Masterpiece Academy Essay

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Dr. Preston

AP English Literature and Composition

8 June 2015

                                                     My Experience

            Looking back to the beginning of my senior year I remember being really scared and nervous. I don't know why though I heard from past seniors that it was a pretty easy year, but clearly that was a lie. I would have to say my senior year was by far the most stressful year, but at the same time I learned the most from this past year as well. I would have to say that I did espouse learning this year. We had to learn the curriculum in every class and of course there's always homework and tests but I actually learned more from the experiences that I went through this year. I learned a lot about myself and what I wanted to do in the future and the person that I want to be. I think we were sort of forced to look at the deeper meaning behind high school and what we go through these 4 years in order to prepare us for something more. Especially this course, it has taught me a lot of life lessons and gave me a little taste of what college is going to be like. Here's a little insight into what my experiences were and what I learned from them in this class this last year.

            Trust is a key element in any type of relationship. In order to be worthy of trusting someone with something they have to show that they are worthy of that trust. As a teacher there isn't usually this much trust that is given to students right off the bat. Automatically on the first day the relationship that we built felt like it was going to be a partnership. And it was, we were

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allowed to give our input on everything and we were free to voice our opinions and say if we wanted something changed or didn't like something. At the beginning of the year this is always the case, where students at first are on top of their work and are really focused and determined but then that slowly fades. I feel like as a class we did deserve the chance to be trusted with this course and as time went on we proved that we were worthy of it by doing what was asked of us and trying to do it to the best of our ability. Then as I said earlier the focus and determination that was once there at the beginning faded and as a class we started to slow down a little bit and became lazier because the school year was ending and we were just all done and tired. This isn’t an excuse for not doing the work that’s assigned of us since we were given respect and value by earning the trust throughout this course. Personally I believed I earned it by staying on top of my work and doing all the main assignments that were asked of us. I believe I honored it as well by showing up to class, paying attention, and listening and learning that the classroom isn't a place that's supposed to be completely structured and that's it a place where we have to be the ones to take on our own learning in order to reach the next level.

            Over the summer we were told to read three books, the Poisonwood Bible, Pride and Prejudice, and Montaigne's Essays. In the Poisonwood Bible I related to this by knowing what it felt like to start off in a new place and feel very foreign. It all started when I went to junior high because I was originally supposed to go to Lakeview but ended up going to Orcutt because my mom coached volleyball there. So I didn't really know anybody and needed to make friends, which I did but I really wasn't close to any of them. Until I went to high school. My Freshman year I walked into high school with Hannah Hurd who I just started to get to know over the summer. So high school was really intimidating cause I still felt like I didn't know who my

                                                                                                                                             
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friends were but eventually some of the people that I went to junior high with and elementary school with became my best friends. I made new friends as well so in the end I found my way and discovered the type of person I want to be. In Pride and Prejudice, I feel like we are all scared of going after something that to everyone else doesn't seem right but might feel right to us. I'm going to Long Beach and I'm majoring in Fashion Design Merchandising, which isn't your typical major. People have asked me why that and what are you going to do with that and have sort of put me down for it. Fashion and clothes and the whole atmosphere of imagining myself being a part of the fashion industry really excites me and I've known I've wanted to do this since the end of junior high. It was simple for me I just thought of something I really enjoyed and I love shopping and clothes and getting dressed up and one day if my job is to shop and style people for a living that would be the ultimate dream come true. So it doesn't matter if other people don't approve of it, as long as I love what I'm doing I'll be happy and that's all that matters. In Montaigne's Essays he had a stream of consciousness flow to it and in life I feel like nothing is ever planned or set in stone. It's a lot of bumps and turns and setbacks but all we can do is learn from everything that's thrown at us and move forward. So Montaigne's Essays show that it's alright to say what you're thinking even if it might not make sense all the time to other people, if whatever you're doing makes sense to you that's all that really matters.

            I have many passions but one that's always been there has been my passion for fashion. I recently have been thinking about my future more because I'm going to college in a few short months and I'm going to be learning and working towards my goal to be a part of the fashion industry. So in order to have the right mind set for the future I have to prepare for it. I'm doing that by starting up a fashion blog and researching a bunch of random elements about fashion. It

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gets me very excited for actually going to college knowing that I'm going to be taking courses that involves something that I love. Of course I love shopping so every time I go to a clothing store it's hard to resist buying so many things because I don't have money to waste because college is going to be expensive, so I have to learn how to budget now. Having friends that want me to style them or go shopping with them and researching fashion icons and style tips online helps resist my urge to spend money by thinking that one day if I work hard enough for it, I can make good money and buy all the clothes that I want and have a successful career that I love.

            Recently with our masterpiece presentations there have been some main ones that have made me either smile or laugh. Such as Noah and Alec's masterpiece on doing something that that involves their love for the game of baseball through being little league umpires and hearing the stories they had to tell and how this experience taught them a lot about how to be a role model and that a game and winning isn't always as important as the learning experience behind it. One presentation that made me laugh was Mile's presentation, those videos were very funny and clever and were good quality. These were a couple presentations that made me smile and laugh. 

            A theme that stuck out the most for me in a lot of presentations was connections/collaboration. In my presentation I worked with Judith and Hannah and we made connections with the children we worked with and collaborated with each other to make our own separate passions work together into a project that showcased our own special interests while making it fun for the kids and for us. In Elizabeth Smith's presentation she collaborated with 5 or 6 different girls in her happiness masterpiece, and I was one of them. We all connected through

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something that doesn't seem important such as our hair, but it's what we are doing and what some of us already did with our hair that matters. Since we all had long hair and we're all going to eventually cut it and give it to somebody who needs it more. It felt good being able to help out a classmate and a friend for a bigger cause. In Melissa and Victoria's masterpiece they both presented two different masterpieces but worked together to fulfill one common goal and that was to show that there's a story behind every person and that we're all born equal and we decide what we want to do and who we want to be. They made connections with people they don't usually talk to and learned more about them and who they are. In Ashlyn’s presentation she talked about Texas and the connections between California and Texas and taught us a lot of new facts that I had no idea about. She collaborated with Haley Kestler who helped her come up with the idea about doing her masterpiece on Texas. Another masterpiece that showed collaboration and connections was Courtney's. She put together a sideshow about her experiences she had with Special Olympics and the connections she made with people and the collaboration she had to do with different people in order to run a club and put on events. So I can literally talk about every single person's masterpiece and say how they included connections and collaborations because that is such a unifying theme, but these were some that stuck out the most personally for me.

            I believe that my hero's journey is only just the beginning. High School and my learning experiences throughout these past few years have set up a foundation for where I want to go from here. I don't believe I'm a hero quite yet, that's a goal that I strive to be. Not a hero in general but to be someone's hero, to be someone's mentor, and to have someone look up to me would be the ultimate honor. We all just want to feel like we're good enough for someone or something and to be a hero is to have reassurance by someone that believes that you've made a

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difference in a life. My journey this past year has been a little bit of a roller coaster ride but I feel like I answered the call to my own adventure but I feel like there's still so much living and learning to do, that this is only the start of my life and I can only become more enlightened from this moment on.

            High school may be drawing to an end and right now for me it kind of seems like the end of a really good thing. For me high school was so far the best adventure that I've been on. I'm not a very emotional person but lately I've been very moody and I'm not usually this bad and I honestly think my subconscious is making me act out because high school is going to be over. Even though the work at times was hard and I had many breakdowns and long nights, the connections and friendships I've made are ones that I'll always cherish and miss, that made everything worth going through worth it. Every single person, opportunity, and obstacle I've faced I've gained something from it and have grown as a person. This part of my life is coming to an end but there is still so much living I have yet to do and I'm really excited for what the future holds. Through this course I've learned that I have to take charge of my own learning experience in order to get anything out of it. It may be hard at times to try to motivate yourself but that's just a part of growing is learning to do things on your own to grow into being an independent and strong person that is confident and passionate about life's big adventure.

Macbeth Character Map

What About My Masterpiece

So far I have one Masterpiece almost done all we have left to do is put either a scrapbook or slideshow together of all the videos and pictures me Hannah and Judith took from our time we spent at the Boys and Girls Club over Spring Break. The first day we all played soccer, baseball, and basketball with the kids in the gym which was really fun and I broke a sweat. All the kids wanted us on their teams and it was nice interacting with them and being able to play with them and see them smile when we would guard them,try to steal the ball, or try to get past them. The next day we had an arts and crafts day which we made fashion outfits out of newspapers, which was an activity I got from and ASB event. It was a pretty cool experience being able to be looked up to and having the little kids all want your help because you made something that looked cool.The next day we played games which the kids seemed to enjoy, especially the one game where we made towers out of straws. So the three of us split our time into taking a day and doing an activity that favored things that we all liked seperatley but also enjoy doing together.

This masterpiece made me appreciate Hannah and Judith and the admiration they have for kids and helped me realize that there is other activities out there that can be worth my time rather than just going to do random things with my friends. I can be spending my time being a role model to younger kinds and try to influence their lives in a positive light while they're influencing mine.

Love is Blind

Macbeth seems to love Lady Macbeth but not in an overly affectionate type of way. He is more of a mental rather than physical lover where he shows that he cares and understands her by reading into what she says. In a way it seems that she bullies Macbeth a little and wants more from him than he has already given her.
Lady Macbeth from the audience's point of view seems to lack humanity and is a very ambitious woman. She taunts her husband for his "lack of courage" and is constantly acting like a ruthless person behind doors but when in public can put on a softer front.

Meet Macbeth

1.1

1. Beginning the play with a dialogue between the witches sets the mood to be dark, evil, and mysterious. This foreshadows the plot, theme, and mood for the future of the story in the same manner. In comparison of Shakespeare's other plays, Macbeth requires more ambiguity and the syntax and diction used needs to be more bleak. For example, Hamlet highlighted the themes of betrayal and complexity of relationships and power. Even though, the theme falls in the same ballpark with Macbeth, the gloominess of the plot of Macbeth overpowers that of Hamlet. In the beginning of the play, the witches were going to meet Macbeth at the "ere of sunset." Line 10 was "Paddock calls" and line 11 was "Anon." The phrase paddock class means a toad, which symbolizes transformation. The word anon means soon or shortly. The "toad" and it's transformation could metaphorically be compared to Macbeth and his evolving and transforming to be a completely different person or even having a transformation in his status and power. The witch's response as anon signifies how Macbeth will shortly have a transformation - to be declared a thane. 

1.2

1. The bloody seargent indirectly characterizes Macbeth by glorifying his actions towards Macdonwald. Macdonwald is a rebel who was executed. He tried to attack them. Macbeth executed macdonwald with his sword. This did not end the fight with the rebels, the Norwegians are still attacking.

2. The traitor was the Thane of Cawdor, as we learn from Ross. Duncan says that its a relief the thane of cawdor was executed and that Macbeth now owns his previous title.

 1.3

1. The witches speech gives a first look at Macbeth and his wife without saying who they are. Indirect characterization of the two. Similar to Hamlet where he gives a mini synopsis early in the story. "Weird" in Shakespeare's day meant future seers not weird as we know it, prophecy and destiny. Shakespeare means that Macbeth's wife has him by the balls. They  cast a spell to control his destiny.
2. Macbeth says something very similar to what the witches said at the beginning of the play. This could be him falling into the destiny the witches set up. Dried, chapped fingers, gender ambiguity, hairy, old, they have literal beards. The witches tell Macbeth that he will thane of Candor and eventually King, right then he finds out he is thane of Cawdor. Banquo asked the witch why they had nothing for him, they told him he is lesser but greater than Macbeth. We knew he was thane before he was thane.

3. Banquo says the witches were a figment of their imagination that they lie or that they are hallucinating. Macbeth learns that he is thane of Cawdor from Ross and Angus. During lines 114-156 he was going over his plan in his head and how everything had just happened to him. He acts very happy and shows no incredulity at being thane. Macbeth's aside shows him rationalizing what happened to him and he begins to think that he is going to be King soon. Macbeth tells Banquo that he is happy and excited and nothing more he explains his behavior by saying he is confused.

1.4

1.Cawdor was executed after openly confessing his treason and pleading for mercy. Malcolm tried to stick up for the thane, but the king responds by basically saying that you can't trust a man according to his face. He doesn't believe the thane was truly repentant.

2.The king greets them by saying that he can never repay them enough for their good deeds, but announces he will leave all his estate and names his son, Malcolm, prince of Cumberland. He then proposes that they go to Macbeth's castle at Inverness. Macbeth tells himself that the only way to be king is to get rid of Malcolm, and even though he'll be appalled at his action, he must do it.

1.5

1. Macbeth was honest with his wife when he informs her of his new title as "Thane of Cawdor." He refers to the witches as "weird sisters" probably because he doesn't want her know that he is associated with the "evil servants."

Lady Macbeth responds by saying that she thinks Macbeth is playng things off as if everything is fine. By saying "but be the serpent under't", she describes him as someone that lies to make everything appear under control. This doesn't really match the characterization of Macbeth so far in the story which implies that there is something the audience doesn't know about him. 

2. The wife was confident about the guests visit. She also seemed prepared and a little cocky about the way her and her husband would handle it.

3. Lady Macbeth. Yes she wants to kill Duncan. No, he isn't sure whether he wants to follow through with Lady Macbeths orders or not. She tells him not to let Duncan see tomorrow. 

4. The question appears to answer itself. 

1.6

1. The opening speeches (1.6.1-10) describe how the surroundings of the castle are "pleasant" and the air is sweet-maybe even too sweet. From the outside, the castle appears to be paradise.

Lady Macbeth's welcome is formal. Her language is totally different from her language in the previous scene which shows how fake and dishonest her welcome was.

1.7

1. "If it were done when 'tis done then 'twere well." If it were done when it was done it was done well. (Meaning if he completed the death quickly and efficiently and with no complications then he did the job well.) Macbeth is determined to kill the king and be done with him but in lines 1-12 he is fearful of how the "inventor" will judge his actions. He's violating the hospitality of his kinship and responsibilities as a host towards his guest by trying to kill his guest instead of protecting them. The motivation that Macbeth attributes to himself in lines 25-28 is the attribute of an Arabic heaven-like God. He will be seen as a "God" and that is his source of motivation to get the job done. 

2. In lines 28-30 she is complaining about him leaving the chamber because it was  almost time for dinner. Macbeth responds to her complaining by saying did he ask for me? And lady Macbeth says don't you know he did? The positions are lady Macbeth is ready for the King to be killed while Macbeth is still hesitant and on the fence about it. Macbeth convinced Lady Macbeth by explaining that he is an respected person and doesn't want to lose his honor while Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth by convincing him to gain the power and kill the king. The stronger person in the scene is Lady Macbeth because  she's more verbally confident in her argument while convincing Macbeth to kill the King. 

Macbeth Resources

Resource 1 Macbeth Summary

Resources 2 Macbeth Work

Resource 3 Macbeth Overview

Resource 4 Macbeth Video

Resource 5 Macbeth Video

Poetry Essay

Poem: Ozymandias

Prompt: Write an essay in which you describe the speaker's attitude to his former ruler

Every person has a different view on things, we each have our own perspective on different issues. So when it comes to realizing how a person is, why don't we just tell them to their face what we like or dislike about them. Some people do and some people don't. Most people don't because we are all scared of something, for some it may be rejection others disappointment. When there comes a time when a person is finally free to let their opinions about someone out, the truth or that persons perception of the truth could've helped that person they were so afraid of, for some reason, to tell them what they think about them. They could've saved them or helped them become a better person and see things how other people might've seen them as well. In Ozymandias the speaker's attitude towards the former king is calm and mocking and this develops the type connection the speaker had to the "king".

The poem starts out with the speaker meeting a traveller talking about some stone remains in a desert. He then goes on to talk about the way he perceives the former statue to be. The speaker seems to be resentful in a way towards the king maybe because in his life he had someone with great power not treat him as fairly as he thought he should be treated. The sculptor that made the statue could be the speaker because it sounds like the sculptor had a a history with the king. The speaker describes what the statue looks like and the man could be seen either as sad or angry or maybe he's both and puts up a tough exterior to hide pain he has inside. Then the poem goes on to say " the hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed," which at first I thought was talking about the king but could be talking about the sculptor that when he was making the statue he had a deeper connection to the king than he thought because he as well was angry and sad about how his life ended up in ruins just like the statue of the king.

We start to make deeper connections as we re read and analyze certain texts. Looking at this poem for the first time I thought it was all about the king and how he thought he was a great ruler but in reality he tore apart himself and his kingdom. Then by switching it around from the point of view of the sculptor, he as well could be mocking the king in a subtle way but while making it seem like the  king is in a ruins, he was in ruins himself. So his attitude is trying to avoid his own issues by making it seem like the king has all the problems which is the outside exterior to the inside of speakers thoughts.