1984 Socratic Seminar #1 Reflection

   
     The seminar influenced my thinking about the future of the world and how our society has a possibility to  slowly  be turning into a society like in 1984. The thought of this is pretty crazy and oblivious. Yet the information of connection from the world in relation to the book, really has brought the attention to me that our society really could be changing and heading towards that path of  the society in 1984. One thing that was said before that I hadn't thought of before is the idea that freedom of speech is starting to lessen in our society. We still have the right and ability to say whatever we want, but just the result of what was said can either be positive where people are supporting you or negative where it's down to the point where you could get killed for to prevent the idea from spreading.
     One statement that I agreed with the most was the statement that the name, Big Brother truly does make a difference as to how the citizens look up to their leader. How the name, Big Brother gives the illusion of  less controlling over his citizens and more so of a caring leader that is willing to do anything for the happiness and comfort of his people. There wasn't quite anything that was being said that I disagreed on though, because the statements made in the seminar pretty much supported each other rather than overlap. If I had another opportunity to say something, is post a question to the group. I would of asked the question along the lines of "In your perspective are spies such as Junior Spies in this book, really needed? and without them do you think the overall plot of society would really be impacted by it?"
     Something that worked out really well for the seminar was how in sync everyone was. How great the first conversation about this book really flowed in together. And how everyone's different bits and pieces of information was brought together to make a whole conversation. Also, just how everyone was able to back up their statement with a supporting piece of evidence of text-to-world evidence was done really well.
     I think something that needs improvement was everyone getting a chance to talk. I feel as though the discussion leader didn't necessarily try to help those who weren't speaking as much (such as myself)  or help prop them to speak up. With the discussion leader lacking this feature of being able to atleast try to  incorporate everyone  into the discussion, we end up having those who are dominating the conversation.

Othello Dramatic Reading Words and Actions Video

                                                                                                                                                                                                                Statement of Intent: 

 For Roderigo, I choose to display his tone in a more of a shakey and non confident way. While for Iago, I choose to display his tone in a more happy and preppy way. Roderigo has much more pauses when compared to Iago's and that is because I wanted to make Roderigo's character more of a person who is confused by love and doesn't know what his next step should be. But fro Iago, in order for him to be able to convince Roderigo, he must sound supportive yet confident enough to be able to convince Roderigo into his plan.
     As I was "becoming" the characters I learned a few things. I learned Roderigo's perspective a little more. I saw how foolish he must've felt for falling for Iago's plans and not only that, his love story also failed miserably. That was something that must have been terribly depressing. But as of Iago, I haven't learned much, except for how easy it probably could of been for him to just play with Roderigo's head with such sensitive topics such as love.
            I feel like my example did further complicate the conflict. I feel like just this little snippet, further emphasized Iago's evil plan to sabotage Othello's love life with Desdemona. It also helped to show how innocent Roderigo was and how he actually was really in love.This example also helped to emphasize Iago's evilness as well as said beofre, the innocence of Roderigo and how this whole time he was willing to even drown himself due to this failiure of love. Also, how concerned he was to the point where he had to talk it out with iago also shows a characterization of Rodgerigo of how loving he is.

Chapter 8: Surrounded AND Justification Paper3

Theme: Crimes

Quote 1: " "Five minutes!" the jumpmaster yelled from the front of a C-130 military aircraft. "Five minutes!" my entire chalk of Airborne candidates yelled back at him in the military's famous call- and - response cadence. We all knew what was next, and now we knew how long we had before it was time to face it. Five minutes." (pg.129)
Analysis 1: This quote represents how freewill from Wes's mother which was to make him join the military school caused Wes to continue his study in military and continue in advancing in pursuing his future career. What I mean is force from Wes's mother to make her son go to military school is considered freewill. And what ends up happening due to her decision to make her son go to military school, is her son ending up succeeding in military school and continuing in advancing in this branch of study.

Quote 2: "I realized that I had to make sure these schools knew my name regardless of what I did on the ninety feet of hardwood that had brought me to their attention. Just as military school had slowly grown on me, so had academic life." (pg130)
Analysis 2: It was fate that caused Wes to end up staying at military school as well as to become a sergeant. Yes it was his mother's freewill that made him go there but it was definitely fate that caused him to stay there especially when Wes tried to run away for the first time. It was faith that forced Wes to stay until he started to grow a fond for it and start wanting to stay there for his own pleasure. From this quote we can see how happy and pleased Wes was with going to military school and how well his life was starting to turn out especially his academics and military life.

Quote 3; "Wes took the face of his third and fourth children's mother in his hands and began to shake her. She lay on the couch, saliva dripping out of corners of her mouth...her pupils dilated and rolling to the back of her head , heroin still flowing through her veins." (pg137)
Analysis 3: This situation of Wes2 meeting and making kids with Cheryl is an example that supports the theme of freewill. Wes had already had two kids with Alicia so the fact that he would continue to mess with other girls even though he already has a family of his own was his choice. Wes going down to mess with Cheryl was clearly his own choice , so the situation where he was in on page 137 was a outcome of his freewill.

Quote 4: "By the end of the story, I was furious. First, at Shani for not punching Lateshia back, but then at Lateshia, who had the audacity to go after my sister." (pg, 78)

Analysis 4: Although the details are completely different, the sibling relationship between Wes1 and his little sister Shani & the sibling relationship between Wes2 and his brother Tony assemble each other. The older sibling, having the mentality to always on the look out and protecting their younger ones.

Quote 5: "I was a little shaken as we walked back home in the twilight. little things like this had a way of escalating into blood feuds. Big brothers called bigger brothers, who called crews." (pg79)

Analysis 5: Just given of this description, kind of reminds or relates back to of Jusitn's cautious journey he would always have to do while traveling back home.

Justification Paper #3

     In part 3, Paths Taken and Expectations Fulfilled is basically the concluding and ending of both Wes Moore's. Wes Moore #1 is now continuing his life and career as a lieutenant as well as deepening his study with the Rhodes Scholarship. While Wes Moore#2, his life is rather the opposite of Wes1 and is not imprisoned for the crime that he was claimed to have committed. The title, Paths Taken and Expectations Fulfilled is appropriate with the authors purpose of summarizing he basic end of the 2 Wes' lives such as the different paths that they've taken as well as what they've accomplished out of life.
     In 7, page 129 we begin part 3 with seeing how Wes Moore 1 is continuing his study as a military leader. He goes through different experiences such as jumping off a plane or in chapter 8 page 162 where he decides to take the Rhodes Scholarship and go to South Africa to learn more about the world. This shows how Wes1 decided that his path was to continue his life as a lieutenant and how he was able to accomplish what he wanted and was able to become the brand-new second lieutenant in the Army Reserve. Other the other hand, with Wes 2, in chapter 7 page 144 we see that Wes2 decides to cut himself out from the drugs industry and begin a new life by completing his GED requirements from Job Corps Center which was a place where people was given the chance to start over and complete their GED again. But later in chapter 8, we learn that Wes had committed a crime ( a path that was taken from him) and his outcome was jail.
     In conclusion, the title Paths Taken and Expectations Fulfilled is appropriate with the author's purpose to give a basic ending summary of both of the Wes' lives. The paths taken part of the titles represents the different choices both Wes's decide to make and how they decided they would continue life. And the Expectations fulfilled part of the title represents with each other the Wes Moore's got as a result of the paths they decided to take.