Courage

I'm curious about the word "courage" because I know that it can mean many different things to many different people. For instance, courage can be standing up to a bully, or protecting someone from danger, or even just being different. I believe that courage is apart of our lives everyday, whether we witness it or take part in it. It is important to see where the word courage comes from, how it was originally used, and how it has transformed into the ambiguous definition it is today because we people will then see that certain words are actually obscure feelings, which are felt differently from person to person. Also, I believe many of us don't acknowledge some types of courage because they happen so frequently or aren't a big enough event. Public speaking and meeting new people are both examples of this type of courage. If we are to know what courage truly means, than looking more in depth into the etymology of "courage" is a must.

Why Did Mary Shelly Write Frankenstein?

• Frankenstein was a way for Mary Shelly to unconsciously vent about the emotional pain that she especially felt with Percy's actions in their relationship.

1. Mary Shelly never knew her mother because she died 11 days after she was born
2. Her father remarried when she was 4 1/2. Mary Shelly felt as if her new stepmother was getting in between Mary and her father.
3. Percy was married to a woman named Harriet at the same time he fell in love with Mary Shelly, which caused Mary to later feel very guilty for taking away Harriet's husband.
4. Her father did not approve of Mary and Percy's relationship
5. Mary Shelly gave birth to a baby girl, but it died two weeks later. Percy had said he was disappointed that it was a girl.

A Millennium and Still Similarities: Batman and Beowulf

Even though these epic tales were created about 1,000 years apart, the story of Batman and the story of Beowulf actually have a lot in common. Indeed, these two characters are both heroes in that their actions are praised by the people in their society, they fight a foe which can only be beaten by them, and they do such actions for unselfish reasons. Beowulf and Batman both do not have superpowers; however, both of them are very strong, something that can be achieved by an ordinary person, making that kind of strength normal rather than super. Beowulf and Batman both use their intellect as one of their greatest strengths. The fact that these two stories were created at different times and places, but are similar in some aspects is very interesting and thought-provoking because it shows that story-tellers that talk about heroes haven’t changed.

Beowulf and Batman, as each of their societies would describe it, are heroes. It is obvious, when read, that Beowulf is praised by fellow people. For example, he is praised at the mead-hall when Beowulf announces his past accomplishments when confronted by Unferth. Batman, too, is praised by all bystanders when he saves the damsel in distress from the Joker, his adversary. The Joker can and has only ever been defeated by Batman; the same goes for Beowulf and Grendel. However, Batman only foils Joker’s plans, while Beowulf kills his foes mercilessly. Both Batman and Beowulf do what they do because of others, while expecting nothing in return. The reason for Batman’s clandestine form exists because he doesn’t want to be found out by his enemies, who could then hurt the people he cares about; and as a consequence, Batman cannot accept any physical awards or gifts, because than it would blow his cover. Batman understands this and is not discouraged from doing what he thinks is right because he will not receive gifts or rewards for it. Beowulf does what he thinks is right because he wants to help those around him. When Beowulf kills the dragon, he too was mortally wounded. As his last words, he told Wiglaf that it would make him happy to see the loot he has won from the dragon for his people. If Beowulf is happy that his people are benefitting from his actions, than he is unselfish. Batman and Beowulf are both heroes in different places, but in the same ways.

Nowadays, when people hear “hero,” they think of someone with superpowers, such as Superman or Spiderman. It is interesting that both Batman and Beowulf possess no superpowers, but are heroes because it is abnormal for any fictional hero to not have some super special ability. Both Batman and Beowulf have incredible strength, but if an ability can be achieved by a regular person, than it should not be considered “super.” Considering this, Beowulf’s and Batman’s intellect, one of their most useful and powerful tools, should also just be considered as normal. Beowulf is very clever when he realizes that he should fight Grendel with his bare hands. The reason he doesn’t use a weapon is because Grendel cannot be killed by any weapon. Beowulf realizes that this fact states “any weapon,” and knows that the only way to defeat Grendel is unarmed. Batman, too, uses his intellect when fighting the Joker. Batman always knows when to use hand-to-hand combat, or use his utility belt; hence his perfect fighting record. Batman and Beowulf are the same in that their heroes, don’t have superpowers, and use their intelligence as one of their greatest weapons.

Anything that has not changed in 1,000 years should be studied and paid attention to because it will show how related two things are between the time separating them. The story of Beowulf and the story of Beowulf each have special characteristics in them, but when taking a closer look, one sees that they actually have aspects in common. 

A theory as to why inanimate objects, such as the word English, are given genders in English

After researching this topic on Google for a while, I have found a predominant theory as to why inanimate objects are given gender in English. I had to look up inanimate objects, rather than specifically English, because it was a much more general and researched. What I have found is a possible theory; the genders objects are given in English have been traced back to the genders objects were given in the Indo-European language.

At the bottom of the page of the link, there is a summary of some words and their gender assigned to them by their language. Because English doesn't have a gender, a survey was done to get the average score of each word. The scores range from -1 to 1: -1 meaning masculine, 0 meaning neutral, and 1 meaning feminine.
http://www.foundalis.com/res/EvolutionOfGender.pdf

1984

The book 1984, by George Orwell, is an excellent example of great storytelling. As I was reading it, I had trouble putting it down because I wanted to know what would happen next. There was always a sense of suspense and excitement through anxiety of being found out by the Party, the government which controls everything in Winston Smith’s, the rebellious protagonist, world. 1984 is a fantastic book to read because of the way it’s written, and I would recommend this to anyone interested in an amazing read.

I had selected this book from the summer reading list provided to me. My mom had looked at the list and highlighted four books on that list that she had read. She had told me that all of the four books she had read were very good. I asked her about each one and she gave me a quick summary of them. 1984 appealed to me the most because I enjoy the subject of propaganda in books. I now know that I had selected well from that list because I am very satisfied with what I read.

I have many examples of strengths in the book that made it a fantastic book. First, I loved that nothing was blatantly spelled out in the book, but rather I had to step back and think about what each word in a quote could mean. Secondly, it was a very short book (only 300 pages), which allowed me to take my time to think about the book, rather than having to rush to the finish it. Another example of what made the book a good use of storytelling was that it used foils to create a sense of tension between the Party and Winston Smith. Any reader will take a side on an issue, and because of Orwell’s use of foil, I’m sure there are heated debates about discussing this book, and I wouldn’t mind participating in one. There were about seven characters in the book, which was nice because they all served a purpose and their names were easy to remember because of the small number of them. Also in the book, there was a relationship between Winston Smith and black-haired girl named Julia that the Party had strictly forbid because it didn’t allow any pleasure or emotions in its citizens. If you are a strong believer of love conquers all, than you are reading the wrong book. I liked that, in this book, for once, the “bad guy”, in my opinion, wins. George Orwell used excellent storytelling in 1984; however, there were some problems I had with it that caused me to dislike it.

Unbelievability and holes in the story were the two main weaknesses in the book that caused me to slightly dislike this book. For example, I know that the book was written in 1949 about the future, and that it would be impossible for Orwell to predict what would actually happen, but that fact that the book is talking about a huge radical change (involving every country on Earth to become three giant nations) that occurs in thirty-five years puts me in disbelief and makes me believe that the author has no idea what he’s talking about. I think that any educated person would believe that it would take a lot longer than thirty-five years to basically conquer the entire world and rebuild a new structured society with new technology and beliefs. Also, I can think of several things that Winston Smith should have done that, in his situation, I would have done. This makes me feel detached from the character. Aside from those two weaknesses, I really enjoyed this book.

1984 shows some really good examples of excellent storytelling because of the way Orwell made his characters, events, and places come off the page and into my mind. I’m glad I picked that book for my summer reading and definitely do not regret it. I don’t think that my bias for propaganda books got in the way of my judging this book as having many strengths, and that it was genuinely a great story.

The Best Books I've Ever Read

The Hunger Games - Although the protagonist was a girl, I still found myself relating to her and being captivated by her will to survive. This is the first of a trilogy and it will soon become a movie in the next year or so.
Odyssey - Truly a classic which I will remember for my whole life. This book is always hinting at something on every page and I really love the way it's written along with the amazing epic story.
Bible (As In Literature) - I believe that it is always good to look at things from a different perspective. Rather than viewing the bible as a religious book, as it is almost always viewed as, the bible as in literature took the bible and made it a piece to be studied as a story book.
Catcher in the Rye - I can relate to Holden so much that I could almost predict what would happen next as I was reading it. If I were in his situation, I probably would have done exactly as he did. Really a great book that I loved because of the message on society it was giving.
1984 - I loved this book because of the ending. I love it when books surprise me like that. I've always wanted the bad guy to win... but only once.

Summer Reading

Over the summer I read 1984, by George Orwell, and I think that it contained excellent storytelling.

"War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength" - pg 4

What I loved about this quote was that it gave a deep message that forced me to think, rather than just telling me what to think.