Over the course of the past few weeks, we discussed the various motifs, symbols and the deeper meaning hidden in Arthur Millers, "Death of a Salesman". We then moved on to talking about tragedies which "Death of a Salesman" put a modern twist on. At first I was not whether I felt bad for Willy or resented him because of his outlook on life. But in the end I realized that the things Willy valued was something that almost lead to his death. He failed to see the good life he had made with Linda. The relationship that Willy had with Biff and Happy was the complete opposite of Bernard and Charley. I think Willy's focus on life was not in the right place.
Since then, we started to read "Hamlet" by Shakespeare. "Hamlet" is also a tragedy so I wonder how it will compare to "Death of a Salesman". I got assigned the part of Marcellus, which at first I was a bit hesitant about since I am not a fan of reading out loud. But to my surprise, it was not as bad as I thought. Personally, I find Shakespearean English to be a bit challenging so reading out loud as a class really helps me understand what is going on in the play. I find it especially helpful when Ms. Holmes explains the scenes or even adds some background details. I hope to keep up with the annotation for Hamlet so that way I won't have to worry about them when it gets close to the due date.
Hi Aishwarya!
ReplyDeleteYour blog is super cute. I just had to mention it.
You have really thoughtful responses, and I bet it would help to record some details to recall in May. For example, what did Willy value that almost lead to his death (and what *did* lead to his death)?
I agree about Ms. Holmes - sometimes we read a scene and I don't get what just happened until she explains it. As long as you are writing down the details somewhere, you'll do great on the AP!
Hey Aishwarya! I agree with Emily that it would be helpful to include a few more details in your "Response to Course Material."
ReplyDeleteI love how you said you think "Willy's focus on life was not in the right place." I think that's a perfect way of putting it.
Moving on to "Hamlet," I'm surprised that you find reading the play out loud in class helpful. Whenever something is read out loud, I tend to zone out (especially when I'm the one reading it) and finish with zero memory of what was just read. It has been helpful that Ms. Holmes has been explaining scenes, though. Overall, good response Aishwarya!
I agree with your view about Death of a Salesman. He wasn't focused on what he already had; he just wanted to keep reaching for his impossible dream. He didn't have a positive relationship with his children at all.
ReplyDeleteHamlet was hard for me to figure out on the first read too. There were whole scenes that I didn't understand at all, and I didn't have a big part so paying attention was hard. But reading it on my own helped me out a lot more.
I'm disappointed that none of your three peer reviewers pointed out that you have nothing here about forums, the information we read in the textbook, and so on. You're also not making a lot of connections to other reading, other course material, material from other subjects or the world outside this course, and so on. Remember that your personal response to the material is important, but it isn't the only function of this kind of post--and you need to thoroughly cover the material.
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