Sometimes when you read stories, you can't understand it all and make absolutely no connections to it. Other times it is more than easy to connect a story to your own life and feel exactly what the characters are feeling. Just like I felt with the story To Everything There is a Season. It is a nice story about a boy's memory into adolescence. Something that everyone goes through at some point in their life.
The story is told from the point of view of man looking back on his childhood and remembering one special moment in his life at the age of eleven. During Christmas when he learns that Santa Claus is really his adored older brother who's been sending home presents for the younger kids. It was a tough emotional moment for the boy but he accepted the fact that that part of his life was over and he was growing up. He may have accepted it but never forgot it.
It is the same thing for many other people just like myself. You have to go through times where things that used to be magical and made childhood more enjoyable, aren't the same and you realize that they don't exist anymore. The Tooth Fairy, the Easter bunny and Santa Claus, are all things that kids put all their faith in and can be crushed when they find out the truth. Or they learn to appreciate what their parents/guardians have done for them over the years by putting a lot of effort into being Santa or the Tooth Fairy and they gain more love for the occasion, just like the young boy who respected his brother even more.It's normally a different experience depending on the person but just like the main character of the story, they normally never forget it.
To Everything There is a Season is a sweet, touching story and connects very well to anyone who has gone through childhood, basically everyone except those who never choose never to grow up, and describes everyone's common feelings of the experience.
Friday, 3 May 2013
Saturday, 13 April 2013
History of the English Language
The English language is an interesting thing. It is one of the most common languages around the world and is used everyday by millions of people. It is hugely popular but do any of us really know where it comes from or what has gone into the creation of this language.
Not many people think about the history or background of a language but it might surprise some people to learn that English isn't one of the first languages, it originated approximately in the time period 400-1100 A.D and even then the English of that time period is completely different than what we use today. It started as a mixture of a few languages and it is interesting because it comes from different groups of people that invaded England. This language was called Old English, it is different than ours because the pronunciation of vowels and consonants is different and to write they used the Roman alphabet but used the sound of words to spell them. Barely any from that time literature has survived but a few texts have such as the poem Beowulf, it is the most famous of the remaining texts and is still used in university classes to teach English.Old English might not be easy to understand but it was the beginning of a new language.
As we all know English evolved into what it is today, but there are a few more time periods in between such as Middle English. That lasted from approximately 1100-1500 AD and was a little more advanced than Old English but still not quite like our language. It was a mix of Norman French and Old English, French was used for higher class things such as the court, the government, art, culture and literature, whereas Old English was used by the lower class, labour and farming. A lot of literature is still around from that time and still studied by many people today. As well as mystery and morality, two things that started during that time, are still read and are still very popular to this day.
There were a couple of great writers from that time as well such as Chaucer, he wrote the Canterbury Tales as well as many stories that are still widely known nowadays.
Next was Early Modern English, from 1500-1800 AD. Not a very creative name but is a very crucial period for the English Language, it is when the printing press started, where sonnets started becoming popular, especially from people like Sir Philip Sidney or Anne Locke and this is when Biblical printing started, which caused faith to become a reason to learn the language and to read and write.
Finally there is present day English, the name is pretty self explanatory, it is what we speak now. Everything we have now is thanks to all the things that have contributed to the evolution of the language. Even new words that created or slang that is used has to come from somewhere and it's all due to the growth of English itself.
Not many people like learning about history, but especially not the history of a language. Most of the time it is pretty boring and puts people to sleep. The thing is, the language we speak today is due to everything that has happened in the past and we should all learn about and appreciate it at some point in our lives.
Not many people think about the history or background of a language but it might surprise some people to learn that English isn't one of the first languages, it originated approximately in the time period 400-1100 A.D and even then the English of that time period is completely different than what we use today. It started as a mixture of a few languages and it is interesting because it comes from different groups of people that invaded England. This language was called Old English, it is different than ours because the pronunciation of vowels and consonants is different and to write they used the Roman alphabet but used the sound of words to spell them. Barely any from that time literature has survived but a few texts have such as the poem Beowulf, it is the most famous of the remaining texts and is still used in university classes to teach English.Old English might not be easy to understand but it was the beginning of a new language.
As we all know English evolved into what it is today, but there are a few more time periods in between such as Middle English. That lasted from approximately 1100-1500 AD and was a little more advanced than Old English but still not quite like our language. It was a mix of Norman French and Old English, French was used for higher class things such as the court, the government, art, culture and literature, whereas Old English was used by the lower class, labour and farming. A lot of literature is still around from that time and still studied by many people today. As well as mystery and morality, two things that started during that time, are still read and are still very popular to this day.
There were a couple of great writers from that time as well such as Chaucer, he wrote the Canterbury Tales as well as many stories that are still widely known nowadays.
Next was Early Modern English, from 1500-1800 AD. Not a very creative name but is a very crucial period for the English Language, it is when the printing press started, where sonnets started becoming popular, especially from people like Sir Philip Sidney or Anne Locke and this is when Biblical printing started, which caused faith to become a reason to learn the language and to read and write.
Finally there is present day English, the name is pretty self explanatory, it is what we speak now. Everything we have now is thanks to all the things that have contributed to the evolution of the language. Even new words that created or slang that is used has to come from somewhere and it's all due to the growth of English itself.
Not many people like learning about history, but especially not the history of a language. Most of the time it is pretty boring and puts people to sleep. The thing is, the language we speak today is due to everything that has happened in the past and we should all learn about and appreciate it at some point in our lives.
Sunday, 24 March 2013
Essays
There are three words a teacher can
say to strike fear into the hearts of their students, test, project and essay.
Out of those three things the majority of students find essay to be the
scariest of all.
Workwise it’s true, an essay takes up the most time and the most effort, and it is one of the hardest parts of school. Just hearing the word stresses a lot of students out but that’s because they just think about all the writing it involves and all the rules the have to follow and how the essay usually counts for a decent amount of their final mark. Really when you look at it in a more positive way, essays aren’t so bad. When teachers explain essays and what they involve, they always make it more complicated than it needs to be and makes it seem like the most important thing in the world. Truth is, all an essay is, is a form of story written in your own opinion, expressing and argument or idea that you believe in. That’s what teenagers do on a regular basis, argue their ideas until people believe them; the only hard part about an essay is that you have to put that same argument in writing instead of just yelling it at your parents or teachers.
Personally I enjoy writing and expressing my thoughts through writing, but I do understand how hard it can be at times to put all the ideas together and making everything flow. I agree that essays are annoying to write because there are so many rules to follow, words to use and format to have; and it is a lot easier to just give up on it. Even people who like writing find essays a pain and become lazy when forced to write one. It’s not a fun thing to do and takes more effort than it’s really worth in the long run. I know that most of the student population would agree and everyone would come up with different arguments for why they truly dislike essays. Now if only we could all take those arguments and some time to write them down and make an essay.
Honestly an essay could be an easy thing if we just put in some effort. The problem is nobody wants to do that, especially not a teenager, so they just become an annoying thing that is necessary for school. For those reasons that is how a teacher just has to say the word essay to their class and it’ll send them into a full panic.
Sunday, 24 February 2013
Themes in Othello
Racism is an issue that affects so many people. It's a problem that has been around for what seems like forever. Whether its people being used as slaves or people being discriminated because of what they look like, it's always been around.
William Shakespeare brought attention to how big the issue was before in his play Othello. In the first act of the play the character Iago tries to turn people against Othello to get revenge, to do that he makes the fact that Othello is black, a very bad thing. "Your heart is burst; you have lost half your soul; even now, now, very now, an old black ram is tupping your white ewe." (Iago, act 1, scene 1) He even calls him the devil, "Or else the devil will make a grandsire or you." Shakespeare made a lot of racial comments throughout the play and made sure that the audience knew that Othello was black and that nobody was really happy about it. Even when people are complementing the man, it is in a racist way. "If virtue no delighted beauty lack, your son-in-law is far more fair than black." (Duke, act 1, scene 3) Here the Duke is trying to say something nice about Othello by saying that he seems more fair skinned than he is black. Basically saying that even though his skin is that colour he's not like that or like other people with that same skin colour.
People say racism has gotten better since Shakespeare time and people are more open and accepting; that may be true but there is still a problem because it is still going on. Nowadays racial slurs, comments or even stereotypes have become normal and are things used in everyday language. Kids now are learning to think of it as a normal thing, that comments that people make are okay. That's not a good thing, people with different skin colours may not used as slaves anymore or treated like a lower class but it doesn't mean that they have become fully equal to the white man. Racism may not be getting worse but it's not getting better.
I could never judge someone by their skin colour or be okay with people making comments about others, so it doesn't make sense to me how others can be so cruel and ignorant. Whether it's during Shakespeare time period, during our time period, in the past or even in the future, racism is an issue and we need to figure out how to stop it. It may not be as bad as before but it still needs to get a whole lot better.
William Shakespeare brought attention to how big the issue was before in his play Othello. In the first act of the play the character Iago tries to turn people against Othello to get revenge, to do that he makes the fact that Othello is black, a very bad thing. "Your heart is burst; you have lost half your soul; even now, now, very now, an old black ram is tupping your white ewe." (Iago, act 1, scene 1) He even calls him the devil, "Or else the devil will make a grandsire or you." Shakespeare made a lot of racial comments throughout the play and made sure that the audience knew that Othello was black and that nobody was really happy about it. Even when people are complementing the man, it is in a racist way. "If virtue no delighted beauty lack, your son-in-law is far more fair than black." (Duke, act 1, scene 3) Here the Duke is trying to say something nice about Othello by saying that he seems more fair skinned than he is black. Basically saying that even though his skin is that colour he's not like that or like other people with that same skin colour.
People say racism has gotten better since Shakespeare time and people are more open and accepting; that may be true but there is still a problem because it is still going on. Nowadays racial slurs, comments or even stereotypes have become normal and are things used in everyday language. Kids now are learning to think of it as a normal thing, that comments that people make are okay. That's not a good thing, people with different skin colours may not used as slaves anymore or treated like a lower class but it doesn't mean that they have become fully equal to the white man. Racism may not be getting worse but it's not getting better.
I could never judge someone by their skin colour or be okay with people making comments about others, so it doesn't make sense to me how others can be so cruel and ignorant. Whether it's during Shakespeare time period, during our time period, in the past or even in the future, racism is an issue and we need to figure out how to stop it. It may not be as bad as before but it still needs to get a whole lot better.
Thursday, 14 February 2013
Television Addiction
Is television addiction still a relevant thing?
The essay Television Addiction explains it as when people watch an excessive amount of TV They spend all their time watching anything that comes on, their lives are dedicated to sitting there watching TV and ignoring the rest of the world. It doesn't matter what's on, what time it is or what they are supposed to be doing, it's as if they're hooked.
This used to be a big problem. It was something that affected a lot of people but nobody wanted to admit to it or even acknowledge the fact that it could be an addiction. People were in denial and refused to admit their problem. The essay compares it to addictions to drugs or alcohol and says that it could be just as destructive to the person. Nowadays things are different, the addiction may not even be relevant anymore.
This generation is admittedly very technology based but TVs just don't seem to be high tech enough. People are a lot more interested in computers, tablets, phones, etc. It gives them more things to do and seems more fun than just sitting on the couch watching TV. People still spend hours at time watching stuff and ignoring the rest of the world, they are still doing things can be considered a destructive addiction; the difference is TVs aren't the cause of it. There are so many different things out there that people just don't care as much about TV and the so called TV addiction really doesn't exist anymore, it's irrelevant to this generation.
At the time the essay was written people were just starting to discover the issue, now we've discovered the problem and moved past it. There are still some people who have television obsessions or addictions but it is definitely a lot less common now then it was before. Television addiction is no longer a relevant thing and doesn't seem to matter to the current generation.
The essay Television Addiction explains it as when people watch an excessive amount of TV They spend all their time watching anything that comes on, their lives are dedicated to sitting there watching TV and ignoring the rest of the world. It doesn't matter what's on, what time it is or what they are supposed to be doing, it's as if they're hooked.
This used to be a big problem. It was something that affected a lot of people but nobody wanted to admit to it or even acknowledge the fact that it could be an addiction. People were in denial and refused to admit their problem. The essay compares it to addictions to drugs or alcohol and says that it could be just as destructive to the person. Nowadays things are different, the addiction may not even be relevant anymore.
This generation is admittedly very technology based but TVs just don't seem to be high tech enough. People are a lot more interested in computers, tablets, phones, etc. It gives them more things to do and seems more fun than just sitting on the couch watching TV. People still spend hours at time watching stuff and ignoring the rest of the world, they are still doing things can be considered a destructive addiction; the difference is TVs aren't the cause of it. There are so many different things out there that people just don't care as much about TV and the so called TV addiction really doesn't exist anymore, it's irrelevant to this generation.
At the time the essay was written people were just starting to discover the issue, now we've discovered the problem and moved past it. There are still some people who have television obsessions or addictions but it is definitely a lot less common now then it was before. Television addiction is no longer a relevant thing and doesn't seem to matter to the current generation.
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