Childhood Memory

     Childhood is remembered as a time of carefree innocence. Recalling to my memory, I really want to go back to my childhood when I was in elementary school. During that time, I don’t really have academic pressure. I took school bus to school in the morning and after school to go home. I could finish my homework within one and half hours or less, so I had a lot of free time. I would go to the park in my community with my neighbors. I couldn’t wait for five o’clock because that was my “play time.” In addition, I took dancing class when I was young. It has been my favorite since I took it. Probably because I used to exercise everyday, so I would still force myself to do it now. However, I have more things to do and less free time to do the things I want. Moreover, I miss my grandmother a lot because she passed away when I was thirteenth. She always is an important person in my life though she doesn’t exist now. I had lots of wonderful memories with her in my childhood.

 

Leadership

     What qualities make a good leader? A leader should be brave, organized, and confident. As a leader, he should be able to face any challenge or problem. He should also lead his members to overcome all the challenges. Although he probably can’t do the best job, his leadership can motivate his members to do things for him. In addition, it is important for a leader to be organized. It can be analyzed from different angles. For example, organizing the quality of his members and the central idea of the whole group seem to be two basic duties for a leader. Moreover, a confidence would lead a leader toward the direction of success. A good leader doesn’t mean that he should do all the things right or won victory every time. It is due to his attitude and confidence. To be a good leader during a war, these three qualities definitely place important roles to him.

 

Reflection of the Lady of Shalott

     I like the way of how the writer uses contracting images to describe the life of the Lady of Shalott. For example, the contracting images include the busy life of villagers in Camelot and the life of the Lady and the energetic song of the Sir and the lonely life of the Lady. To me, this poem is not easy to understand. I read several times in order to get the main idea of it. Part I and Part IV of the poem deal with the Lady as she appears to the outside world. However, Part II and Part III describe the world from Lady’s perspective. I think that the Lady’s life is mysterious because I can’t directly look through the world or the curse will come upon her. Her knowledge of the world must come from the reflections a d shadows in the mirror. The poem ends with tragedy that shows the Lady’s life without having freedom.

 

What Is The Appeal of Fantasy?

     Discuss why you think people remain enchanted with stories of castles, knights, quests, dragons, and ancient times.

People seem to remain enchanted with stories of castles, knights, quests, dragons, and ancient times because people usually want to live in a dramatic, imaginative, and creative world. Dragons do not exist in the real world, but people like to create stories about dragons in order to express their imaginations. For example, Beowulf, Macbeth, Canterbury, Don Quixote, Kubla Khan, and Rime of the Ancient Mariner are stories about castles, knights, quests, dragons, and ancient times. People are enchanted by these kinds of story because they might not find the same lifestyle or situation from their real world. For example, we definitely can’t find dragons in our lives, so we tend to be curious and interested in Beowulf. Moreover, Rime of the Ancient Mariner is story which is full of imagination. That is why people are attracted by it. I think that people want to enjoy the world which is different from the real one. 

I Shot The Albatross

     Before Albatross was killed by the Ancient Mariner, it did help him. Once, the Ancient Mariner was troubled by the snow storm, so his ship was unable to move. Albatross seemed a good luck at this point to help the Mariner to move the stuck ship. Mariner treated him well because was able to provide benefits for the Mariner. However, the Mariner’s ship was lack of the wind that the ship was unable to move again. The Mariner associated with that Albatross brought bad luck to him and his men. Therefore, he shot the Albatross. I think that there was no clear reason for why the Mariner killed the Albatross because he just thought Albatross was usefulness.

 

Coleridge: Imagination

     According to lots of troubles in Coleridge’s lifetime, I think that they seem to strengthen his imagination, especially on his writings. When he was a student in Cambridge, he was troubled by discussions about the nature of society and the idealism of the French Revolution. In addition, Coleridge’s marriage was collapsed, and his friendship with Wordsworth was ended in his later life. Due to these troubles, this might be the turning point to show how Coleridge became an idealism and imaginative writer. In other words, I strongly think that his troubles led him to be a poet because it might be a good way for him to express and release his pressures. He might think that he didn’t have many good memories during his lifetime, so he chose to be a poet. He seemed to create a world that only he could understand what was going on, and he was the only person who could control his world.

 

Paul Gilding-The Earth Is Full

     According to the video, the speaker, Paul Gilding, talked about his opinion of the relationship between our environment, natural resources and population, and the improvement of technology. There were two main points in his speech-have we used up all our resources, and have we filled up all the livable space on Earth. He emphasized that we should think about the consequences when we did everything and made each decision. At the end of the speech, he said that it is necessary for us to keep protect a better environment for our later generations. To me, I did agree with his idea that resources are going to be used up and a continuous population growth might fill up the livable space on Earth. I think that the biggest reason is the invention of medication because people can live longer and longer. However, Earth doesn’t have enough space, and resources are unable to provide all needs from human beings. Therefore, it is time for us to think about the consequences seriously.

Philosophy of Life-How Can Dying Inform Living?

     Many people might be afraid dying because they don’t know where they will go and what kind of lifestyle they will have after they die. I think that death is not that scared. The one who is afraid of it probably he/she hasn’t prepared to face that day. People might choose to react differently when they know that their lives are close to be end. To me, I would choose to do things I haven’t done yet, and stay with my family and friends. The most important thing is to be happy everyday until I the day of death. Dying does inform living because it is the time for people to reflect themselves. Sometimes people hesitate about to do or not to do because we always think too much. However, if death is coming, we know that we don’t have another choice-we have to do. I think that this moment is to show the real side of a person.

Samuel Johnson's Character

      According to the introduction of Samuel Johnson in the textbook, we can find that he is a perseverant person. Although he lost his sight in one eye from an infection, he didn’t give up his life or complain about his health conditions. Probably because of his an indomitable and optimistic person, his health improved and he developed a strong personality. If he thought that it was impossible for him to make or achieve something in his life, he wouldn’t have opportunity to be a famous writer in the world. In his childhood, he was small and sickly, so if he didn’t turn his mind to think in an optimistic way, it was hard for him to stand out in crowd. He had numerous essays, poems, and magazine contributions, but he wouldn’t succeed if he kept thinking that his life was unfortunate. However, Johnson always insisted that knowledge was useless unless it helped people live in the real world. At this point, we can see contradictory in his mind.

     A word from Samuel Johnson’s dictionary:

Improbability: unlikelihood; difficulty to be believed

Macbeth's First Reflection

     At the beginning, Lady Macbeth received a letter which was about Macbeth’s information. Macbeth wrote this letter to her and said that he became the Thane of Cawdor. Lady Macbeth’s ambition was arouse by this letter that she wanted her husband to gain the power by killing king Duncan. She told Macbeth about her plan. However, Macbeth was not as brave as Lady Macbeth at this point because he felt guilty to do that. After Macbeth killed the king, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth reacted differently than before. Although they both felt guilty, Macbeth seemed to be braver than Lady Macbeth. When Malcolm and Donalbain, king Duncan’s sons, heard about their father’s death, they were afraid they might be the next targets. Therefore, Malcolm fled to England and Donalbain fled to Ireland. Lady Macbeth was not as strong as before. By the end of the movie of this scene, Macbeth held a dinner with his men.