, after my recent visit to Libya, I’m guardedly optimistic. (Informal)

What if?

Considering that the man has a son to raise in such conditions, the sight of another human being is the last thing he wants to see. This is especially true in pages 46-49 in the word version of the story. They enter a house to find a multitude of people all naked, cold and scared. He first instinct was to get his son out of there. He had no idea what these peoples' intentions even though they did seem desperate.

Now, i was wondering how the man would have reacted if his he had no son. How would he have reacted if it was only him against the world? Firstly, I don't think he would have been so kind and defensive in situations like these. All he has to loose is his own life and no one else's. So, he would probably take advantage of these people by searching if they have anything of value and then leave. Now, if he were to find himself with people of his own standard (or even higher), he would probably just run for it like he did with his son.

I notice that there are many forms of individualism in this story and in the general world they are living in. The kind the boy and the man are having is trying to isolate themselves completely from any other human contact in fear that something might happen. The type the people in the house had was a little more open since they had absolutely nothing and would have to rely on someone that passed by. The last one I noticed was that of the people outside the house just before the man and the son left running. This type of individualism is more of a "gang" if you will. They depend on each other and probably share everything equally in order stay alive as a one. It's far more efficient but when it comes to conflict decision making, they will have to be very flexible with their peers in order to survive and stay together.

"Will they kill us papa?"(47.) just so happens to be the very evidence that this kid knows well the world they live in. He is still innocent but knows what to look out for and what to expect. Either he has found that out for himself, or his father has trained him over time to know what might happen and how to rect to it. This is a vital element to survive in any world either alone or in a group.

Gray Snow

This is good enough evidence to know that the world is practically dying. We don't really know what has happened to the earth but there are certainly some theories. The term "nuclear winter" refers to the earth after a large amount of nuclear weapons going off in the earth. The amount of radiation is big enough to block all the light from the sun from warming the surface of the earth. And every time that the radiation starts to settle on the ground, the wind picks it back up into the atmosphere. Therefore, it will be an infinite cycle in which the earth will never really have any life. And the idea of "grey snow" is the very description of radioactive material falling from the sky after a nuclear explosion.

But the real definition of grey snow to me is desperation and the fact that even if the man and his son get through this, they won't be living very long at all. Radiation wears off a person't body. It is the very reason that nuclear power plants are being shut down worldwide. However, so far these two travelers haven't really met anyone that is still alive. This means that it has been a while since the event happened and the human race is at the point of dying.

Forget and Remember

In psychology, it is well known that an ugly thought lasts longer in the human mind than a pretty one. In a setting like that of The Road, it especially hard to keep that fact out of the mind. In cases like these, people can either keep thought of desperation and remorse in mind until they eventually die, or choose to think in a more positive form and increase their chances of survival. "You forget that you want to remember and you remember that you want to forget"(P.5) is the very thing that caught my attention to this idea.

Now, it's pretty obvious that the man and the son haven't been in this situation for all their lives. Typically, the things that people "want" to remember are the good memories form when things were not the way they are now. My theory is that these two have been so tied in their purpose to survive through the dark world that they have forgotten to look back at the way things were. This may be with good reason since it might cause a stir of sadness to remember a nice time in the middle of a horrible one. That, or it might only motivate then to move forward for the idea that remembering the nice times brings happiness. And there is nothing that helps you move forward than a happy thought and the hope of even slightly going back to the way things were.

The second part of the quote is not exactly a complete opposite. There is little to know of what is that they want to forget. It could be what happened that made them they way they are now, the good memories that might taunt them, or the memory of loosing someone very precious to them like a mother. But remembering that you don't want to think about something just sticks it in your mind more. So in a way, they are dragging the memories of the bad times in their backs instead of the happy feeling that might help them keep moving.

I find it hard to imagine that while trying to forget, they don't even have a small glimpse of the happy times. Back to the idea of psychology, the bad memories last more than the good. They choose to push the good memories aside. You choose how you want to think knowing that it will probably affect the way you act. But gladly, that's not the entire case. The man has a very good source of motivation. His son. And even though he might choose to think in the most negative form and have all those things on his shoulders slowing him down, he will not stop in sight of giving his son a better future.

An intact gas station

"The windows strangely intact". These are the words that caught my attention in The Road. Something violent has happened in the world and they cannot deal with it. They have to struggle to search for food and when they come upon a good window, it's as if they were seeing hope. They is slowly creeping over them like a shadow. But this man has to do a lot more than just brute force to keep himself and the boy alive. He has to think of everything as an opportunity to survive. Even though the gas station had no food, they were able to retrieve oil to keep themselves war. In these times they have to shift their way of thinking so that everything is a vital tool to survive.

Fortune favors the bold. That is what hopefully will happen to these two. But why is it that life beats down the innocent in the moment of greatest darkness? Even though we all know that it is truly a cruel world, why is it that it has to be especially cruel with those who are already wounded on the grown?

A dying earth

It is well known that there have been countless predictions of the end of the world. Each one has been more embarrassing than the one before that and the one before that. So instead of risking getting embarrassed in front of the rest of the world, writers attempt to imagine what it would be like if it actually happened. The Road just so happens to be one of those stories that attempts to create a possible scenario. But instead of simply how it happens and how everyone is affected, it concentrates on a small scenario about a man and his son struggling to survive the best they can.

Now, they carry a cart with them wherever they go and make sure that if necessary, they

can just grab it all and make a run for it. The first thing I noticed about this was the in idea of individuality. In harsh times, people (through human nature) tend to think only about their own survival. And in the case of this man and his son, he has to take care not only of himself but also the thing he cares about most in the world. The world just so happens to be destroyed and you need to raise your kid as best you can. Life might hit you in the head with a brick. Sometimes you have to make the most out of it when you can. This story is a harsher version of the real life responsibility of raising a son.

Buddy Bulden is nothing short of a man with alcohol, love and simple life problems. But in many times it's the sort of people like this that have the worst of the luck. Even though he has met the type of people that would be willing to help him, he insists in throwing himself down and ignoring the rest of the world.

Bellocq swung the tripod to his side on an arc. He didn't touch the lights or sit down but leaned against the tripod as if it were a crutch. You've got a nerve coming in here like this. Just like a cop. (126)

There is certainly conflict in this part of the story. The only way one can swing the tripod in an arc is by doing it hard. And as a professional photographer, he would usually sit down to get all the lights and adjustments right. He has no intentions in taking a picture tonight and especially not to this fellow that has just come into the room. Apparently this man shouldn't be here. This is a tense moment for a small favor.

As they hit the embarkment he impressed all by answering three complex dirty jokes in a rown. Riddles he had heard years ago. Dug into his mind for further jokes he know would be appreciated and which spread like rabies the minute they got into the school.

This is when they were meeting charlie's dad. I have to say, this is one hell of a dad to get people laughing with dirty jokes. But as long as they make sense and have a twist to them, people will find it funny. I'm guessing that once a full grown adult comes back to a familiar habitat like a school..... well, s!*t happens. Even worse when people like them well enough to let them go around the school freely without much bothering.

The great Gatsby and Symbolism

As i see it, there are 2 kinds of temperature in a story and in real life. The first one is the normal temperature that comes during the summer. The second is the feel of the story whenever there is a conflict. The climax of this story comes during the summer. It starts when Gatsby and Tom have a fight at the grand Plaza hotel, when Daisy runs over Myrtle, and finally when George kills Gatsby and himself. This might be a coincidence or something that the author did on purpose. All this happens during the "hottest" part of the story both in temperature and attitude.

My First post: A normal day

This happens to be my first post. I'm just some guy making his first post at home hoping to god not to flunk Mr. Tangen's test in two days. All you need to know is that i'm a nice guy