Reflection: 2 poems to analyze

The two poems that I have chosen to analyze are: “To the Fringed Gentian” by William Cullen Bryant and “Old Ironsides” by Oliver Wendell Holmes.  I think that these poems are similar in that they are both very descriptive and creative, but I also noticed that the poems are very different. “To the Fringed Gentian” reminded me of “Thanatopsis” which I did not realize was also written by William Cullen Bryant.  Both of these poems were about nature and dealt with death and dying.  “To the Fringed Gentian only mentioned death in the very last stanza (Bryant Lines 17-20).

I would that thus, when I shall see

The hour of death draw near to me,

Hope, blossoming within my heart,

May look to heaven as I depart.

The poem “Old Ironsides” by Oliver Wendell Holmes was also related to death, but in this case it was the death of a battle ship. The USS Constitution was going to be scrapped because it was no longer in use, but Oliver Wendell Holmes saw the ship’s beauty and protested the scrapping of the ship by writing this poem. I the first few lines of the last stanza Holmes talks about the “dead” ship and its grave (Holmes Lines 17-20).

Oh, better that her shattered hulk

Should sink beneath the wave;

Her thunders shook the mighty deep,

And there should be her grave.

That was an example of a similarity of the two poems that I have chosen to analyze. Now I am going to talk about a few differences. “To the Fringed Gentian” was written as William Cullen Bryant encountered nature while he was hiking through the mountains in Massachusetts. He talked about the beauty of the nature and how the fall season was slowly approaching winter. “Old Ironsides” was written because Oliver Wendell Holmes was upset that the Navy was going to scrap the USS Constitution. He thought that the ship was beautiful and deserved to live much longer. It seems to me like “To the Fringed Gentian” was written more for an entertainment reading whereas “Old Ironsides” was written to rile up the public to protest with Oliver Wendell Holmes as he was against the scrapping of the USS Constitution.

 Although they were different in the fact that they had different purposes, they are similar in the aspect of the Romanticism time period characteristics. Because they both involved the description of nature, they represented the Romanticism characteristic. “Old Ironsides” definitely represents the feeling of intuition over reason. I think that the author wrote this poem because he liked the ship and did not want it to be scrapped, not because he had a very important reason they should keep it. He probably did not think through all of the reasons why it would be a logical decision to keep the ship; he just liked it and thought other people would like to look at it too! I am glad that I chose these two poems because they have many noticeable similarities and differences. 

Bryant, William C. "Thanatopsis." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.

Bryant, William Cullen. "To the Fringed Gentian." American Literature. Ed. Jeffery D. Wilhelm. Columbus: Mc-Graw Hill, 2009. 210-11. Print.

Holmes, Oliver Wendell. "Old Ironsides." American Literature. Ed. Jeffery D. Wilhelm. Columbus: Mc-Graw Hill, 2009. 210-11. Print. 

Journal #20: Autumn Analysis

From reading the title of this poem, I knew that it was from the Romanticism time period because it was so descriptive about nature. The title of this poem, Autumn, was a dead giveaway that the poem was going to talk about nature. This poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is a big description of autumn. Autumn, also known as fall, is a season. Seasons deal with nature and Romanticism style works apply nature within the work. It is quite common to see a work implying nature and for it to be a Romantic work. By Romantic, I do not mean like talking about love. I am talking about a writing from the literary period of Romanticism. Romanticism writing style consists of a very descriptive piece of literature which may mention youthful innocence. I think that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow has written a poem about every one of the seasons. I think I remember Ashley talking about a poem she read about summer that was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I would rather read that poem about summer right now because I am freezing and that might make me feel better. I think that the author of this poem probably likes all of the seasons because he writes poems that describe how much he enjoys all of them. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a very positive guy because he really talked nicely about all of the seasons. Based on the reading of these poems I could assume that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow probably lived in a location with a temperate climate that exhibited all of the seasons. I kind of like living in the Midwest for that very reason. In Illinois, you have all of the seasons and they are all different. My grandparents lived in California for a while and they always tell me that it just was not the same having Christmas without the snow and Christmas sweaters. I like all of the seasons although I do have my favorite (Fall). I enjoyed reading the poem “Autumn” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Reflection: Choose a poem to analyze

I chose to analyze the poem "Old Ironsides" by Oliver Wendell Holmes. The reason that I chose this poem was because last summer I actually went to Boston and got onto the USS Constitution (photos below). The Navy has done a really nice job of keeping the ship looking really nice thanks to Oliver Wendell Holmes' poem, "Old Ironsides." I found the ship itself very interesting, so I thought it would be kind of cool to write about it for my reflection.

This poem was written because rumors were going around that the beautiful USS Constitution was going to be scrapped. Holmes' poem was successful in rousing the public into protesting the scrapping of the ship.

The meaning of the first stanza was to tell the reader that they were going to take down the USS Constitution. I deciphered the first stanza as follows: Take the banner down, it has waved for a long time. Many eyes have seen the banner fly and heard the bursting of the cannons of battle. There will be no more firing of cannons in the ocean air anymore because they are going to scrap the USS Constitution (Holmes 1-8). This stanza was the most catching stanza because it brought to the attention of the reader that a beautiful naval ship was going to be taken down and scrapped (Huff).

Stanza two goes on to talk about the ship’s “life.” The ship’s deck once was covered with blood from the battle, and she faced great storms and stresses. The ship isn’t going to be walked on by any of the victors anymore because they are going to take it down. The harpies (mythological bird/human creatures) were going to take the ship from the sea (Holmes 9-16). This stanza was to show the readers that the ship has been through a lot of struggles and it kind of deserves to live longer.

The third stanza is talking about the ship as if she really was allowed to sink to the bottom of the sea. If she was at the bottom, the poem says “her thunders will shake the mighty deep” (Holmes 18-19). Holmes says that the flag would stay on the ship at her “grave” and all of the sails should be left open so that the god of storms would take her away (Holmes 17-24).

Even though the title of this poem, “Old Ironsides,” leads the reader to believe that the USS Constitution was actually an iron-clad ship, it really was not. The ship was nicknamed this because the cannon balls fired by the opposing troops seemed to bounce off of the ship’s hard wood as if it was made of iron (Barney, Paddock).

This poem was a traditional fireside poem because it created a vivid image of a famous event from American History (Fireside Poets 210). This poem also represents the Romanticism writing style because it looks back to the wisdom of the past. In stanza two, the author took the reader back to what the ship was like in her best days. I think that there are probably other poems that display more of the characteristics of the romanticism writing style because I did not notice too many of them in this particular poem.

Barney, Brett, and Lisa Paddock, eds. "Holmes, Oliver Wendell." Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Age of Romanticism and Realism, 1816–1895, vol. 2, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= EAmL0583&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 7, 2011).

Holmes, Oliver Wendell. "Old Ironsides." American Literature. Ed. Jeffery D. Wilhelm. Columbus: Mc-Graw Hill, 2009. 210-11. Print.

Huff, Randall. "'Old Ironsides'." The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CPAP0292&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 7, 2011).

Reflection: The Devil and Tom Walker

After reading The Devil and Tom Walker and Rip Van Winkle, I came to the conclusion that the writing styles for the two pieces were very similar. Washington Irving, a non-fiction short story writer, exemplifies his great imagination and sense of creativity. Irving, in the story The Devil and Tom Walker, told a fairly short simple story, but it took him ten pages to do so. This proves that Washington Irving was very descriptive in his writings. Irving made his scenes and settings very clear. For example, when Irving was describing the remains of the Indian fort, he says the following: “Nothing remained of the old Indian fort but a few embankments, gradually sinking to the level of the earth, and already overgrown in part by oaks and other forest trees, the foliage of which formed a contrast to the dark pines and hemlocks of the swamp. (Irving 243)” I noticed that in the writings of Washington Irving, the sentences seem to be very lengthy. Thus, the really short and simple stories are drawn out into really descriptive pieces of literature.

In the story Rip Van Winkle, Rip wakes up from a twenty year “nap” to find that everything has changed (Watts). Because everything has changed so much, Washington Irving takes it upon himself to share the new setting and features of the time that Rip woke up to join with the readers. Washington Irving says, “On awaking, he found himself on the green knoll from whence he had first seen the old man of the glen. He rubbed his eyes—it was a bright sunny morning. The birds were hopping and twittering among the bushes, and the eagle was wheeling aloft and breasting the pure mountain breeze. “Surely,” thought Rip, “I have not slept here all night.’” Because Rip was in a totally new setting, the author found it necessary to completely describe almost everything that could have possibly been in the sight of Mister Rip Van Winkle. This element in the piece reveals a Romanticism Era characteristic in that Washington Irving was very real with the description of the setting.

I also related The Devil and Tom Walker to Romanticism because of the form of religion used. Deism, the prominent religion of the Romanticism time period, stated that the best form of worship is to do good things for others. Because Tom was a usurer, he was known for cheating people out of money. When a borrower asks Tom for an extension on a loan, he replies, “The Devil take me if I have made a farthing” (Irving 249). The devil then whisks Tom away. This little story tells the readers that people who do bad things to others may be punished. The devil then turns all of Tom’s riches to cinders because Tom has done so much wrong.

I think that the writings of Washington Irving very much relate to the characteristics of the Romanticism time period. The extensive details and the great use of imagination were used to great extent in this style of writing.

Irving, Washington. "The Devil and Tom Walker." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 240-250. Print.

Matthews, Washington Irving. "4. Rip Van Winkle By Washington Irving. Matthews, Brander. 1907. The Short-Story." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 05 Dec. 2011.

Watts, Linda S. "'Rip Van Winkle'." Encyclopedia of American Folklore. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Reflection: Thanatopsis

I really like poetry and enjoyed reading Thanatopsis, written by William Cullen Bryant. Poetry always has some sort of deep meaning and it is up to you what you make that out to be. I think the reason why poetry is so interesting to me is because there are so many questions to be asked. I felt that Thanatopsis was a really good poem because it addressed a rather harsh topic, but it did so without being negative. Thanatopsis really did a good job of speaking of death with the idea that it is just a cycle of life and everyone is going to end up back in the earth at some point.

The first line that really hooked my senses was as follows: “In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground, Where thy pale form was laid,” (Bryant 19-20). I think I noticed this part of the poem because when I read it, it made sense and felt kind of real. I have been to funerals and it is true, there is a cold chill among the people there. William Bryant brings us to reality here because we all know that the ground is cold and so is the pale corpse that is being laid to rest.

William Bryant says the dead individuals should go “to mix forever with the elements” (Bryant 26). I think that the reality of this line has probably changed a little bit since the 1800s when this was written. I am almost sure that back in the day people actually buried the dead right in the dirt, but today, we use caskets. In biology we learned about fossils and how they are the skeletal remains of old organisms. That actually supports Bryant’s point here by saying that if the bodies were actually laid right on the dirt, the soft tissues of the body really would mix in with the dirt and fertilize the soil. I think that William Bryant has a deeper meaning than the actual physical remains of the corpse though.

It was really interesting to me how the author used over ten lines of this poem talking about how you are not dying alone. In lines 30-41 Bryant says “shalt thou retire alone” (32). I like the fact that he highlights the positive aspects of death and dying. By saying that you are not going to die alone the author is kind of comforting the reader. William Bryant is saying that dying is really just joining the earlier generations in “the elements.” William Bryant says that the bright stars of heaven are shining on those sad in the presence of death (46-47). Again, I have noticed that the author is highlighting the positive aspects of the harsh topic. Greek mythology is tied into the poem here because in mythology the stars we said to have been the lights of the dead.

I agree with Mary Ellen Snodgrass in the positive criticism on Thanatopsis. She seemed to have only positive things to say about this poem. Snodgrass also noticed that Bryant only refers to death as a “natural event” and the worst thing he said about death was the “loss of individuality and the absorption of a decaying human into the earth” (Snodgrass).


Bryant, William C. "Thanatopsis." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. 

Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. "'Thanatopsis'." Encyclopedia of Gothic Literature. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= EGL367&SingleRecord=True (accessed November 28, 2011).

Reflection: Fireside Poets

Fireside Poets represent Romanticism right down to the point. Romanticism is characterized by quite a few things. All of the Fireside Poets use these characteristics of Romanticism throughout their poetry. Though it might only include one of the many characteristics, the Fireside Poets still represented Romanticism. In most cases, however, characteristics of Romanticism are prominent throughout the entire poem.

Because I have missed two days of English in a row, I might be lacking some of the knowledge needed for the writing of this reflection. I have read your presentation on Romanticism and most of it makes sense to me. One the lesson plan on the website, it says that this reflection should cover Glencoe literature pages 210-211 and "poems from the internet." I am not really sure what poems from the internet, so I just looked the up by the names of the authors in the literature books. 

The first Fireside Poet would be William Cullen Bryant. His poem A Dream really captures the essence of nature that is prominent throughout works by Romanticists. Bryant describes nature that way that he sees it, and that is much characteristics (Bryant). He also puts childhood and youthfulness in his poem when referring to the "dreamer" (Bryant). Romanticism was all about children and nature, and Bryant hit on both of those characteristics. He also used his poem in order to really make the imagination go to its fullest. Throughout reading the entire poem, you really find things to be somewhat imaginary, but it still makes you understand the point (Bryant). Bryant used many characteristics of Romanticism in his poem in order to portray his message to his readers.

The first Fireside Poet is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I read his poem A Shadow. In A Shadow, Longfellow really pushes the essence of youthfulness. He questions what would happen to the children if he were dead and they were looking up to him for guidance (Longfellow). This poem really captures the Romanticism characteristic of youthful innocence. He also pushes that the world belongs to those who are the last to come (Longfellow). This also shows how Longfellow really pushed innocence towards his readers. Overall, Longfellow was very keen on the characteristic of youthfulness. The children of this world are the ones that truly matter in Longfellow's eyes.

John Greenleaf Whittier would be the next Fireside Poet. In his poem A Day, he really stresses nature. He has this in common with Bryant. He stresses that the "day" in November is just preparing us for Spring (Whittier). I feel that this would be Whittier's main point. He describes how the day exactly is, like the scene, and it really makes you feel like you are there right with him.

The next Fireside Poet would be Oliver Wendell Holmes. I read his poem A Portrait which captures the youthfulness that Romanticism is characterized by a lot. He wants the person, whoever the poem is about, to stay young forever. That is the only to survive (Holmes). Being young and keeping your innocence is very prominent in works by Romanticists.

The final Fireside Poet is James Russell Lowell. His poem, The Search, really captures Romanticism as a whole in my opinion. He describes the nature and how in his youthfulness he found it. He also brings Christ into the beginning of the poem (Lowell). A characteristic of Romanticism is placing faith in inner experiences and Lowell did just that. Finally, he uses his poem to let his imagination run (Lowell). He really incorporated the most Romanticism characteristics throughout his entire poem, and I felt that his was the most enjoyable.

Overall, all of the Fireside Poets had prominent Romanticism characteristics throughout all of their poems. Some used one characteristic that was prominent, and others used four. Either way, you still could see the Romanticism portrayed throughout all of the poems.

Journal 19: Importance of nature and spirituality in the cycle of life and death

I think that spirituality has a lot to do with the cycle of life and death. With differences in religion, people have different beliefs in what happens to you and your soul when you die. Most (if not all) religions have an opinion about what happens after your terrestrial being dies. I believe that my soul will go to heaven or hell depending on my actions during my time on Earth. Some religions think that God has already decided if you are going to heaven or hell before you are born, but I do not think that is the case. I think that your actions on Earth can affect your fate after death. As William Cullen Bryant said in Thanatopsis, your dead body is buried in the ground to become one with nature. This shows that Nature is indeed important in the cycle of life and death. Because of my spiritual beliefs, I do think that spirituality is important in the cycle of life and death because you have to obey the words of God in order to go to heaven. People who do not have a relationship with God probably think that nature really has an important role in the cycle because they probably believe that your body and soul are going to be laid to rest in the soil for the rest of time. I remember learning about a certain religion in which there really is a cycle of life and death. Everyone on that religion does believe that they are going to keep dying and being born again. Personally, I think that would get really boring after a while, but some people truly believe that that is what is going to happen. Nature and spirituality play a huge role in the cycle of life and death because they are the two components of each individual’s beliefs. People base their beliefs of life after death on their spirituality and the ways of nature.

Journal #18 Perfect Autumn Day

My vision of a perfect Autumn day would have to be a sunny day. I really enjoy that jacket weather in the fall. The sun makes it warm enough for a pleasant day. I think that my perfect Autumn day also includes having leaves on the ground. Although people think that having the leaves on the ground is just a mess that they have to clean up, I think that the leaves on the ground are beautiful. Some of the leaves are just the prettiest colors and they make the perfect Autumn scene. On my perfect Autumn day, I would attend a bonfire.  I think that bonfires are really nice during the Fall. One of the things that I like about bonfires is that they are warm. Even if the weather isn't warm, the fire always is! I can just imagine myself walking down the hill in my back yard towards a fire in the fire pit. The leaves are crunching under my feet and its getting cold enough for little beads of water to be forming on the grass. I am starting to get really cold on my way to the fire, so I pick up the pace to get to the warm fire. I think one of the reasons that I like bonfires is that it is an excuse to hang out with all of your friends and have parties like every weekend. Fall is probably my favorite time of the year, but sadly the perfect fall weather does not last the whole duration of the season. The end of fall is always filled with cold rainy weather that I do not really enjoy at all. Another thing that I do not like about fall is the wind. It seems like the end of fall and beginning of winter are always really windy. I hate how it gets cold and windy the same time of year. It would be so much nicer if one came and then was followed by the other. Well I do believe that I have ranted enough about Fall for one journal and now I am going to move on the the next blog!

Journal #17 Time I Bonded With Nature

One time last summer Emily and I went camping with a group of her friends from college. I cannot honestly think of another time when I spent that much time outside bonding with nature. Everything that we did was outside because we were in the middle of freaking nowhere. I kind of enjoyed myself that weekend and I kind of felt that I was one with nature.  Each night we would lay on the concrete and watch the stars. There is just something about looking at the stars that makes me kind of get the chills. Its so cool to think that we can see something that is hundreds of thousands of miles away. we slept in a tent out in the middle of the woods and it was really tight with five or six people in one tent. Anyway, when I think of nature  I always think of that weekend of camping. Another thing that makes me think of nature is when we rake the leaves in the fall. I actually love nature and being outside in the spring. I think that nature would be much more involved in my life if  I wasn't so busy. I think that you should be sure to have nature in your life because it is really peaceful. There is something about nature that is really peaceful and relaxing. I just think that because of how natural nature is it makes you feel really relaxed and soothed. I do have an app on my phone that is nature sounds. I use it most of the time when I am really stressed out or I cannot sleep. I really like the sound of the thunderstorm sound on the app because it sounds so real. I like the sound of rain in the morning when I am sleeping and when it is still kind of dark outside. Those are the absolute best days to sleep in. I really like nature and we are really lucky to have a nice and moderate climate and environment in central Illinois.

Journal #16 Communication Tools

There are many tools that as a student and part of a group you can use in order to communicate with my partners in the Franklin Virtues Project partners. One tool that we can use and already have used is skyping. We skyped with the seniors who have previously done the project from Farmington. We got to talk to them to get information about the project, and get information about Farmington and what they do there and the similarities and differences to Plains. We found out that they are actually very similar to Plains. They are pretty much living in the middle of a cornfield too. They said they do not do anything really in the actual town but go to athletic games and stuff like that. It was very similar to to Plains. They are pretty much as close to Peoria as Plains is to Springfield. There are also many other tools that we can use to communicate. We could also use Facebook to communicate, but that may be a little harder because all of the people in your group or project may not have Facebook. Email is another one. We can email them to get information about how they are doing on their projects and to transport our finished things for the project. For the people that are in my group that go to plains I can pretty much use any form of communication.It is going to be good for us to learn to communicate completely digitally because other students can use the same methods. In college we may have to do that or when we work in the workforce when we are older a lot of jobs require you to email your co workers and get information on the project at hand. We have such a different form of communication than our parents had when they were our age. I think that it is very important that we learn as many ways to communicate as possible. This project is a good preperation in the future for us in college or in the work force.

Journal #15 Challenges of Partner Work

I hate group projects. I do not like relying on other people to get work done. I currently have a 37.5% in psychology because of stupid group projects. I did my part of the assigned worksheet and  I emailed it to one of the other group members to finish and turn in, but STI tells me that I have a "M" in the gradebook.  This goes to show that you cannot ever rely on other people to do an equal share of the work. I think that it is really difficult to work with people from other schools on this project because they are not even in the same building, so you can't even hunt people down and hound them about doing their fair share of the work. Last year in internet class we did the flatclasroom project online and it was a huge pain in the butt! Sometimes the internet would not work and sometimes the people from the other schools were not able to upload something. All in all i think that group projects that involve people from other areas are generally not a good idea. Good students get paired up with students that struggle, so the good student is always the one who has to put in like three times as much effort as the other group members. I think that the only reason that I do not like group projects in school is because I am a good student who normally ends up doing most of the work so that me grades do not suffer. There are always those students who wait until the last minute to turn things in and I think that can really hurt you in a group project with deadlines. I am going to try to go into this project open minded. I think that this project is going to be much easier than the internet project because we have actually learned about the topic at hand and we are not just making shots in the dark on the validity of our information. I am excited to start the new project today! (:

Reflection #12 Franklin and Tuckerman

Ben Franklin had many virtues in his life. Ben Franklin came up with a list of virtues that he thought could possibly make people in the world better people. The first thing that Ben Franklin did when he made this list of virtues was to incorporate them into his daily lifestyle to know that theses virtues were actually practical and it was not totally impossible for any one person to be able to have all of these virtues and to keep up with them. I think that Ben Franklin had a really good plan for implementing the virtues into his life because he did this by adding the virtues to his life one by one. I think that Franklin made a good observation that it would be really hard to change all of your virtues in one day, so he knew that it was going to take some time to change. He started to conform his current virtues to the new and improved list that he had come up with. By reading the literary criticism by Tuckerman I got a really good vibe about Ben Franklin. Tuckerman must have really liked Franklin because for a criticism he seemed to be really nice to Franklin. I noticed that Tuckerman said the Ben Franklin was “practical and he has prominent characteristics” (Tuckerman).I think that Tuckerman’s criticism is a good one because I can find support from Franklin’s autobiography that supports the opinions of Tuckerman and also myself. In Franklin’s autobiography, I noticed that he seemed to be a man that was never a hypocrite. I think that Ben Franklin was a really good man in that he did not just preach the virtues that he thought were right, he actually incorporated them into his own life at the rate of one virtue per week (Franklin 150). I think that it is really neat to look at the order that Ben Franklin organized his virtues in because I do believe that there was a method to his madness. Franklin said, “And, as the previous acquisition of some might facilitate the acquisition of certain others, I arranged them with that view, as they stand above” (Franklin 150). I noticed the order was kind of in a reverse order on the scale of importance or power. I think that the easiest virtue should be first and I do believe that is the method that Mr. Franklin did in fact use. I also notice the order because the very last virtue was “Humility- Imitate Jesus and Socrates” (Franklin 150). I think that the last virtue would be very hard to incorporate into your life if you had trouble with the prior twelve virtues. I think that Ben Franklin organized these virtues by the level of their importance. With the chart that Ben Franklin used to keep track of his progress came his understanding that he is not perfect and nor will he ever be (Franklin 157). Ben Franklin is a very honest man and I admire him for his efforts to make humans be better people.

Franklin, Benjamin, and Leonard Woods Labaree. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. New Haven: Yale UP, 1964. Print.

Tuckerman, Henry T. "The Character of Franklin." Facts on File. Web. 30 Oct. 2011.

Reflection #11: Franklin's Virtues and Deism

Benjamin Franklin is known for his inventions. But he is also known for being an active member of rationalism and Deism. Apparently, which I had no prior knowledge of, is also recognized for his thirteen virtues. I know what virtues are, but I was not aware that people were and are actually recognized specifically for them. Virtues kind of go hand in hand with morals. Everyone has different morals, which then in turn give them all different virtues. When studying Benjamin Franklin’s thirteen virtues, you get a glimpse of rationalism within them.

Franklin had two sets of virtues, the first being personal. Personal virtues pertain to your attitude activities and their challenges. Good personal character traits will better your chances of success in achieving your goals. The first couple personal virtues were temperance and order. Temperance goes along with rationalism because rationalists had to do things in moderation. They could not just blow things up, because it would overwhelm people and it would not be a good thing. The order aspect of the personal virtues goes with rationalism because rationalists had to be organized and have an order in order to prove their points. The next couple virtues were resolution and frugality. Rationalists wanted a resolution to things (Franklin). That was their main point. Something needed to be done. Frugality makes me think of rationalism because rationalists used their resources and prior knowledge in order to prove their points (Franklin). Moderation and industry were also a part of Franklin’s virtues. Moderation goes along with temperance. But industry goes along with rationalism because you are always suppose to be at work and always busy doing something. Rationalists were trying to get their point across and were always busy (Franklin). The last two personal virtues were cleanliness and tranquility. I do not see how cleanliness goes along with rationalism, but I guess it could be cleanliness in your approach to things. Do not get dirty; say what you need to say but in a positive and respectful way. Tranquility is the last one. You cannot be disturbed by obstacles you may face. You must push through all obstacles and trifles (Bloom). Ben Franklin’s personal virtues really showed how he incorporated his life and actual virtues into rationalism (Bloom).

Franklin also had social virtues. These included silence, sincerity, justice, chastity, and humility. The silence aspect goes along with rationalism because you should not speak poorly about someone because it could come back to bite you in the butt. With sincerity, you have to be sincere and understanding of the situations faced with rationalism. Justice is just showing that rationalists wanted peace and just wanted to do what was right and what had to be done (Franklin). I do not understand how chastity incorporates with rationalism, but I am sure there is something. The final social virtue is humility and it says to imitate Jesus (Bloom). Rationalists did what was needed and, though they were not holy-rollers, I still think that they had God in the back of their mind. The social virtues, in my opinion, pertain strongly towards rationalism.

Overall, Ben Franklin incorporated his thirteen virtues within his rationalism. He used his own mind and feelings in order to shape his rationalist ideas. I feel that knowing Benjamin Franklin’s virtues gives you a better understanding to where his rationalist ideas came from. But his virtues could have also came from his rationalist ideas. I guess we will never know since I am not Ben Franklin and nor will I ever meet or talk to Ben Franklin.

Bloom, Harold, ed. "Benjamin Franklin." Benjamin Franklin, Classic Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. 

Boucquey, Thierry, gen. ed. "Franklin, Benjamin."Encyclopedia of World Writers, 14th through 18th Centuries. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. 


Imbarrato, Susan Clair, and Carol Berkin. "deism."Encyclopedia of American Literature, Revised Edition: Settlement to the New Republic, 1608–1815, vol. 1, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. 

Journal #14: Ben Franklin's Apprentice

The average day of mine if I was an apprentice of Ben Franklin's... I think that if I was an apprentice of Ben Franklin I would help him with all of his inventions. He would make me do many brain exercises. Ben would make me do these brain exercises because he has a really high expectation for my brain capacity. I think I would be a much smarter person if I had met Ben Franklin because he would had made me much more intelligent. I think that Ben Franklin would have made me a really smart person because I would be really embarrassed if I was unable to keep up with the brilliance of the genius, Ben Franklin. I think that I would be a really smart person if I really was an apprentice for Ben Franklin. Ben Franklin is one of the smartest people that i have ever learned about in my life. He has so many inventions and other discoveries that he is very well known in America today. I think that the reason why Ben Franklin would be a good person to be an apprentice for is because of his thirteen virtues. I think these virtues would be a very good thing for me to learn if I was an apprentice for Benjamin Franklin. I think that I would have been a really good apprentice because I am a good listener. I think that I am a very coach-able person, so it is really easy for me to conform to someone else's style or idea. Ben Franklin would very much enjoy for me to be his apprentice because I would be a good helper. I would help him try to stick to his thirteen virtues. I think that I would be a good person to help him stay on track of his virtues because I think I am a good person when it comes to constructive criticism. I do not think that I would enjoy being an apprentice because that means I would be an assistant. I think I would rather be the one who had an apprentice under me.

Journal #13 "American Dream"

I think that the American Dream of today is much different that the American Dreams of the past decades. I think that people in america strive to have a good education, a good job, and a successful home with a functioning family.  I think that the American Dream for children in America is much different from other kids' dreams in other countries. I think that kids in other countries are wishing for food and shelter, but we just automatically assume that we have the right to have food and shelter, but really that is something that has to be earned. I think that the people in America are the ones who take the little things for granted.  We assume that we should have parents that provide food, water, shelter, and safety, but that is not always the case.  There are many of thousands of people in the world today that do not have food, water, or shelter, let alone safety.  I think that the American Dream makes us Americans seem really selfish because we are. Human nature has made us American people really selfish.  I think that the people in American are always going to want more than they have.  The grass is always greener. After we get something really cool that we really wanted, it is time for us to start wanting the next bigger and better thing.  This is really annoying when we look at the people in America because it makes us seem really snobby.  I think that the American people should be the people to just be happy with what is going on in the world today.  We can be the people that actually appreciate the things that we have, and quit focusing all of our time complaining about the things that we do not have or the things that we wish for. American citizens should not have quite the American Dreams that we have today because it makes us come off as the really snobby, stuck up people that we do not want to be.

Journal #12: Right and Wrong

If I was making new rules for school, I would first of all change the purse rule.  I think that the rule that does not allow purses in the classroom is really annoying. I want to have the rule changed because I think that the girls should be allowed to have their purses in the room. I think that the girls should be allowed to have their purses in the classroom because they really do not use them for anything other than to carry some tampons and my chapstick.  That is the only reason why I had my purse in class, but no, the people that use it to text in class are the people that ruined it for the rest of the people that were following the rules the first time.  I remember hearing Mr. Peterson say that its the rules that are broken are the ones that have to be changed in the hand book.  I think that the administration has messed up big time by having PACE. I think that Pace could potentially be a good thing, but I think that there are many flaws in the program. First of all I think that the whole reason for pace was so that people are available to get help.  I think that it is kind of wrong when the teachers do not allow you to leave the Pace classroom to get help! I thought that was the whole reason for PACE?! I just think that the teachers should be allowed to let people leave to get help.  I think that we should have homeroom again.  I enjoyed homeroom actually.  I like the whole idea that we could have study hall when you are able to talk.  I actually like homeroom because we were able to have conversations with other students in the class to get help with an assignment that you do not understand.  My homeroom freshman year with Mr. Pelichoff was probably my most productive year of homeroom because we were all quiet unless we asked to work on an assignment together.

Reflection #10: Ben Franklin vs. Other Puritan Writers

Ben Franklin, as an author, and Puritan authors are very different. From their writing style to the content in their writing, there is just a wide variety of differences. Ben Franklin was obviously not a Puritan considering we are comparing his works to those of Puritans. I enjoyed Ben Franklin's autobiography the most out of all of the stories and poems that we have read thus far. Franklin has a peculiar way of writing that made him stand out from all other authors that we have read this year.

The biggest difference between Franklin's autobiography and the previous works that we have read by Puritans is the lack of God in Franklin's story. All of the previous Puritan writers were all about God. Granted, Ben Franklin was not a Puritan. The Puritan's life revolved around God, and everything that they did was for Him. When life was bad, God was to be praised. When life was good, God was to be praised. In Anne Bradstreet's Upon the Burning of Our House, her house was burning down and she was still praising God. She was not the strongest Puritan of the Puritan writers but she still praised God no matter the circumstance (Bradstreet 91). Mary Rowlandson was being held captive by Indians and all she could think about was how this was going to help her in the end. God was doing this for a reason, and she was thanking him. She knew that God would never put something upon her that she could not handle (Rowlandson 83). Through reading the bit of Ben Franklin's autobiography, we find that he had struggles just like everyone else in life. But unlike the Puritans, he does not necessarily praise God for those hardships (Franklin 108).

Another difference between Ben Franklin and Puritan writers is the actual way that they write. Puritans did not use flowery talk and they got straight to the point. Franklin kind of beat around the bush in some cases. When referring to his stay with the nice lady, he gave description after description about what she gave him (Franklin 107). By no means am I saying that is a bad thing, it is just different from the works we have been reading. In William Bradford's narrative he firmly states how the winds were bad in his journey, and it is just very to the point (Bradford 64). Franklin was more of an actual writer in my opinion because he gave detailed descriptions in his autobiography (Franklin 106).

Overall, Franklin and the Puritan writers that we have read narratives about are very different. Franklin was more of just an everyday kind of guy just trying to get his story out there. He was not trying to really teach or inform his readers about anything besides his life. Puritan writers wanted their readers to know what their culture was and the kinds of things that they had to endure. Franklin did not praise God for every little thing that happened in his life. This is not saying that he was not a faithful man, he just did not put it out there in this small portion of his autobiography. Puritans were strictly God-focused people. Everything was about Him. Though we have read more Puritan works, I enjoyed Franklin's narrative more. He was more descriptive in his account of his life and he was not pushing God down your throats (Franklin 107). Franklin's autobiography and works from Puritans were really not similar. This goes right along with Franklin and Puritan writers.

Bradford, William. "Of Plymouth Plantation." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 64-67. Print.

Bradstreet, Anne. "Upon the Burning of Our House." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 91. Print.

Franklin, Benjamin. "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 106-108. Print.

Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration or Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 82-85. Print.

Journal #11: Aphorism

A common aphorism that I know of would be: the squeaky wheel always get the grease. I think that it is very common that the people who complain in the world get what they want.  I like this aphorism because i think that it really relates to my life in the aspect of all the sports that I play.  I feel like it is always the people that complain that get what they want.  This is really annoying to all of those people on the team that do not complain about every little thing because all of those people do not always get what they want.  In other words, the really annoying, complaining people get what they want, and the people who are not complaining and that are actually doing the work required.  This is one of the times where I just have to step back for a minute and remember that life is not always fair.  I think that might actually be another common aphorism, but I'm not switching in the middle, so do not get any ideas about giving me a bad grade on this assignment.               I think that the aphorism "the squeaky wheel gets the grease," is commonly thought about in the sports because it is the parents that complain that always get what they want for their kids.  I really do not like this aphorism because it is so true.  I hate human nature!! Why are people like they are? It is so annoying!! Okay, so sorry for ranting in my journal... Here we go again... I hate the fact that the people that annoy everyone else with their complaining also annoy everyone else because they are also getting something that they want because they were so annoying. And yes, I think I do realize that I have used the word annoying a few too many times in this journal. The aphorism is so true and it applies to my life in the aspect of athletics.

Reflection #9: Thomas Paine- The Crisis No. 1

I think that the writing, The Crisis No. 1, by Thomas Paine was definitely a writing from the Rationalism period. I could just tell by the style of writing that the work of Mister Paine was Rationalist. The way that Paine had support to back up his opinions was a really good hint that he used reason and thought to prove his points. I think that the Rationalistic writing style is really good at persuading people into doing thing because it leaves no room for the reader to have their own opinion, they are chalk full of ideas that support the writer's opinion. In the very first paragraph in the excerpt in the book, Thomas Paine says, "Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, had declared that she has a right (not only to tax) but "to bind us in all cases whatsoever"; and if being bound in that manner is not slavery, then there is not such a thing as slavery upon Earth" (Paine 134). This quote really shows that Paine was passionate about riling up the people in the British colonies to stand up for what they believe in. He makes it really clear that he thinks the British government is taking over their lives and he thinks that they should not be taxing people overseas from them. I think that Thomas Paine was writing this essay to the people that were in the military. In the Before you Read section (132), it was said that Thomas Paine’s letter, The Crisis, was to be read at all military campgrounds. This makes me think that Thomas Paine was really targeting all people in the colonies, but especially the people in the military because they were already showing their passion by fighting in the wars.

Thomas Paine said in the excerpt, “We did not make a proper use of last winter… and the fault is all our own” (Paine 135). I think that this quote really shows the Rationalistic thinking of Thomas Paine because rationalism was a time of reasoning. Thomas Paine had obviously thought through that they were the ones that sat around and did not accomplish anything during the winter. I can tell that the thought process is rationalistic because you have to think about something logically to actually believe that you are at fault. I think that by telling the people that they have not really accomplished anything, he is hoping to get them stirred up enough to do something about the way they are being treated by the British government.

I liked the part at the end where Thomas Paine talked about how if someone broke into his house and tried to rob it or kill anyone that he would not just have to sit there and take it, he would do something about it. (Paine 136). Thomas Paine is trying to say that if people are not willing to let people break into their homes and take their belongings, then why would they be willing to sit around and let the British government make them pay unnecessary taxes and order them around.

Paine, Thomas. "from The Crisis, No.1." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 134-136. Print.

"Before you Read: From The Crisis, No. 1." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 132. Print.

Reflection #8: The Declaration of Independence

As I read "The Declaration of Independence" I did notice several propaganda techniques used by the Continental Congress in the iconic American document. I think that by visiting the website that we used in class, it really gave me an idea as to what propaganda techniques really are and how they can be used in both positive and negative ways. As I was reading the selection out of the book, I kept referring to the website to try to pinpoint the name of the technique being used. I think that the authors of the great American document were very strict with the wording used to make everything they wrote make sense to all who read the document. The first thing that caught my attention was in the Before You Read section: "A man of contradictions, Jefferson opposed slavery in principle but owned slaves himself" (Jefferson 120). This sentence really gives the readers a hint that Jefferson is probably going to use some faulty logic and bad propaganda techniques. I thought that the definition of propaganda techniques given on the website was really good. It reads as followed: "Methods or approaches used to spread ideas that further a cause: a political, commercial, religious, or civil cause" (Recognizing Propaganda). The first type of propaganda technique that the website discussed was name calling or attaching a negative label to a person or thing (Recognizing Propaganda). I think I found an example of this particular technique used in the passage from the book. He is talking about the King in Britain and he says, "He is... and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation" (Jefferson 124). I got a couple of ideas from this example and the first one is that he is trying to totally bash the King because he has no respect for him and the second is that he think that he would make a much better leader, so he is trying to tear the King down to build himself up as a person. I have noticed that human nature is really shown when one person tears another person down just to make themselves appear "more superior.” I think that another technique that I noticed that Jefferson used was “card stacking” (Recognizing Propaganda). On page 123, Jefferson says, “He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.” (Jefferson 123). I saw this as the use of the card stacking technique because the method is used to “slant the message” (Recognizing Propaganda). I think that listing all of these bad things that the King does, Jefferson leaves no room to think or talk about anything good that he has done. The website says that key words or unfavorable comments may be omitted to make the reader only see the author’s opinion. The last example that I am going to share was found on page 123 and it said, “He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.” I think that this is a really good example of faulty logic because Jefferson just floods the readers’ minds with his own opinion. Logically, Jefferson states no evidence to back up his opinion, so I do not view his opinion as being logic.


Jefferson, Thomas. "The Declaration of Independence." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 120-124. Print.

"Recognizing Propaganda--Guide to Critical Thinking--Academic Support." 3 June 2011. Web. 27 Sept. 2011.

Journal #10

Vocabulary Unit three day on should be postponed until the next Wednesday class. If we really did postpone our vocabulary until the next Wednesday, we would be waiting until October fifth to complete this vocabulary assignment.  We should postpone our vocabulary assignment until October fifth because all of these vocab assignments are the straws breaking the camel's back.  Getting an assignment to read anthology and write a five hundred word reflection blog is enough.  We do not need the added stress to complete vocabulary homework.  I have two tests that I need to be studying for for next week, so I think that I should be spending most of my time studying and not on copying definitions.  I could be so much more productive with my time over the weekend if I did not have to spend the ten minutes it takes to do vocabulary homework. Those ten minutes could be anything from eating breakfast to walking the dog. You should postpone the vocabulary assignment simply because you have over 3,300 words written to you proposing the postponement of the vocabulary assignment until Wednesday in this class alone. You should just be the nice guy in the situation and go ahead and move the due date until Wednesday.  Mister Langley, you seem like the kind of guy that would just give us the benefit of the doubt anyway.  I think that you should give me an extra ten to fifteen minutes this weekend to just sleep.  I have been so tired this whole week that you should just let us off the hook.  Now that you have already put the vocabulary assignment up on the board, I think I should go ahead and give up on this article. I only have two hundred and eighty-eight words in this journal, but I have already lost the argument so I do not even know why I am continuing to argue an argument that I know I have already lost. I really have no idea what I am going to argue about at the end of this journal because I know that I have already lost this argument.  Oh, one other thing that I am going to say is that I am going to have to spend those ten minutes this weekend working on vocabulary. People are working on the vocabulary assignment now, but because I did not have enough words in my journal I am still working on it.  I am really mad at Mitch for failing to have a good argument with you, Mr. Langley, about postponing the vocabulary assignment.

Journal #9

High School = DRAMA! Drama is so annoying! I consider all unnecessary emotional roller coasters in life to be drama.  I think that high school girls are the guilty ones when it comes to starting drama. People start rumors... drama. There is always drama in high school relationships. There was a certain someone who's name I am not going to mention that caused a lot of drama this weekend.  I think that she has been having a rough couple of days.  It all started when we arrived and she saw her ex boyfriend at the game will his arms around another girl. OMG, right?! I guess I really do not understand why she was upset because they broke up about three months ago.  I think that she was only really upset about it because she was already having a bad week.  I think that she was emotionally weak.  I am not the person to be really open about my relationships and how much they effect me.  I think that I am normally not usually the one who is starting all of the drama.  I hate drama! I actually kind of separated myself from that specific person at the football game because I hate drama that much! I did not even bother messing with her at the game because I knew that she was being really super dramatic.  Even though I am the blue personality type, I am not really super emotional. I think that I used to be really good at dealing with people's drama, but now I really just think that drama is super annoying.  I hate it! I think that I have stated the fact that I hate drama about six times throughout the course of this journal, but it is the truth! I think that because I have been in high school for a few years now, I have just gotten to the point that I really just try to totally ignore all of the people that cause drama. The worst thing about drama though is when people try to drag me into it.  I have a true problem with people who try to get other innocent people involved with drama.

Reflection #7: Patrick Henry

I believe that Patrick Henry's speech does indeed exemplify the characteristics of the rationalistic writing style. Let me first start out by describing what the Rationalism period writing characteristics are. The first thing that I noticed about the Rationalism period is they simply state things how they really are. There is no skipping around the point. Henry got straight to the point. I think that the Rationalism period is all about that: justifying actions. The Rationalistic writers were the one who are going to tell you something exactly the way it really is. I personally like the Rationalistic writing style because I am a person who really just wants the key parts of a story. When someone is telling me a story, I prefer to just hear the important events and I think that is what the Rationalistic writers. They are not interested in coloring the picture for you, they are only interested in getting to the chase. I hate it when someone tells me a story and they take like ten years to explain something that I could have summarized into about a thirty second thing. I think that I am going to really like the style that we are going to find in the period of rationalism.

In the rationalism period, the scientific method was developed, so people were beginning to think more logically. The truth must be developed through reason (Boucquey). I think that the Rationalism period is very good at thinking logically and not so emotionally. I think that the speech by Patrick Henry was a really good example of rationalism because he was really thinking logically. I think that he might have had a different opinion than the one he shared in the speech, but he was using a rational though process and he was thinking rationally. I believe that people need to hear rationalistic thoughts so that they are not persuaded into thinking from a point of view that is not truly their own. I think that especially with government based speeches and articles need to be written in the style of the rationalists. This makes the politics more even so that the emotions of the writer are not shown, only their rationalistic thoughts.

Patrick Henry’s famous quote is “Give me liberty, or give me death.” He made people see that the war against Britain was already well under way before the first shot was fired. He showed that the colonies suggestions and input into things did not matter (Henry 118). Britain was already doing what they wanted to do, and the colonies had no input on it. Patrick Henry made the Convention aware of the way that things were going and the way they were going to continue going unless something was done about it (Henry 116). Britain had already basically started a war against the colonies without actually stating that. Henry showed how rationalists really capture the way that the world is, not the way that people think or hope that it is by their emotions.

Boucquey, Thierry, gen. ed. "rationalism." Encyclopedia of World Writers, 14th through 18th Centuries. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Henry, Patrick. "Speech to the Second Virginia Convention." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 114-118. Print.

Journal #8

I honestly do not have a favorite season because I have many pros and cons for all of the seasons. Fall and spring are my two favorite seasons because they are not very harsh.  I think that Fall is probably one of my favorite seasons because school starts in the fall. I also enjoy autumn because of the temperatures.  Fall has a nice balance of warm and cool temperatures.  In fall, there is not usually hot or cold temperatures, they are generally mild.  BONFIRES! I love bonfires! Bonfires are so much fun! I love to sit around a warm fire and talk with my friends.  I am actually going to a bonfire this weekend at Emma and Izzy Durham's house.  I am so excited because the temperature is just getting to the right place for bonfires. Bonfires are probably my favorite part of the Autumn season.  I just love the smell of the fire and I like how my clothes hold the bonfire smell for a long time.  Another thing that I love about Fall is Homecoming.  Homecoming week is probably the best week of school.  The teachers always realize that because we are so excited, we are probably not going to accomplish a lot of school learning.  I like the fact that the teachers are lenient on what we can wear to school for the theme of the day.  Another thing that I love about Homecoming week is that we get out early on Friday and there is a football game. Homecoming dress shopping is also an important part of the Fall season. I love to go Homecoming dress shopping with friends because I tend to try on things that I might like, but otherwise I would not have picked out by myself. Football games are probably another reason why I like Autumn because I love to watch people I know play football.  I enjoy going to the University of Illinois football games with my dad, but I enjoy going to the Plains football games more because I actually know the people that are playing.  I think that it is fun to sit in the stands with my friends and cheer on the football boys.

Reflection #6

No matter which writings you look at, Puritans writings will always be similar in one way or another. When comparing Puritans from The Crucible and other Puritan works that we have read previously, I realized that similar does not even begin to cover it. When you talk about people and you reference them, you do not tend to reference them to a religious group. But, being the way that the world is, there are always exceptions. I feel like most Christians are very similar, and that is why they do not get referenced as “Catholics” or “Lutheran” or “Christian.” They are all very similar, so you cannot really tell the difference most of the time. But then there are Jewish people and Muslim people, and they tend to be referenced to their religion. When people think of terrorists, their initial thought is Muslim. Though that is not fair, that is how terrorists are defined. Puritans, though, were such a different type of religion, that they fall into the Muslim and Jewish category.
     Puritans are whole heartedly, 100 percent, all about God. In my opinion, there is no in between. You are either a all out Puritan who believes in God in everything you do, or you are just simply not a Puritan. Throughout The Crucible, I noticed that similarity with other works by Puritans. In The Crucible I feel like everyone was totally with God, but some of them just fell short of what that really means. In my opinion, I think that Abigail and the other girls thought that they were still 100 percent with God, and they were not really doing anything wrong. They accused so many women and a few men of doing witchcraft, that they did not even think about the repercussions that would come from them doing that (Miller 48). They were just trying to save their own butts. I think Proctor really shows what a Puritan was like at the end of the story. He refused to “tell” on any of his friends or neighbors because he would not lose his good name (Miller 144). He was not going to go to live on this earth knowing that he was a liar, and God knew that too. Overall, Puritans in The Crucible were just as much Puritans as those from previous Puritan works.
     Puritans from The Crucible were just like any other Puritans of that time. From religion to government to hospitality, Puritans were similar. There was no in-between for them. You were either 100 percent Puritan, or you were not a Puritan. It is really as easy as that.
     I think that in the story, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" was very accusing therefor it kind of is similar to The Crucible. I think that although both of these writings were supposed to be Puritan writing, all people have their flaws. Even though all of the people in these stories are supposed to be devoted to God, they all have their moments where they act before thinking what God would want.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: a Play in Four Acts. Harmondsworth, Eng.: Penguin, 1976. Print.

Journal #7

Bullying is a terrible thing.  I think that bullying effects both the bully and the victim, but mostly the victim.  I think that everyone in the world knows that bullying is a bad thing, but human nature makes us do it.  I think that people bully others because they are insecure about themselves. I think that by tearing someone else down, it would make the bully feel better about themselves. Bullies are probably the people in the world that are the most insecure and unhappy with themselves.  They feel like they are not accepted, so they think that by tearing someone else down, they feel better themselves.  I think that it is sad that the world is always going to have bullies.  I think that it is impossible to have a Utopian Society, so there are always going to be  those silly bullying people all over the world- it is no use! I think that the teachers should be the ones to report the bullying.  Sometimes I think that the act of bullying is seem by the teachers, but they do not report it because bullying is defined as "repetitive acts on one person that are intentionally meant to be harmful." I think that sometimes the teachers do not report something is because they are not sure if the behavior is repetitive.  I have seen bullying going on a lot in our school, and I think that this needs to be stopped.  Everyone should have the right to come to school safely and feel good about doing so.  I know that there are people in our school that are so two faced. It kills me to think that people in our extracurricular activities are the people that are being the bullies to the people that are not involved.  I think that the "popular" kids are bullies just by showing to everyone else that they think they are so much better.  News flash! All of the students at Pleasant Plains are equal. No one person is better than another.

Reflection #5

     Throughout all of The Crucible, human nature has been pretty evident. Some of the human nature is positive in a sense, but there is also some negative human nature flaws. Humans are really interesting to me. I love psychology because I get to learn a lot about the way human brains work. Throughout the witch trials, the husbands are all trying to defend their wives (Miller III). That is human nature. You protect what is yours and what you love. That would be considered positive human nature, in my opinion, because you are trying to help someone. Also in Act III, Proctor defends himself (Miller 117). That could go along with the protection that I mentioned previously. Proctor was defending himself because that is just what us humans do. When someone wrongly accuses you, you tend to defend yourself. I think if you do not defend yourself, then you are probably just a coward. But in the case of some of the women in The Crucible, they started to believe that they were actually possessed by the devil (Miller 79). That is also human nature. When you hear something so much, you start to believe it. Even though you may have initially flat-out denied it, once it is said so much, it makes you question yourself. Human nature that we think of today is essentially the positive kind, and that makes sense. We do not fault ourselves, so going along with human nature, we do not think that we do any wrong.
     Although we think of the more positive side of human nature, there are definitely plenty of negatives. In The Crucible, Abigail is the definition of negative human nature. She is only trying to save her butt, but in doing that, she has to lie. She has accused so many innocent women of doing wrong that there is no way she could take it back (Miller 48). That is definitely negative human nature. Once you are in so deep, it is hard to turn back the right way. Mary Warren also shows some negative human nature qualities. She became an honest person and confessed that she and the rest of the girls had been lying about everything that they saw (Miller 102). That shows positive human nature because it shows that you have a conscience, and that it sometimes gets the best of you. But when very few people believe her and Abigail keeps denying the whole thing, Mary becomes so overwhelmed. She lowers herself to the rest of the girls, and she accuses Proctor of being of the devil (Miller 118). Throughout all of The Crucible, negative human nature is prominent.
     Overall, human nature is human nature. That is the best way to put it. Everyone is a human being and with being that comes human nature. It is what we do. We use our instincts. Human nature is both negative and positive in a sense, although most people do not really recognize the negative side of it. Human nature is in everyone, even if they do not think it is.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: a Play in Four Acts. Harmondsworth, Eng.: Penguin, 1976. Print.    

Journal #4

This summer my family took a vacation to Mexico.  The trip was about 12 days long, so I consider it a long trip.  I think its funny how you are always looking forward to when you vacation is going to start from like weeks and weeks in advance, but when you are about to get home after the whole thing... you just want to be home! I really do not like to fly and in the particular case of this vacation, we had to fly. We had a a flight scheduled for 7 o' clock am, so we stayed the night in St. Louis the night before.  It was really exciting the next day when we were at the airport because I knew the fun was about to begin.  I also realized that I was about to hear 95% of the important information in spanish for the next 12 days. For some reason I found that exciting! The airplane was a larger airplane because it was a non stop flight. I think that having a larger airplane was a good thing because then it seemed like the turbulence did not seem to be as powerful.  I sat next two really little girls whose parents were sitting across the isle. These two little girls were so annoying because they kept screaming, and their parents just happened to be asleep across the isle.  They were pinching each other and hitting each other, and they were doing everything that a small child should never do on a airplane. It was lucky that the flight was only about four and a half hours because I was about to "accidentally" strangle one of them! I ended up watching a movie for the remainder of the flight because I was tired of listening to those kids while I was trying to read my summer novels. It was Grapes of Wrath to be honest, and let me tell you that is a difficult book to read around screaming children.

Journal #6

The repercussions of blaming someone who did not actually commit the crime can potentially be really bad. I hate it when people blame me for something I did not do, so I cannot even imagine being blames for murder.I think that I would go absolutely crazy because I would be so mad at the people who accused me of the crime I did not commit. I think that I have probably at one time accused somebody of something that they did not do, but I did not ever do it on purpose. I work at PASSAGE, so I am sure that some kids there have been punished for something that they did not do, but I do not like to punish any kids that I am not positive about then doing anything wrong. I think that is stinks when people blame me for something that I did not do, so I really do not understand why people continue to blame things on others even though they are not for sure who did it. I remember one time that I was blamed for somethiv that I did not do. I was about ten or eleven years old and the soap in the laundry room spilled all over the floor. I was not even the last person to do the laundry, so I do not even know why I was the innocent one that got blamed. Becausemy sister was not home, I guess I was the only person to blame. I wax punished for the incident and I did not even do it. It would be so bad if I was accused of practicing witchcraft during the Salem witch trials. I think that I would tell the judge that I was pregnant too, so they did not immediately hang me.  I think that they obviously did not deal with the cases the way that they would today because people are not tried for a crime unless there is evidence to back that up.  i would hate to be put in jail for something that I did not do.  I think that would be one of the worst ways to end up in jail because you would have absolutely no control over the situation what so ever.

Reflection #4

In the second act of The Crucible, there were many characters mentioned. Arthur Miller did a good job of including people of all different personality types in the story. All of the characters were very different though. They all had different personalities. In many cases today, the personality of a person is referred to as a color. There are gold, green, blue, and orange personalities. I am more of a blue personality. I tend to be the one who is always upbeat, personable, and dramatic. I feel like many of the characters in the second act of The Crucible had different "colors." There were not two characters that were the exact same, but they had similarities.

One of my favorite characters was Elizabeth. She is Proctor's wife, and she is definitely a people pleaser. I think she is more of a blue personality, but with a hint of gold. She is almost ashamed of herself when she forgets Proctor's cider for his dinner (Miller 51). She also wants Proctor to just tell someone about what Rebecca told him (Miller 53). In this, I feel like she just wants to do what is right, which is kind of being blue. She does not want anything bad. Overall, I feel Elizabeth is more a blue, but with a tad of green.

Mary Warren, the Proctor's servant, is definitely an orange. She is going to do what she wants to do when she wants to do it. I feel like it would be hard to be a servant with an orange personality because you get told what to do all of the time, and you can not argue with it. But Mary Warren stands her ground when going up against Proctor. She tells him, whether he likes it or not, she is going to be going to the court everyday (Miller 58). She is definitely a strong orange personality.

Cheever has a gold personality. He does what he is told no matter what (Miller 72). I do not think that his personality really shines through too much, but he definitely likes things set out straight for him and then he can accomplish them, if that makes sense. Hale also has a gold personality in my opinion. He does what he is told, and goes along with other people. Gold, in my opinion, is the one who does what they are told, but also is sometimes uneasy of it. Although he does want to say it, he tells Elizabeth how she is accused of murder (Miller 76). I feel like this shows how he does not want to do something, but it is something that he must do. Gold personalities are very complicated in my opinion.

Overall, there were many different personalities in the second act of The Crucible. Like in today's world, no two people are exactly the same. In my eyes people can be have the same "color" personalities, but it is impossible to have exactly the same. In The Crucible, many of the characters are similar with their "color," but none are exactly alike.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: a Play in Four Acts. Harmondsworth, Eng.: Penguin, 1976. Print.

Journal #5

I am not really sure what a good punishment would be for today's society.  I am never punished by my parents. They mostly just talk to me about what I have done wrong or sometimes they yell at me if it was really bad.  I remember one time when I was actually spanked.  It was a Sunday morning and my family was at church.  After church I was supposed to go to Sunday School in the classroom.  On my way to the classroom I saw my cousin and he asked me if I wanted to go sit in "Big Church" with him.  Of course I wanted to, so I went ahead and went to church again with him. Little did I know that church lasted one hour and Sunday school lasts for only thirty minutes.  My parents went to pick me up from Sunday school and the teacher told them that I wasn't even there today.  They absolutely freaked out! They had no clue where I was and my parents went ahead and sent out a search party consisting of my grandparents, my mom, my dad, and my sister.  After looking around the church building for around half an hour, I found them as soon as I got out of church.  They were so mad at me! If I recall correctly, that is the only time that my parents have ever physically punished me.  I have never had my phone taken away (knock on wood). I think that taking my phone away would be a good punishment for me because I do use it a lot.  I don't think that my parents would ever take my computer away because I use it for school a lot. I think that they would be crazy if they made me miss homework assignments just because they were punishing me for something that I have done.  I know that a punishment that wouldn't do me any good would be to ground me from the television.  I never watch television at home anyway during the school week especially while i am involved in a school sport.  I have to spend most of my spare time doing homework.

Reflection #3

      The first part of The Crucible, in my opinion, was kind of confusing. I also thought that it was very interesting. I do not feel as though it was written by a Puritan. It did not totally possess all of the qualities that I have previously seen in works by Puritans. The "pure" writing was not really there. Arthur Miller really did not reference God. There were talk of spirits, but not necessarily the spirits of God. The talk was also kind of different compared to the "normal" Puritan writing. I do not think that Puritan writing was reflected very well within the first part of The Crucible.
      God was not very well referenced in the first part of The Crucible. I actually only remember him being referenced once. When giving the background information, mainly the introduction of the story, it was mentioned that old scores could be settled in heavenly combat between Lucifer, which is the devil, and the Lord (Miller 8). That is the only reference that I remember towards the Lord and other things that are spiritual in that sense. Spirits were mentioned many times, but I do not feel as though they were quite the spirits we hear of. Abby says how Parris knows that Tituba conjured Ruth's sisters to come out of the grave, which is a big no-no (Miller 18). When Betty finally awakes, she says she wants to fly and fly with her mama. The only problem is that her mother is dead (Miller 19). This leads me to believe that her mother is in heaven, so that could be another reference to God. Overall, I do not feel that God was a big priority in The Crucible. Other Puritan works seem to have a lot stronger belief system, and it was not well represented in this novel.
     The type of writing was also not what I expected when referring to Puritans. Most Puritan works do not use figurative language, but more straight-to-the-point talk. In the first part of The Crucible, the talk is not elaborate, but it is not as to-the-point as previous works. The work seemed to be in more detail. Abigail talks about all what she and the other girls did and their repercussions from their actions. But everything was in great detail (Miller 20). I would have expected it to be straight to the point. I imagine, if written by another Puritan, it would have said what they did and what happened to them. That is all. There would be no great details, and everything would be right there in front of you. The writing style was just not what I imagined from a Puritan.
     Overall, I do not think that the writing was very "Puritan-like." It did not include a strong belief system like previous works by Puritans. It also did not have the people totally trusting in God. The writing style was a little different. It was not flowery, but it was not straight to the point like other Puritan works. I do not think that Arthur Miller's The Crucible, well act one, was a very good representative of Puritan writings.

MIller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York: Penguin, 1982. Print.

Reflection #2

In the "Before You Read" section, it said that Bradford was actually a Separatist, not a Puritan. Separatists and Puritans were very similar, though. Unlike the Puritans, who were trying to "purify" the church, Separatists wanted to "separate" themselves from the church. Of Plymouth Plantation is more of a historical commentary rather than a religious one like many previous works of Puritans. I read more about William Bradford on page 14 in the "Life in the new World" section. It said, "At the beginning of his history of the Plymouth Colony, he said that he intended to produce "a plain style, with singular regard unto the simple truth in all things." This was my first hint that the writing of William Bradford was going to be cut and dry to the point. I personally think that Bradford's style in Of Plymouth Plantation is going to be similar to the style of the Puritans if not exactly.

Bradford referenced God a few times, but definitely not as much as Mary Rowlandson did. I did not expect him to make many references to God because it was stated in "Before You Read," that he did not make many references. This was not a religious narrative, it seemed to be more of a factual one. It was historical. In the beginning of the narrative, a man is thrown overboard during a horrific storm. Bradford states that it was God's will that the man should survive (Bradford 64). Bradford also states that they made the journey back to the Cape within God's "good providence" (Bradford 65). He still does not actually say that God has anything to do with him. It is kind of hard to explain, but I do not feel that he is actually thanking God in anyway and stating that God has anything to do with his being. He is just stating the facts, and some of those facts are under God. When talking about Squanto, Bradford says that he (Squanto) was God's special instrument sent to them (Bradford 67). Overall, Bradford does not really reference God. He is just stating the historical side of things, not the religious aspects.

Bradford also tells of the rules that the Indians put upon them. These rules seem like very strong rules, and like rules that are still in existence in some way or another. They cannot injure each other, make war against each other, and so on (Bradford 67). The way that Bradford addresses the rules is very straight to the point, that is the way the Puritans were. They did not use figurative language, they got straight to the point.

Overall, Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation does not really remind too much of previous Puritan writings. To some extent it does, but then again it does not. Bradford referenced God a few times, but not as much as the other Puritans that we have read about did. He also got to the point like the Puritans style, and that was probably the biggest similarity that I found. Bradford was not a Puritan, so it is quite difficult to reflect on Puritan writing when it was Separatist writing.

Bradford, William. "From Of Plymouth Plantation." Glencoe Literature. Ed. Jeffery D. Wilhelm, PhD. American Literature ed. Columbus: Mc-Graw Hill, 2009. 64-67. Print.

Journal #3

If I was in a hostage situation, I would definitely be the the escapee. I think that if I was able to stay calm enough to think clearly in the situation, that I would be smart enough to get out. I sometimes worry about getting in a car accident when I'm driving by myself. I think that if I got stranded or in a car accident at night, I would be so scared if anybody stopped and got out of their car. If I was taken in a hostage situation, I would like to hope that they would not like tie me up and throw me in the trunk. i am going to admit that if anyone did tie me up and throw me in a trunk that I would not be the hero and escape. I think that I would cooperate for a while, so the hostage taker would begin to trust me and then I would pull of my super natural moves! I think that if the hostage taker was intent on raping or killing me though- I'd fight back. I am not the kind of person that will just roll over and let a hostage taker kill me. Believe me, I'll fight. I probably would have to thank Mrs. Jenkins for the occasional tips of self defense because that just may be my only option if I did happen to get into a hostage situation. I would like to think that the world could go along with out any weirdo creepy people that hold other people hostage, but you know what? i just do not think that that is every going to be the case. I have no idea why, but I guess there are always going to be those creepy weirdos that are going to want to take people. I just cannot imagine how somebody would be that nasty to want to "take" another person. i just cannot imagine. I really hope that I never get into a hostage situation because it would be really hard to stay calm enough to make good decisions.

Reflection #1

I believe that the writings, "Upon the Burning of our House" by Anne Bradstreet and "A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson" by Mary Rowlandson, were very representative of the typical writing and beliefs of the Puritans. I do want to admit first that I did not totally understand the stories, so I am sorry it this is completely off target.

I am going to talk about the story "A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson" first. I believe that in reading this excerpt. I was able to make a few connections to the style of the Puritans typical writing. I noticed that Rowlandson was very clear at the beginning of the story of stating her belief in Christ. Although she did seem unhappy about the situation, she did mention Christ in the following passage, "Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolation he has made in the Earth." (Rowlandson 82). I think that in this passage she is talking about the sadness and misery that God is causing in the world, but right after that she kind of rejoices about her safety by saying, "save only one, who might say as he, Job i. 15, And I only am escaped alone to tell the news." (Rowlandson 82) I think that this passage is kind of ironic because she was just complaining about the misery and suffering that God was causing in the world, but now she is really intent on giving thanks for the safety that God has provided for her. The author was really good about showing that the Puritans were nomadic people. They were clearly moving from place to place in the story because they were moving to find food, but also because they were moving to escape dangerous attacks. I could kind of see the relation to the Puritan writing style, but it was unclear to me most of the time.

Now to talk about the shorter poem written by Anne Bradstreet titled, "Upon the Burning of our House." I was able to make more sense out of this piece, so it was a little easier to find the correlation to the Puritan writing style. "And to my God my heart did cry to strengthen me in my distress," (Bradstreet 91). This quote shows that the character was involved in a strong practice of faith. She was relying on her God to be there for her house when it was burning down. "And when I could no longer look; I blest His name that gave and took." (Bradstreet 91) This quote really stows the strength in her faith. Even though her house was burning to the ground, she was blessing God because she knew that if she did not have God, she would not have had that house. This passage also directly exhibits the works of God because the narrator was clear that they were blessing God for giving them the house they had, but also still trusting in God although he was talking the house away from them.

Overall I thought that it was hard to identify the style of the Puritan writing, but I think that the more we work on analyzing the writing styles, the better we will all get at it! :)

Bradstreet, Anne. "Upon the Burning of Our House." Glencoe Literature. Ed. Jeffery D. Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill, 2009. 91. Print.

Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." Glencoe Literature. Ed. Jeffery D. Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill, 2009. 82-85. Print.

Journal #2

Once upon a time there was a young penguin boy named Flipper. Flipper was a young boy with many responsibilities. Flipper was the man of his clan. Unfortunately Flipper's father passed away when his was just a young boy. Flipper had all of the responsibilities of the father figure in the house. Flipper was always the ruler of the house. I think that Flipper was the most important penguin in the household of the whole Frank family. Flipper was always there to remind all of the guests of the house to kindly remover their shoes when they entered the house. Flipper found that this was just a way to show respect to the family that owned the house. Flipper was even in charge of keeping his own friends respectful. He felt like he had to keep the house looking nice so that his mother never had to stress about keeping it clean. Flipper's mother was already stressed about other things, so this really helped his mother out. Flipper also was the person who cleared off the table after a family meal. I think that this is a really good habit to have because i think you should always at least take your plate over to the sink when you are done eating. Flipper was the gentleman in the house, so he was the one who always volunteered to take care of everyone's plates. Flipper also taught all of his friends table manners. Flipper's father was always a stickler about having good manners at the table, so Flipper wants his father to be happy looking down upon him. He is the first person to enforce the use of good manners at his house. Flipper reminds his friends to: take their shoes off upon entrance to their house, not rest their fins on the table at dinner, address adults in the house as Mr. and Mrs., clean up after themselves, and to use clean and respectful language all the time.