Reflection on AP Senior English So Far

Just to start off, I greatly enjoy the English class this year compared to previous years. Probably the most definite reason for this difference is the types of work that we did in class. In the past years, I thought English classes were all busy work which involved reading a passage and answering questions regarding it. This year, I don't think we have done this (well maybe once, but I don't remember it clearly enough) and I enjoy the alternate activities that we do instead. Possibly my favorite are the discussions, especially the ones in small groups with DIs. By talking to a few people instead of the whole class, it is easier for shy people to talk like me, and allows everyone to actively participate in discussion. I love this seminar type classes, and I believe more English classes should be like this.

One of the biggest benefits that I have received from taking this class is the expansion of my vocabulary. The weekly vocabulary words and quizzes allow me to learn practical words which I would have otherwise never knew the meaning of.

There has not been anything specific that I have been frustrated about the class. Class is fun, the workload is decent, and writing assignments come in a good page. Well, actually, one thing that I am frustrated about is the Drunkard quiz, the first quiz that I actually failed in High School.

Next semester I am excited to read Wuthering Heights in class, since I was wanting to read the book for part of my research project. I am also hopeful for the interesting in class discussions that we will have in class, such as that one time when we spent the whole class discussing existentialism.

This will probably be the last English class that I will take in a long time, so I hope to make the best out of it!

Thoughts about senior year so far

It is finally December  the last month of first semester. For some of us, it seemed so long to reach this point while for others it might have been a blink. I am the latter, since it still feels like yesterday coming to school on the first day of senior year. Since I have been writing about literary topics in my past few blogs, I thought I should write about my thoughts on senior year so far.

Senior year has been such a unique experience compared to the past three years. While we still have to take required classes, those are only 2 or 3 at the max, so the rest of the classes we can choose what we want to learn about. So, I greatly enjoy school this year because I get to choose my classes and take all science or math related classes except English. I also enjoy the fact that we get to take the highest level classes offered, such as AP Senior English, Organic Chemistry, and Linear Algebra. The feeling that I get thinking that this is the last time I need to do this for various topics is both pleasing and weird-feeling.

I can't talk about senior year without mentioning college apps. They have been my life for the past several months. I probably have written about a dozen essays so far, more to come in the next month. All this has been extremely stressful, since it seems like my 18 years of what I have done is all being judged. While it has been tiring, it has given me a great opportunity to reflect back on my life and think about what I want to do with my future.  I am just glad that I only have to endure about 3 more weeks of this one time miserable experience like no other.

I am extremely excited for second semester. There is robotics starting up, last season of high school tennis, senior dinner dance, graduation, and other fun activities. I might will definitely have senioritis, but I will mange and let my grades not drop too much. The english project will also be interesting, since I will be able to read The Count of Monte Cristo, a book that I have been wanting to read.

After high school comes college. I have a complicated feeling about this transition. I am excited for what is coming, but afraid of what I am leaving. I want to make the best of the remaining days of high school, and make it as memorable as possible, and go to college to experience something new.

What makes a piece of writing interesting to read?

This is a question that various literary critics have tried to answer for centuries. There has been no specific answer to this question, since the answer varies from people to people. For some people, it might be the master use of language by the author. For others, it might be the romantic plot that allows them to escape from reality. For me, the essence that makes a piece of writing interesting to read is the dark side of human nature illustrated by the writing: elements such as grief, death, desire, grudge, revenge, and so on.

What is it about this quality that makes me attracted to the writing? One literary critic that I do not remember the name of said something to the lines of "the dark side of human nature is what makes a piece of writing interesting". I totally agree to this statement, because if a story is all about love and peace and freedom, it would be such a boring story since there would be no action. On the other hand, if a story displays the dark side of human nature, it would be full of action such as murder, revenge, and other interesting elements. It is such more interesting to read about murder and revenge compared to love and peace.

Now that I have explained about what makes a piece of writing interesting for me, I want to mention a book that I want to read over winter break. This novel is considered a classic of the books that demonstrate the "dark side of human nature". The novel is The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, first published in 1844. This masterpiece demonstrates my interest perfectly, since the story is about a sailor who was imprisoned by mistake, escapes from jail, acquires a fortune and seeks revenge against the people who are responsible for his imprisonment. This book is full of grief, revenge, murder, forgiveness, and grudge, making it such an interesting book. I can't wait to read it over winter break or during second semester.

Are Mangas a waste of time?

To comfort myself from the organic test and the outside reading analysis that I had to at school today, I was reading manga, which are Japanese comics. Some people think that reading comics are a waste of time and instead kids should go read novels by great authors Shakespeare or Hemingway. Today, I want to argue that some manga are beneficial to read and is not a waste of time.

First, I must admit that most mangas are written for commercial purposes. Manga is a huge business in Japan, the market representing approximately $3.6 billion dollars in 2007, and has increased since. Most mangas are commercial, but there a few out there which makes one think and is beneficial to them in life. One of these manga is the "Detective Conan" series by Gosho Aoyama.

The story is focused on Kudou Shinichi, a high school detective who was drugged when trying to observe a black deal, which caused his body to transform into a kid instead of killing him. With a body of a kid and the brain of a high school detective, Shinichi solves various murder and crime scenes which he comes across. You might be thinking how would reading this be beneficial? Let me answer that for you.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH4W8UrHxZcLRKVuqtbRAChT9Uky6zmV95lsLkH4qcpxmDf2Ts535YsrhrmTet9auKQZ8HjO9Y5R9OG78g_DMjWSd0L1bvOVKX3KAiHUbmJXud3l7WTe-Cb8SP5GS2viRd1F8JrnKhilQ/s320/Detective_Conan_Manga_Volume_61.png

Cover art for Detective Conan, volume 61.

The manga is formatted in a way so the reader finds clues of the murder and they try to discover who committed the crime before they reveal it in the manga. This develops analysis and interpretation skills.

The main benefit of reading "Detective Conan" is the education of science concepts along with other survival skills. Many science concepts are discussed in the manga and used as a tool to commit murder, such as crystallization and radiation. The book also educates the reader on survival skills, such as what to do when bitten by a poisonous snake and so on. One teenage boy in Japan returned safely from the woods after getting bit by a poisonous snake because he knew how to care for it by reading "Detective Conan" prior to the accident.

So as one can see, reading "Detective Conan" has many benefits, contrasting what many adults think. The translated title of this series is "Case Closed", so I encourage you guys to check this awesome manga series out!

Reflection on A Farewell to Arms and future reading

As some of you might know, for my outside reading I have been doing an author study on Ernest Hemingway. For the first book, I read his For Whom the Bell Tolls which I enjoyed greatly due to the amount of action combined with the flow of the plot along with the easy to understand sentence structure. The second book that I have been reading by him is, as in the title of this blog, A Farewell to Arms. I am about done with this book, so I thought for this blog I would share my thoughts about it.

Overall I did not enjoy the book as much as For Whom the Bell Tolls. One significant reason that I think this was the case is the difference in the plots. In the more interesting book the story was focused on a guerrilla gang and their encounters with the fascists. On the other hand, A Farewell to Arms was about an American ambulance driver and his love toward an English nurse. This made it less interesting for me and thus I provided less attention to the book.

I am not trying to say that reading A Farewell to Arms is a waste of time. This book has great literal values and important themes of life. One such theme is how much should one do for their loved ones. This theme is consistently present throughout the book which can be seen by Henry and his actions toward Miss Barkley. 

The third and final book that I am planning to read to conclude my author study on Ernest Hemingway is The Sun Also Rises. My experience with Hemingway has been extremely pleasant so far, and I believe that my final book will also be a good read like the previous two books.

An Interesting book on my shelf

I was looking through my family bookshelf on this typical Thursday afternoon and one book caught my attention in particular. With such an unique topic, I do not know why I did not locate this book earlier. While most people might find this topic disturbing and grotesque, I find it very interesting. The book is Sexual Homicide: Patterns and Motives by Robert K. Ressler, a former FBI agent.

Some of you might be wondering why such a grotesque topic interests me greatly. I was always interested in mystery novels as a child, challenging myself to try to figure out why the criminal did what he did. As I grew older, these mystery novels was replaced with more realistic murder novels. These novels challenged me even harder than the mystery novels, and I gained great pleasure from them trying to figure ow the murderer committed his crime and why he did it. I even thought about becoming a detective in the future, that is how much this topic interested me.

The book is a report of a study conducted by the FBI to further enhance the understanding of sexual homicides and the reasons for their actions. 36 psychopaths were studied by thoroughly investigating their history along with having personal talks with them in an attempt to understand their personality. This realistic investigation of sexual homicides and the insane murderers will allow me to deeper understand criminal profiling and psychology of psychopaths.

I can not wait to read this book and learn in great detail the patterns and the motives of sexual homicides and psychopaths. I want to take criminal psychology classes at college, and I hope this book will provide me with the basic information that I need for it.

Outside reading book choice and similarity between the Hemingway works

For my second outside reading book, I chose A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway for my author study. I chose this book for various reasons, mainly due to the fact that it is considered one of his major works.

A Farewell to Arms takes place in Italy during World War I. It portrays a story of a pair of lovers, an English nurse and an American ambulance driver. At the moment I have read up to the part where they initially meet and talk about their lives.

I am only about a tenth of the way into the book, but I have already noticed many similarities in Hemingway’s work. A common theme that I noticed between the works is a man’s importance of love. In For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemingway shows the love between Robert Jordan and Maria to portray the importance of love to a man. As they spend time with each other they get attracted, and near the end they are attached so much that Maria refuses to leave Roberts even though she will get killed if she stays there. This portrays the power and importance of love between the lovers.

In A Farewell to Arms Henry and Catherine attracted to each other immediately and start to spend time with each other. At the part where I am, they clearly show their affection for each other and this hints at me that this love will play a great role in the story later on in the plot.

The main similarity I noticed between the two Hemingway works is love. I am sure there are more similarities, and I might write a blog in the future expanding on them.