The Lady of Shalott

John William Waterhouse's The Lady of Shalott, 1888 

Basically, the plot of this poem is of a young woman who is trapped inside a very tall tower. She is all alone and has no one to communicate, for which she is is forced to live within her own world. It is easy to see so far that this poem could resemble from the story of Rapunzel. The Lady of Shalott is told by a whisper that if she was to ever look down upon Camelot she would be cursed. Now, this curse is unknown, but soon enough she appears below to see a couple she becomes jealous. The day or so, she hears the sound of a man named, Lancelot and she left her tower running after him and that is when her mirror had cracked. She new it was the starting of the curse. She then had gotten into a boat and gently floated down the river where she died was freezing to death. She was soon found by  knights at Camelot and were all afraid of her except for Lancelot who found her face and grace to be lovely.

The Lady of Shalott represented a person who was trapped in her own world. When she was set free her and escaped her own world, it was almost as if she couldn't handle the "outside" world. Which would be the normal world for us, but because she had been trapped it was a big change. I think that the mirror breaking was her consequence from breaking "the rules". Where as, the whisper had told her not to leave the tower and she disobeyed it so she was being punished. This reminds me of her rebelling against her own good. She went against what she was used to and it ended up with her dying in the river on a boat she had found.

I can relate this to my own life because I feel that when I listen to my own music all by myself in my room, and I am not being disturbed by anyone I can let my mind be free. I feel like there are no troubles in "my own world", but when I am to take out my earphones and come back to reality everything else just falls apart. As if I am being sucked into a world i'd rather not associate with.

I believe that this image really represents The Lady of Shalott because you can tell by the expression on her face, she is in some sort of pain. That pain can be symbolized as fear or rebelling or knowing her own death which is the consequences she must face for rebelling. I really like the colors in this image, I feel that it sets a tone of depressed, sad, and a sort of tragedy. Also, in her face it almost looks as if she is searching for something with her eyes close, as if she can feel what she wants but cannot find it.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland  shares a border with the Republic Ireland, the south and also the west. As of right now it is under the law and order of the British and Irish. For years it has been at war with the Unionist who are Protestants. They do not get along religiously with the Irish who believe in the  Roman Catholic religion. I think it is smart for this part of Ireland to stay separate from the UK that way they are able to live under their own rules and there would be no need for any type of violence amongst this country. I feel that if we were to have them correspond with each other. It might lead to even more war, which wouldn't be a positive outcome for either regions. In 1985, there was a plan to bring these regions together by a sort of peace treaty. The Anglo-Irish Agreement was signed though, for the few that did not want this Agreement to be signed they had it blocked by implementation.
  

Corporal Punishment

The Corporal Punishment is a punishment where they allows teachers to spank their own students as punishment. I think that this is outrageously unfair and in no was should be legal in any schools of the United States. As a class we have came up with some pros for this policy, but I still do not agree this is the way things should be handled. i believe their are alternatives to disciplining children without using any source of violence. it is to be believed that kids won't make the same mistake, and that it teaches discipline but in reality it will only teach the student to be afraid of their teachers whom are suppose to be a safe adult for them to go to on campus. I believe this brakes the trust between a student and teacher if they allow spanking to be and, okay thing to do. It is true that parents are able to agree or disagree to having their children spanked at school but that does not seem fair if one child is being disciplined harsher compared to another student. I believe that the cons to this policy is teachers may take this opportunity to abuse their power as the disciplinary and may seriously hurt a child. Also, sexual harassment may lead to this. In the article we have read it says that a young girl who had mouthed off to her vice principal was swatted and was observed by a male police officer. This entire system just seems so wrong and unnatural for me especially since we live in such a modern day. Swatting a child at school is so old school. This punishment could also scar the students for ever leaving them with permanent damage on their self esteem and could even leave to them swatting at their own children.
 i believe that this policy should be banned from all schools in the states and not be an option in any case. I also would like to note that this may lead a child to public humiliations by their own peers. They would forevermore be teased, bullied and possibly even more abused for being one to be swatted by a teacher.

Angela's Ashes REVIEW

Review of Angela's Ashes



I found the book "Angela's Ashes" to be a great page turner for myself. I felt that I was really able to feel the pain that Frankie McCourt shared with us through his words of his life story. I loved the feeling he put into it and the technique he used by starting off his story as a young boy. Just by the first paragraph I was able to see the full potential his story had which encouraged me to keep reading. When I am reading a book I mostly enjoy reading about someone elses drama or tragedy in their lives other than stories that always work out well in the end. I believe what also kept me reading this story is that i was never able to predict what would happen next to Frankie and his family. He went through such trama with dealing with a drunken father who would waste his money on pubs instead of bringing it home to his family. The heart-ache of having not only 1 but 3 younger siblings dieing because of sickness, leaving his mother in such sadness she wasnt able to carry on and take care of Frankie and his brothers. It was almost hard to read this book though because I felt so much pain for Frankie and his siblings. While I was reading this book I tried to put myself in Frankie's place. I also wondered if this life style would be the same for my family because we also have a lot of children in my family, and money would be very low if we were in their situation. I enjoyed reading this book even though a few times it brought  me to almost crying, for example when the second twin died. I feel that Frankie's life weighed out to be more bad then good. He went through a lot of tough times that didn't seem fair. I also think he was much to young for some of the situations he put and got himself into.

hey everyone!