Do success and happiness depend on the choices people make rather than on factors beyond their control?

"Winning provides happiness but losing provides wisdom" -Neil Patel-
Being successful in a specific task can be a great feeling and these kinds of outcomes does influence our life's when making decisions. Although sometimes it's good to lose as well, you have to learn from your mistakes so that way in the future it can be prevented from happening again. No one's perfect and their is going to come to a point where you're going to have to make decisions, and that's a risk that has to be done. Don't expect the outcome to be a good thing because theirs always surprises in life, this is when the experience in losing comes to play. Losing is also a tool/strategy that can be used to also make decisions. Win or lose you still have a positive outcome because now you know what's right and what's wrong.

Can books and stories about characters & events that are not real teach us anything useful?

     As kids we read fiction books that teach us lessons in life for example Little Red Riding Hood. Also princess stories, princess stories are not just about a girl who meets her Prince Charming. Stories such as The Little Mermaid. In a kids point of view, kids view these stories as entertainment or a bed time story but as we grow up and face real world problems we start to begin connecting books with real life situations, which can also help us to even deal with them as well. Books like The Little Red Riding Hood teaches us of being careful on whom to trust, as well as to think critically. This connects to real life situations such as maintaining yourself away from strangers or avoiding you from ever being out smarted. Stories like princesses, focus more on shaping your way of living. For example The Little Mermaid, encourages us to try new things and discover outside their comfort zone every once in a while. There are many more other stories that all come together to prepare people from real life situations. The fact that authors use their fictional books as early prepareness for kids is a very smart idea because this helps us think critically on our decisions that we take later on in life. 

Not my thing

Poetry is not my thing

Give me a poem to read 

And I will swing 

It's a reading strategy I do not need

Well maybe in school

But I'm too cool

What's the point of snapping at the end

If it's not even a trend 

Why say and scream

If it's just a theme 

Just calm down 

And stop looking like a clown 

Because it's in the end 

It's pretend 

How I love thee? & Fire and Ice poem comparison

"How do I love thee?" By Elizabeth Browning has a soothing feelings towards the poem. What makes this poem more graceful is the diction chosen for the poem, such as, "grace", and "praise" because these are mostly known as positive word. The poem also includes rhyme scheme, which makes the poem even more significant because the rhyming makes the poem have a rythim to the poem. Unlike "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost, his poem has a more fierce tone to his because of the topic of his poem. The fact that his is about how the world will end makes his poem really foreshadowing. Also at the end of each line it incorporates the words fire or ice which creates a action feeling to the poem.

How can the past, present and future help us to find the truth?

Finding the truth straight away isn't something that will come right away, there's always a challenge in this world. For example a maze, mazes is a challenging obstacle that can sometimes be confusing because you never know which way is the correct way to go because every single stop looks the same. It's impossible just ending up at the end of the maze in a second, the trick of it is trying every which way to finally find the truth behind the end of the maze. That's how the past and present and future helps us find out the truth. In the past you start from the beginning and move forward, through knowledge you know where you've stranded in the first place so you know already that ending up at the beginning is not right. In the present you know where you are standing and when you are caught in the middle of three lanes that's when you take risks and by finding out the dead ends of two lanes then you know to go back and try the very last part. The key is using background knowledge and present knowledge and using them together to create a clue on the path that it's being taken to get to the truth.

Oedipus Rex

There was a mix of reactions that came through me while reading Oedipus Rex.At the beginning I found it quite funny that Oedipus was saying that whoever was the killer of the king he would rather band him from the land or kill him. It's funny because since he doesn't know that he is the killer, he's basically putting a punishment on his own. As the story went along Oedipus slowly went understanding that he could be the killer. Although I kept on getting irritated when  Oedipus was talking to Teiresius because when Teiresius was telling Oedipus the truth. Oedipus would not believe him and continue on asking questions and kept on denying what Teiresius was saying. It was annoying for Oedipus to keep on questioning Teiresius. things started to get more interesting when Jocasta was telling her story. I can't imagine if i was in Oedipus place, just imagining that i could be the killer of my own father, or in this case I could be the killer of my own mother and find out that I married my dad...eww. Other than the reactions said, it seemed a little boring when there was too much talking about the same topic. I mean it's great to go in detail but it also tends to loose readers attentions, well especially for me. I actually zoned out for a little bit, until Teiresius came to the point of telling Oedipus that he was the one who killed his father. Hopefully it get's even more interesting. What's killing to know is a lot of things. How will Oedipus and Jocasta react when they realize that they are related? Will Oedipus die for killing the king, most importantly his own father? Can't wait to what's in store.

Fitzgerald and the "American Dream"

    It's pretty clear that Fitzgerald uses the American dream as a negative outcome. Within The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses symbolism to better explain his purpose of the American dream. This also helps them see what Fitzgerald is actually targeting at, so then that way when the readers follow along the book they can start getting a clear image of Fitzgerald's purpose of the book. There were 3 main symbols in the book that stood out to Fitzgerald's thoughts about the American dream. These 3 symbols were, the green light, the eyes of Dr. Eckleburg, and the landscape of of the setting that took place in The Great Gatsby.

    The green light is placed at the end of Daisy's dock, also her mansion is right across the bay from Gatsby's mansion as well. During the book/movie the light seems to mean something to Gatsby. As Gatsby's true story starts making sense on the green light things start coming together on what the green light at the end of Daisy's dock means to him. This green light represents the hope that Gatsby has for Daisy and how he will go through anything to just reach Daisy. For example Gatsby sold alcohol to many people who wanted to buy it from him, although during that time the use of alcohol was illegal. This didn't matter to Gastby because at the end it made him rich and he threw a lot of parties, in hope that Daisy will show up. To make more sense of things, Daisy was the representation of Gatsby's American dream.

    Dr. Eckleburg (modern day Bill Gates) is a representation of wealth. This means that the eyes of Dr. Eckelburg was a big deal back then because money is all that everyone cared about. There's a special place where the sign of the eyes of Dr. Eckleburg is placed and that is in the Valley of Ashes. The Valley of Ashes is a place where the lower class (poor people) live also where Myrtle lives and her husband. This large advertisement sign of Dr. Eckleburg's eyes see over the Valley of Ashes, also known as the place where every bad plot scene seems to take place. Such as Tom's affair with Myrtle, and Myrtle's death. The eyes Dr. Eckleburg or better known as the eyes of God is a representation of the truth behind every single bad scenario that has taken place there. 

    The geography in The Great Gastby is better known as a path that Gastby has taken to being rich, it's also a clear understanding of Fitzgerald's view on a guide to being wealthy. The starting point of being wealthy is the place where the main characters live, East egg and West egg. As obvious as it gets New York City is the end point of the guide to being wealthy because it's where all the Wealthy rich people live. Although to get to NYC you have to go through The Valley of Ashes, as said before this is the place where all the bad scenarios happen. The Valley of Ashes is most known as a city of immorality or in better words it is a place of ruin. This ties back to Fitzgerald's view of being wealthy, to be wealthy is by going through immorality.
    Fitzgerald uses all 3 symbols to give a better understanding of what he is targeting for. Out of the outcome of the symbols, Fitzgerald's purpose to The Great Gatsby is giving off a negative view of the American dream. This is basically saying that the American dream can't always be achieved or go the way a person wants it to go. The only way of reaching the American dream is by changing your way of life and getting out of the mess that your previously on. The American dream is not an easy task to achieve but you can always try although it's like what Fitzgerald's purpose is trying to give off "the American dream can't always turn out the way you want it to go and it may never be finished"