The Justification of Lying

I believe there is no correct answer to the question "is lying justified or not". One must look at the situation and how it must be dealt with. For example, in a situation where a lie will keep someone from being emotionally or physically hurt, then I believe that it is morally right. But in a situation where a lie is told out of spite, meanness, manipulation, etc., then I believe it is not morally just. These types of lies usually backfire and create sticky situations.

Morally just lies are told for the good of an individual or society. A real life example of this would be a German willing to risk their lives to save a persecuted Jew. Miep Gies, the woman who hid the Frank family during the Holocaust, told many lies to the Nazis to preserve their safety and lives. This is an example of a morally ethic lie. An example of this from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing is when Don Pedro lies to Hero about his identity to help woo her for Claudio, "I know we shall have reveling tonight. I will assume thy part in some disguise, And tell fair Hero I am Claudio" (I.1.258-60). Although this plan is deceiving, in the end it brings Hero and Claudio together happily. This lie is a morally just lie because it is productive and furthers the relationship of Hero and Claudio. It gives Claudio a chance to be with the love of his life, because he may have been too shy or afraid to actually to take the first step. Ethically just lies are ones that are positive, helpful, and constructive.

A morally unjust lies are ones that are scheming and misleading. An example of this in real life would be a lie to deny cheating on the test, or robbing a bank, or even adultery. These types of lies are ones that hurt or trick others. One of the main plot points in Much Ado About Nothing
is built on a tangled web of lies. Don Pedro, Claudio, and Leonato all scheme to force Beatrice and Benedick to fall in love, "I, with your two helps, will so practice on Benedick that, in despite of his quick wit and his queasy stomach, he shall fall in love with Beatrice. If we can do this, Cupid is no longer an archer; his glory shall be ours, for we are the only love gods" (II.1.321-25).
Although the men may have good intentions, it is morally wrong to toy with the emotions and feelings to two people. To trick Benedick and Beatrice is definitely morally wrong and I believe that the men have no right to play games with their love. If the two ever find out about the plan, they will be furious, embarrassed, and it will ruin the relationship between the two of them.

I'm Sitting On a Porch Today

I'm Sitting On a Porch Today- By Joseph Francis Fendt

I'm sitting on a porch today
Watching traffic drive by
It makes me wonder where and why
Some go straight while others take a turn
Some seem to be in a hurry
While others just seem to be there
And as I look past the traffic
Theres buildings everywhere
Some are dilapidated some are new
And pollution is everywhere
On the ground and in the air
I'm sitting on a porch today
And as I look around this is what I see
Fields, Trees and Mountain Peaks
Creek running by Beaver building a dam
The air is fresh and clean so is the land
With no other people or traffic to be found
The one porch is called the progress of man
While the other is creation by Gods hand

In this poem Joseph Francis Fendt describes the destruction of man by using his point of view from his "porch". Fendt describes two different images, the first is a modern and industrialized society, while the other is serene, beautiful and not yet reached by man. The poet's disappointment is shown when he is describing the first image; he seems sad and confused to see "the progress of man". Fendt's confusion of the reasoning behind destroying God's beauty is demonstrated in beginning of the piece, "Watching traffic drive by/It makes me wonder where and why" (2-3). I too sometimes feel this confusion, like Fendt. Why does our society always seem to be going somewhere or having something to do? We live in a society that is nonstop going, going, going, and I sometimes think that we miss the small beautiful things in life. Fendt goes on to describe the progress of man which is harmful and destroying our beautiful Earth. He uses words like, "buildings, dilapidated, and pollution" to point out the ugliness that has become of our once undisturbed and contented world (8-10). Although I am not against modernization and the progress of our society, I sometimes feel that cities and overbuilding can be dirty, destructive, loud, and ugly. I too sometimes feel suffocated by our busy and, at times, overbearing society.

Halfway through the poem, Fendt changes his view to the "other porch" to see the natural side. This side is beautiful, clean, and fresh. Fendt describes nature's treasures and other peaceful images. One description that really stuck in my mind was the picture of the animals building their home, "Creek running by Beaver building a dam/The air is fresh and clean so is the land" (15-16). This picture really just says, "We are undisturbed nature, the way we were intended to be". The poet's capper is also very powerful. It sums up the whole poem in two lines and leaves the reader thinking about how our society really can take over, "The one porch is called the progress of man/ While the other is creation by God's hand" (18-19). After reading this I kept thinking, the nature was here first, not our society. Although I do not think our society is evil and destructive, I do believe that we disturbed a once very peaceful and placid setting.

Reflections

Meditate on the events of quarter one. How did you do in this class? What did you learn? Which of your academic skills improved? Where are you still struggling? How is the class environment? What can you do to further strengthen the learning community in our classroom? What are your goals for Q2? Basically, how did things go for you and what can you do to improve or to make things more successful for yourself and others?

Quarter one... I think I did alright considering that it was such a tough quarter! Last year's enriched Language Arts was a cake walk compared to what this year is turning out to be. The transition at the beginning was pretty tough but I think I'm falling into more of a routine- but it still is incredibly hard. I learned a lot about MLA citations and I really think I've learned how to write a more solid thesis. I think my writing overall has improved, especially my analytical writing. I used to dread having to write an analysis paper, but now I'm learning how to manage it better. I'm still definitely struggling with it however, and it's really hard for me to do in class essays or have to write any type of thesis piece on a short deadline. I think that this class has definitely improved my writing however, because I'm finding it easier to do writing pieces in other classes- like AP Euro. I think our class environment is pretty positive, and I've met a lot of new people which is always fun. To further strengthen the learning community in our classroom I just think our class needs to work on always listening to one another and we all should continue to learn from each others' mistakes. My goals for quarter 2 are to work on my time management a little more, better my ability to write a strong thesis, and to be more involved in discussions during class.

Nineteen Minutes- Outside Reading Post 5

The positive and negative effects of rebellion.

In the novel Nineteen Minutes, one of the main character Peter Houghton rebels. Peter spends all of his life being relentlessly and brutally bullied. Finally, after years of being tormented and alone, Peter snaps. He goes to school with a gun, and ends many lives. Obviously there were many negative consequences, but I also believe there were a few positive ones as well.
After Peter is locked up for murder, he obviously has to deal with the hard consequences, which he deserves. First of all Peter has to deal with the regret and pain of ending young lives and hurting families in his town. He also has to spend a lot of time in jail, "He'd be brought back to the jail only until the sentencing hearing; then he would be transferred to the state prison in Concord. Serving out eight consecutive murder sentences, he would not leave it alive" (447). Peter also has to live with knowing the fact that he mentally destroyed the one girl he ever loved- Josie. Because of what Peter did, Josie also ended up going to jail because she tried to protect him during the school shooting by killing her boyfriend Matt. Josie always stood up for Peter their whole lives, and it still ended up hurting her in the end.
However, as unbelievable as it sounds, I think Peter made a small difference. In Peter's school, he received no help from the adult authority there. When Peter was de-pantsed in front of his entire cafeteria, or pushed around, or blatantly humiliated in class, there was no teacher there at his aid. In gym class when Peter was violently beat up, his teacher simply shrugged with a "boys will be boys" attitude. After the school shooting incident, I think it made a lot of people wonder, "how could this have happened?" Peter became the voice for a lot of kids across the nation who were bullied like he was. He also received a lot of letters saying things like, "'I would've liked to be your friend'" (416). So in the long run, I think that the actions of Peter's rebelling may have had a positive impact on society, because it got people thinking. It got people wanting to stop the monster that started this, so incidents like Peter's could be prevented.

Nineteen Minutes- Outside Reading Post 4

In the novel Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult describes high school life and the quest for popularity. I think that Jodi Picoult does some of this well, and some of it seems unrealistic. I think that Picoult stereotypes too much and some of her characters only fit into the typical high school kid molds- art kids, jocks, quiet loners, nerds, cheerleaders, etc. I think that some of her characterization is unrealistic at times because I don't think that kids are only strictly in one group of friends at high school- I think that a lot of people bounce around from group to group and that a lot of people are friends with a wide variety of kids.
I think that she labels some high school kids as extremely cruel. In the novel, the main character Josie struggles with being in this clique, and watching her friends bully her old best friend Peter. Josie is in the popular crowd, so therefore Picoult makes this crowd out to be very mean and snobby. Josie is friends with the cheerleaders and the jocks. I think that her depiction of these characters is too embellished. I find the actions of some of her characters unbelievable. For example, Josie's "best friend" Courtney decided it would be funny to send a love note that picked on boy Peter Houghton sent to Josie to the entire student body. Courtney was snooping through Josie's emails and came across a sweet but slightly pathetic email from Peter, "The email opened, and Courtney started to read. 'Oh my God,' she murmured. 'This is too fucking good.' She swiped the body of the email and forwarded it to RTWING90@yahoo.com. Drew, she typed. Spam this out to the whole wide world" (316). I find it very hard to believe that any girl would find this funny. I find it so extremely cruel and I really cannot imagine any girl in my grade who would've even thought about doing that. I feel like there is a certain line that some people just don't cross, and the characters in Nineteen Minutes do. Another example of the over cruelty of the characters in this novel is when Josie's boyfriend Matt comes to visit Josie at work- where coincidentally Peter works there as well. When Matt is talking to Josie, he all of a sudden turns to Peter and says, "'Stop looking at me, homo'" (204). While Matt continues to verbally abuse Peter, Josie just stands there and watches Peter shrink down in embarrassment. I think that any other teenage girl would've told her boyfriend to knock it off, after all , Peter and Josie were best friends when they were younger. But Josie just watches it happen. I think that ignoring the issue of bullying is just as bad as being the bully himself.
While I read this novel I became frustrated and was so shocked by the way Picoult depicted these cruel kids. There was not one nice person in the entire student body that befriended Peter or even stood up for him. This, I find hard to believe. I think that out of all those kids, there would've been one girl or boy with enough courage to stand up and say, "stop".

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Nineteen Minutes and The 400 Blows- Comparisons

After watching The 400 Blows, I can see many comparisons between it and my outside reading book Nineteen Minutes. Both of the pieces have the common theme of rebellion. Antoine from the film and Peter from the novel both deal with rebellion, although through many different ways, they both have dealt with very similar things in their young lives.
Peter and Antoine both rebel at a young age. However, the rebellion is for different reasons. Peter rebels because of brutal bullying he has tolerated for most of his life, while Antoine is dealing with the neglect from his parents. However, one could argue that Antoine has to deal with the bullying of his teacher. When Peter is asked why he decided to start a school shooting, he replies simply with saying, "They started it" (317). When Antoine is asked why he has stolen, run away, etc, by the shrink at the Juvenile Facility he replies with stories of how he was angry with his mother or teacher, or simply bored and looking for something to do. I would have to say that both boys rebel out of anger though. Peter is angry at the kids who bullied him, and Antoine is angry at the authority figures in his life who ignore him or provoke him,.
Peter and Antoine also both lack structure in their lives. However this comes to them in different ways, they are both left alone by their parents. Peter grew up mostly in his room, playing computer games and building experiments such as bombs. "'He was on his computer,' Lacy said. 'Almost always'" (175). The mass amount of time Peter spent on his computer left hours of unstructured and mostly unproductive activity- which most often involved violent games. Antoine spent most of his time with his friend Rene causing trouble and cutting class. Antoine cut class repeatedly and his parents did not suspect a thing for the longest time. The lack of parental involvement in these boys' lives contributed to their desire to rebel.
I found it very interesting that I could tie these two very different pieces together, but through analyzing the characters, I saw that rebellion is a common theme in both the film and the novel.

Photograph

Harbor at Sunset

Memoirs- Why? Third BB Post

Why do people write memoirs?
What power is there in telling our own stories?

I think people write memoirs for entertainment and to share stories that they believe others should read. Memoirs can shed new light on certain subjects (i.e. racism in Black Boy) and can give the readers a whole new view on things. In Black Boy, Richard Wright's point of view and completely different life story give readers a whole new look on racism in the south and the struggles for an average African American Boy. For example, one struggle that Richard has is one I will never in my life have to deal with, "'What the hell,' Harrison said. 'They look at you and laugh at you ever day, nigger.' It was true. But I hated him for saying it. I ached to hit him in his mouth, to hurt him" (Wright 241). People write memoirs to show readers their side of the story.
There is great power in telling our own stories. Telling our own stories means we can show readers exactly how we saw it. Telling our own stories allows us to use our own voice and own descriptions to enhance the story. Richard Wright is a great example of this, he uses powerful descriptions to tell his story, "There was the disdain that filled me as I tortured a delicate, blue-pink craw fish that huddled fearfully in the mud sill of a rusty tin can" (Wright 8). Our own stories are often deeply personal and have effected us so greatly that when we share it to others, they can feel the same things that we have felt. Memoirs are powerful because the author can tell their story, and even enhance it, to entertain and perhaps teach a lesson to readers.

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What are the major struggles and conflicts that your characters encounter? How do the characters face the conflicts and how does going through these conflicts help the characters to learn more about themselves?

In the novel Nineteen Minutes, one main struggle is how to manage grief. Another struggle is dealing with bullying. Characters also struggle with staying true to themselves and being real. Each character faces these conflicts in different ways but they all manage to learn more about themselves.
Josie Cormier struggles greatly with her grief of losing some of her best friends and her boyfriend from the school shooting. She can't believe that those significant others in her life are officially gone and that she has to continue on living while they aren't. However, Josie finds this experience a little freeing. When Josie was in this friend group, she was with a group who felt superior to the rest of the school and went to the extent of bullying others- which ultimately led to Peter Houghton's shooting. Josie's boyfriend Matt was also physically and mentally abusive to her, "'You made me look like an idiot,' Matt said. 'I told you it was time to go.' Bruises bloomed on her skin where he held her fast, as if she were a canvas and he was determined to leave his mark. She went limp beneath his hands: instinct, a surrender" (Picoult 227). After the whole incident, Josie becomes more truthful with others about herself, and she becomes more real. Although the school shooting was horrifying, it really helped Josie in the long run. She got a chance to start over and do things her own way without fearing the judgment of others.

Peter Houghton struggles greatly with bullying. He is tormented at school and physically abused, but it's the mental abuse that hurts him the most. Peter grows to hate himself and others. Finally, he plans to end it all, so he comes to school with a gun and shoots all those who bully him. Peter spends a lot of time in his jail cell waiting for the verdict and reminiscing, and reflecting on why he did such a terrifying thing. Peter has many flashbacks and the anger and hurt flood back to him, but through learning about the past readers learn a lot about Peter. Peter feels great regret during the trial, when he hears the stories of the many people and families that he has so brutally effected. We learn that Peter really is not a killing monster, but is just a scared boy who wants to end the pain. Peter realizes that he is not alone during this process, and that bullied kids across America support him. Eventually Peter regrets the deeds, and regrets the extreme pain he caused, but he also is glad that he could help make a difference in bullying.

Through such tough conflicts, characters learn more about themselves and their struggles. They realize that they at first they handled their problems without thinking things through or realizing the consequences or effects it had on them and others. In the short run, it caused a great amount of pain to all, but in the long run, these conflicts had helped develop characters and make them stronger.

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Who are the main characters of your book? Describe their personality and what seems to motivate them.

In the novel Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, I have found that within every chapter of the book, she tells the story from many different characters' points of view. This makes it hard to narrow it down to just a few characters. But the most significant characters in this novel seem to be Josie Cormier, Peter Houghton, and Judge Alex Cormier.
Josie Cormier on the outside is a sweet, uber popular, carefree teenager. She was the girlfriend of popular jock Matt Royston and friends with all the right people. She seems to have the perfect life with the perfect friends. However, on the inside, Josie is struggling. She feels like a fraud in her social group, and doesn't agree with how her friends treat others who aren't as "cool" as them, "Sometimes she had nightmares in which Matt realized she was a fraud- that she wasn't beautiful; she wasn't cool; she wasn't anyone worthy of admiration" (Picoult 216). Josie spends a lot of her emotional energy worrying about what others are thinking of her, how she looks, and impressing her "friends". Josie really isn't as shallow as she appears to be. Josie's motivation right now is to keep her status as High school's Perfect Girl. It's what she cares about the most and strives to be.
To put it bluntly, Peter Houghton is an outcast. He is brutally picked on at school, mainly by Josie's popular group of friends, "'Get away from my girlfriend, homo,' Matt said. 'Go find a nice little boy to play with.' Peter had landed face down on the pavement" (Picoult 217). He isn't particularly smart, extremely nonathletic, and strange. The boys at Peter's school call him "homo" and "faggot", which makes Peter worry a lot about his sexuality. Peter's thoughts turn very dark and morbid as he grows older and continues to get picked on. Peter begins to completely hate himself, and wants to end his life. Peter's extreme hatred towards himself and others is what motivates him. It motivates him to create violent computer games, think morbid thoughts, and eventually cause a deathly school shooting.
Judge Alex Cormier is the mother of Josie. Alex is extremely sensible, wise, and fair. Alex likes being in complete control of her life, and when life gives her a curve ball, she becomes alarmed. Alex also believes in complete justice and is very devoted to her work. She is so devoted, that sometimes she forgets to be a good mother. When Alex's daughter Josie is affected by the school shootings by Peter, Alex becomes extremely motivated by her love for her daughter. When Alex sees her daughter struggling with the death of all her friends, Alex is motivated to become the best mother ever, and make up for lost time. This new act put on by Alex is foreign to Josie, "'You want chocolate chip cookies then?' Josie blinked at Alex. "Are you on crack?' Alex sounded ridiculous even to herself, but she was desperate to show Josie that she could and would take care of her, and that her job came second" (Picoult 107).
The characters of Nineteen Minutes all seem to have an exterior shell, that sometimes hides the way they truly are on the inside. Jodi Picoult shows the truth to all these characters through first person narration which really gives the reader a deeper look into all the complex characters.

Richard's Hunger

What types of things does Richard "hunger" for

and what are the effects (positive and negative) of hunger?

I believe that Richard is "hungry" for information and knowledge. He is hungry for stories and literature. Richard longs to know what is going on in the outside world. When the school teacher Ella reads Richard Bluebeard and His Seven Wives, Richard becomes so excited and craves the stories, "The tale made the world around me be, throb, live" (Wright 39). Once Richard discovers books he suddenly becomes alive, and can't seem to get enough of them. Richard is a naturally curious boy, and this new information captivates him and makes him feel motivated towards something.
There are many positive effects of Richard's hunger for knowledge. This hunger effects him positively and puts him in a determined mind set. The hunger to know and learn more motivates Richard to be successful, and he starts to strive towards goals. After hearing Ella's story Richard becomes driven, "I hungered for the sharp, frightening, breathtaking, almost painful excitement that the story had given me, and I vowed that as soon as I was old enough I would buy all the novels there were and read them to feed that thirst for violence that was in me, for intrigue, for plotting, for secrecy, for bloody murders" (Wright 40). He vows to himself that he would buy as many novels as he could.
Richard's motivation and determination to consume all the knowledge he has is amazing, but there are some negative aspects of his hunger. In Richard's family life, books like the ones he craves are forbidden in his household.His family (Grandmother especially) finds stories like these the "Devil's work" (Wright 39). Richard gets punished for desiring this books and the school teacher is forced to leave by Granny (39). Richard also ends up without knowing it selling magazines for the KKK because he wanted to read the newspaper's magazine supplement. Richard's neighbor informs him that he is selling papers for a group whose goal is to kill him, "'Well, the paper you're selling preaches the Ku Klux Klan doctrines,' he said" (Wright 131). If Richard had not been warned about the papers, his hunger could have potentially put him into danger.
Overall, I think Richard's hunger for knowledge is positive and will encourage him to strive to be successful, but Richard has to be careful and not let his hunger overwhelm him and get him into trouble.

Richard Wright- Bad Boy?

Is Richard a "bad" boy?
When should behavior be blamed on the person and when should it be blamed on the environment?

I would call Richard a "bad" boy because he lets his curiosity get the better of him, and he uses poor judgment when faced with temptation. However, I do not blame him entirely for being "bad". Lack of common sense adds to Richard's horrible actions. When Richard decides to light his curtains on fire, he ends up burning the whole home down and clearly lacks any sort of wise thought process, "My idea was growing, blooming. Now I was wondering just how the long fluffy white curtains would look if I lit a bunch of straws and held it under them. Would I try it? Sure" (4). Richard clearly was not thinking during this time. During the first two chapters, Richard proceeds to kill a cat, become a young drunk and loiter at the local saloon, repeat obscenities to his family and public, and mainly disobey his mother's orders. I would consider these all "bad" things, but again, I do not blame Richard for being a "bad" boy.
In this case, I would mainly blame Richard's obscene behavior on the environment he lives in. Richard has grown up in rough parts of town, and has also been moved frequently. He also has had little education and structure in his life. Due to the lack of education and order in Richard's life, his boredom leads to his nasty behavior. I think Richard also acts so poorly because he feels the need to rebel against the cruel and abusive authority figures in his family. His mother, grandmother, and other family figures scold and beat him so often that it is no longer effective. When Richard and his brother and taking baths, they blatantly ignore their grandmother's orders and continue to disobey her, "'Stop that foolishness and wash yourselves!' 'Yes, ma'am,' we answered automatically and proceeded with our playing"(41). Behavior should be blamed on the environment if it contains poor models that people grow up with believing is acceptable. If this environment lacks any effective discipline, structure, or model behavior, then most likely the children living in it may be corrupt. Behavior should be blamed on the person if they mentally choose to be horrible and are horrible with a purpose. If they choose to take the negative path of actions and are aware of the consequences, then I believe that person should be blamed for being "bad".

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Numero Uno

Hello there. It's Amanda ... posting on my first blog post ever. Welcome to my blog. My background template is snapshot in case anyone is wondering. I hope you all enjoy my special posts and comments. I hope someone will find this mildly entertaining and worth your time! Until next time...

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