Romeo & Juliet Post Performance Reflection

Romeo was the character I portrayed in the class play of Romeo and Juliet. As I read the play at home and in class, I constantly noticed Romeo’s desire and desperateness for a society that accepts his love for Juliet. In my scene: act 5, scene 3, lines 1 through 70, he is on his way to pay his respects to, and die alongside Juliet in the Capulet Tomb. In my performance, I tried to show the unmerciful level of desperation in Romeo because he has lost his entire life or so he thought. He was banished from Verona, and Juliet had died. I feel that I did well myself, the show had a few hiccups from cutting each other off, or forgotten lines. At times it was a bit of a struggle to work with group members but we pushed past it and we had a great show which I enjoyed taking part of. In my performance, I would have liked to improve my emotion and when I get to high angry points, keep it angry instead of bringing it back down to calm talking. Thus making it more authentic and believable. I really enjoyed this Shakespeare unit. It will definitely help me in high school by improving my language maturity. He has used words that I have never even heard of: inexorable, hither, and umbrage, to name a few. This new understanding of words and their origins can teach me the background of a more unique and different set of words. I look forward to learn new words from different titles of his. William Shakespeare

Hiroshima

Hiroshima, written by John Hersey, is a fascinating book forty years in the making. It follows six survivors of the Atomic Bomb dropped by the United States. Some came out good, because they benefitted from the overload of work, and some weren’t so lucky, they came down with sickness’, and much worse. The A-Bomb Had more effects beyond helping America and the Allies win the war.

Here are the stories, before and after the bomb, of the six survivors:

Toshinki Sasaki, was a clerk in the East Asia Tin Works. At the exact moment of the bomb drop, she had turned her head to chat with the girl at the next desk. After the bomb, she nearly lost her right leg after it had been crushed, and then became a nun at the local orphanage. Dr. Masakazu Fujii , a physician, was reading the local newspaper on the porch of his private hospital. He luckily suffered no injuries, and opened many clinics, hospitals, and therapy clinics around Hiroshima to help the “hibakusha”, people affected by the bomb. Hatsuyo Nakamura, A tailor's widow, was watching her neighbor from her kitchen window. She didn’t have very good fortune after the bomb. She was destitute and working long hours while having to deal with radiation sickness and keloids. Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, a Japanese-German priest, was laying in his cot reading a Jesuit Magazine. After dealing with years of organ and bodily failures, he finally died a peaceful death in his hometown house in Hiroshima. Dr. Terefumi Sasaki, a young surgeon was walking down a corridor of his hospital with a blood specimen ready for a Wassermann Test. He stayed behind in his little hopital alone to help all the hibakusha. Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto, Pastor of the Hiroshima Methodist Church, was delivering clothes to a rich mans house as the bomb dropped. He survived and helped many people restore hope as a hibakusha himself, and he resided in a little home with his little woolly dog.

These six were extremely lucky beyond belief, even they are dumbfounded they survived. They were most confused with the question of why they survived, when the other 166,000 didn’t. These are the questions that haunt them every day of their lives.

Author's Note

Treacherous Chocolate Mousse is a story that takes a stance against bullying, and the lonely path it leads to. Bullying is a horrible act of malice that inflicts physical and mental damage to the many kids or teens enduring it. The unfortunate kids that have to face these menacing thugs that take part in these horrific actions have, on occasion, gone on to become bullies themselves. They become awkward non-social people. Some of whom even have killed themselves or others. Kids attack others because of many reasons: skin color, size, or culture. Bullies grow up to become lonely themselves because they earn a negative reputation. This is a horrible problem in schools and it must stop. All people at some point have been a part of a bullying episode, whether you were the victim, the bully, or bystander, it effects everyone. I was once picked on myself, by an older teen that thought he could take my clothes after swimming, and dump my bag.

I care a great deal about this topic and have chosen to write about it in picture book form to show the repercussions of bullying. The victim, obviously, experiences the horrible actions of bullies, however, the side effects affect the bully as well. It also goes way beyond the attacker and the attacked, it is crucial to understand how it can effect an entire school, neighborhood, or community. In my short story, the antagonist is a Chocolate Mousse, (a sweet unhealthy dessert food), that attacks a peacefully happy bowl of innocent fruit, (nurturing heathy food). The ending will show how the bully, The Chocolate Mousse, can clean up his act after he realizes he has gotten in too deep with his nasty behavior toward the bowl of fruit who are on the verge of rotting beneath his sticky gooey nastiness. The images of unhealthy food in relation to healthy foods are symbolic to the unhealthy and healthy behaviors of humans.

Readers need understand the impact bullying has on people's lives, especially younger kids. If we teach younger kids the consequences of bullying from both sides, they can make better behavioral decisions in their lifetime. Bullying is a lonely road, so don't follow it.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

In an insane asylum the patients are not always insane, they are often victims of an insane system. In One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, written by Ken Kesey, unfair restrictions and rules, torturous therapies and abusive treatments from staff bring about horrifying experiences to the mentally ill. Patrick McMurphy, the book's protagonist, fights for freedom from the staff's brutality for himself and his fellow patients. They endure a cruel existence in the institution, locked up like fireflies in a jar.

The story is told through the eyes of a former indian chief, Chief Bronson. He admires Patrick McMurphy's attempts to bring the prisoners fair and humane treatment, while also trying to bring little liveliness to their daily lives. The black boys, (workers for the asylum) are instructed by the Head Nurse Ratchet to enforce awful and humiliating treatments; before all patients went to bed, they were to drink a medication that would paralyze them. This would make them urinate themselves in the night leaving them embarrassed and mortified. Unrealistic rules were put in place to keep the in-mates under their control and rule, though they said it was for their safety and protection. This is exemplified during meal times. No one was aloud to leave the cafeteria for any purpose with an exception for medical attention. Even if someone had to go to the bathroom, go to bed, has to go talk with staff members in their offices for specific reasons, they can't without being punished. Only the great Nurse Ratchet knows the reason for this rule and she will not spew it to the public. There are many more ridiculous rules and limitations enforced by the black boys,  for instance,  keeping all toiletries; toothpaste or toilet paper, under lock and key so the patients don't use them as harmful ammunition. "How does anybody use a small plastic tube of toothpaste as a weapon for harming others" said McMurphy in sheer confusion. What is most astonishing is that some of the people locked up in this asylum aren't even mental. Chief Bronson is in their but he's only half mute, unable to express what he is thinking, not emotionally disturbed in any way. Even Patrick McMurphy is not mental, though he is energetic, he has the smarts to bring everyone to realize what the nurses and black boys are doing them. He's exposing the harsh inhumane system.

This is a great book, at some points humorous, but mostly it's frustratingly unfair. It has a vey deep meaning under the surface, and that is that people must be treated fairly despite any disabilities. I enjoy reading the book because it really makes me think about each character  and what is their purpose in each scenario of the story and how it makes the book's argument stronger. Another aspect of the book I really enjoy is how McMurphy is presented with his drastic mood changes from when he first joined the asylum, to becoming the face and vocal leader of the patients. He was happy and humorous, made everyone cheer up in disturbing atmosphere in which they live, " are you the Bull-Goose-Loony" he would ask everyone. Now he is in a state of confusion and unrest, trying to both understand and change the acts of the asylum's owners. McMurphy is a great man and people should understand him and what he trying to make others aware of. Although I have not finished reading the book yet, I foresee a sad ending to Pat McMurphy, I think the Nurse Ratchet will mess with him and drive him so crazy, he will actually become mentally ill and conform rather than to wreak havoc like he once did in his attempts to make a difference, like what Big Brother did to Winston Smith in George Orwell's 1984.