- Missing: Teenage Girl, Town's Shining Future.
- Mother of the Bride: Unworn Dress.
- Came out hero, ended up lying.
- Planned for one, finished with more.
- He found hope within tiny hole.
- Traveled through time: true or not?
Saturday, September 27, 2014
6 Stories: 6 Words
Thursday, September 18, 2014
John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?
In the story by Arthur Miller, The Crucible, the character of John Proctor turns out to be a very peculiar addition to this story. His behavior and personality at the start differs when compared to the ending. In the beginning, Miller sets him up as a person of great respect and force that has a clean name in the village. As the story proceeds, the reader starts to learn the real John Proctor that shoes his true emotions and thoughts in the final scene of Act four as a sinner. So now the question is: John Proctor, a hero or stooge?
After finishing this play, I had mixed a mixed response to this question. I knew that John Proctor was genuinely trying to be a nice person who stuck to his faith in the end, yet he had reason to be in this position in the first place. Following and living according to your faith makes a good person but it could not be enough to be considered a hero. Another interesting point about the ending was the fact that he destroyed his own testimony to save his name and his sons as well. Yes, he is trying to avoid any type of humiliation for his children but if he hadn't committed adultery, there would be no need for that. And to add to this point, his children would never know the real cause for all of this hectic fate.
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a stooge is: a weak or unimportant person who is controlled by a powerful person, organization, etc. This definition seems to fit Proctor since it describes his actions done in the play. Proctor is a stooge since he was always so insecure because of his sin. In Act two, he keeps asking his wife, Elizabeth, for forgiveness and seems to be looking for her approval. This is evidence that he is wanting to be controlled by someone else by asking for permission. Another moment when he is asking for permission is in Act four when he is asking what he should do the morning of his death. This is a decision that he has to make on his own and no need to be asking anyone else to give him instructions to follow.
For these reasons and explanations, I believe that John Proctor was a stooge since there is no exact and true moment where he is choosing what he wants to do until the very end, which is not enough to justify himself for the entire play.
After finishing this play, I had mixed a mixed response to this question. I knew that John Proctor was genuinely trying to be a nice person who stuck to his faith in the end, yet he had reason to be in this position in the first place. Following and living according to your faith makes a good person but it could not be enough to be considered a hero. Another interesting point about the ending was the fact that he destroyed his own testimony to save his name and his sons as well. Yes, he is trying to avoid any type of humiliation for his children but if he hadn't committed adultery, there would be no need for that. And to add to this point, his children would never know the real cause for all of this hectic fate.
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a stooge is: a weak or unimportant person who is controlled by a powerful person, organization, etc. This definition seems to fit Proctor since it describes his actions done in the play. Proctor is a stooge since he was always so insecure because of his sin. In Act two, he keeps asking his wife, Elizabeth, for forgiveness and seems to be looking for her approval. This is evidence that he is wanting to be controlled by someone else by asking for permission. Another moment when he is asking for permission is in Act four when he is asking what he should do the morning of his death. This is a decision that he has to make on his own and no need to be asking anyone else to give him instructions to follow.
For these reasons and explanations, I believe that John Proctor was a stooge since there is no exact and true moment where he is choosing what he wants to do until the very end, which is not enough to justify himself for the entire play.
Saturday, September 13, 2014
There Goes the Neighborhood
Nothing was the same since the big, god-looking men came into our tribe. I remember when they first came to discover my family on that sunny and peaceful morning the gods blessed us with.
It started as any other normal day with every tribe member fulfilling their duties. The men went to the fields in search for animals, the source of food that the gods gave to their faithful servants on Earth. The women were in the crops, planting and harvesting the delicacies and treasures that came from the ground. Even the children were behaving for once, playing and dancing near their mothers. As for myself, I was praying to the gods for giving us the pleasure of waking up another day with food and seeing a smile on everyone's face, the most important goal of a chief.
Just as I was done looking over the land, I heard the sound of the moving waters increase and the new sound of voices came to my ears. As quickly as I could, I ran around the rock, the only barrier to the marvel my eyes would see. In front of me, a towering wooden ship had just landed on our shore. The ship was huge with a white towering flag attached to the peak of the center wooden pole. As I approached this wooden marvel, a line of brave, pale men descending from the ship, as if they were sent from the gods. These men had pure clothing and shiny objects that all seemed obscured to me. But the most important member of these new men descended on top of this beautiful and majestic brown animal with a sight of power and height as its feet hit the ground.
The first days with these men came as happiness to my tribe. We learned this new system of trade in which we, in return, taught these pales how to survive on these lands. We taught them to harvest the crops, the deliciousness of our meat, and our land treasures that they seemed so interested in. Months passed and we had learned to live amongst each other, sharing the land of the gods. Everything seemed well until a dreadful morning that rose with a dawn of fear.
For some unknown reason, the men that my family learned to love turned our backs on us. They gathered us up as if we were animals, took our land, our treasures, and our freedom. They seemed to have forgotten more and more our friendship as each whip hit one of our backs. My tribe and I were forced to work on the plantations from the first light of day to the last. Many of us wanted to rebel yet one look in their eyes full of treasure lust, told us no human kindness trace was left in them. Little by little, they took everything the gods had given to us. Little by little, they destroyed the lands of the gods. Little by little, there goes my neighborhood.
It started as any other normal day with every tribe member fulfilling their duties. The men went to the fields in search for animals, the source of food that the gods gave to their faithful servants on Earth. The women were in the crops, planting and harvesting the delicacies and treasures that came from the ground. Even the children were behaving for once, playing and dancing near their mothers. As for myself, I was praying to the gods for giving us the pleasure of waking up another day with food and seeing a smile on everyone's face, the most important goal of a chief.
Just as I was done looking over the land, I heard the sound of the moving waters increase and the new sound of voices came to my ears. As quickly as I could, I ran around the rock, the only barrier to the marvel my eyes would see. In front of me, a towering wooden ship had just landed on our shore. The ship was huge with a white towering flag attached to the peak of the center wooden pole. As I approached this wooden marvel, a line of brave, pale men descending from the ship, as if they were sent from the gods. These men had pure clothing and shiny objects that all seemed obscured to me. But the most important member of these new men descended on top of this beautiful and majestic brown animal with a sight of power and height as its feet hit the ground.
The first days with these men came as happiness to my tribe. We learned this new system of trade in which we, in return, taught these pales how to survive on these lands. We taught them to harvest the crops, the deliciousness of our meat, and our land treasures that they seemed so interested in. Months passed and we had learned to live amongst each other, sharing the land of the gods. Everything seemed well until a dreadful morning that rose with a dawn of fear.
For some unknown reason, the men that my family learned to love turned our backs on us. They gathered us up as if we were animals, took our land, our treasures, and our freedom. They seemed to have forgotten more and more our friendship as each whip hit one of our backs. My tribe and I were forced to work on the plantations from the first light of day to the last. Many of us wanted to rebel yet one look in their eyes full of treasure lust, told us no human kindness trace was left in them. Little by little, they took everything the gods had given to us. Little by little, they destroyed the lands of the gods. Little by little, there goes my neighborhood.
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Who Am I?
Since the first day of Pre-K, I knew that my main goal is to get the best grades and get in to one of the best high schools in Chicago. So far, in my life, I have accomplished this goal and I am now creating the next phase. Now being exposed to an environment dedicated to choosing a career, I have chosen to become a lawyer with a law and college degree from Harvard University. This action is said easier than it’s done taking into account the immense level of competition there is to attend one of these Ivy League schools. The tireless and extended hours of dedication put into all of my classes to get the grades I’ve gotten so far is a sign of what education means to me. Being a Latina in the United States means pushing pass the boundaries and the stereotypes that everyone is thinking behind their heads. The drive that has been pushing me throughout these years is the devotion that I have to prove to others and myself all of the potential that I have to share with the world.
Being an athlete means putting your 100% effort and showing the ability you have in that sport. I consider myself a hidden athlete since it was not until my first year of high school that I had ever joined a sports team, especially a volleyball team. I’m a hidden athlete since I have discovered the talent that’s been in my body the entire time. I’ve always loved to be aggressive and to make perfect my hits in gym class, yet I never thought it meant that I was actually good. I am also very quick to learn making it easier to train and grow as well, even in a new field. This year I am already preparing to start my season as a sprinter in Track & Field.
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