Category: Writing

why did Shakespeare kill off almost every main character in the play at the end of
Hamlet
. Why not have an ending where Hamlet survives and the villains die? Does this have any roots in prior literature?

I’ve picked the poem William Wordsworth she was a phantom of delight and it’s asking me for the textual evidence and an explanation/analysis
Focused on personal emotions and experiences rather than more public topics Romanticized the past and also dreams as an
escape from harsh realities of modern (to them) world Prized freedom of the individual

Research the hurricane that hit West Palm Beach in 1928. How were white and black victims treated in the hurricane’s aftermath? What has been done since then to memorialize the black victims of the hurricane? Compare the situation in 1928 to Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Sandy. Is there still inequality in the way that people of different socioeconomic or racial groups are treated in the aftermath of a storm?
Source: Instructors’s Guide:
Their Eyes Were Watching God

“Nonconformist ” by Angela Shelf Medearis
– What is the main mood/emotion of the poem “Nonconformist”? Quote the line which best supports your choice.
– Briefly explain the main ideas in the poem “Nonconformist”
– Quote the line of the poem “Nonconformist” you feel is the strongest example of imagery, and explain which sense it appeals to most.
– How many Stanzas is the poem “Nonconformist”?
– Identify and quote 2 figures of speech/ sound devices from the poem “Nonconformist”.
– How does the poem “Nonconformist” connect with your personal life? Have you, or anyone you know, had a similar experience or feeling? If not, use your imagination to make a fictional experience.
– Make a one sentence theme statement to summarize the poem “Nonconformist”.

Read the following passage carefully before you choose your answers.
This passage is excerpted from a short story published in 2002.
At the edge of our reservation settlement there lived an old man whose arm was twisted up winglike along his side, and who was for that reason named for a butterfly—Shamengwa. Other than his arm, he was an extremely well-made person. Anyone could see that he had been handsome, and he still cut a graceful figure, slim and of medium height. His head was covered with a startling thick mane of white hair, which he was proud of. Every few weeks, he had it carefully trimmed and styled by his daughter, Geraldine, who traveled in from the bush just to do it.
Shamengwa was a man of refinement, who prepared himself carefully to meet life every day. In the Ojibwa language that is spoken on our reservation,
owehzhee
is the way men get themselves up—pluck stray hairs, brush each tooth, make a precise part in their hair, and, these days, press a sharp crease down the front of their blue jeans—in order to show that, although the government has tried in every way possible to destroy their manhood, they are undefeatable.
Owehzhee
. We still look good and we know it. The old man was never seen in disarray, and yet there was more to it.
He played the fiddle. How he played the fiddle! Although his arm was so twisted and disfigured that his shirts had to be carefully altered and pinned to accommodate the gnarled shape, he had agility in that arm, even strength. Ever since he was very young, Shamengwa had, with the aid of a white silk scarf, tied his elbow into a position that allowed the elegant hand and fingers at the end of the damaged arm full play across the fiddle’s strings. With his other hand, he drew the bow. When I try to explain the sound he made, I come to some trouble with words. Inside became outside when Shamengwa played music. Yet inside to outside does not half sum it up. The music was more than music—at least, more than what we are used to hearing. The sound connected instantly with something deep and joyous. Those powerful moments of true knowledge which we paper over with daily life. The music tapped our terrors, too. Things we’d lived through and wanted never to repeat. Shredded imaginings, unadmitted longings, fear, and also surprising pleasures. We can’t live at that pitch. But every so often something shatters like ice, and we fall into the river of our own existence. We are aware. This realization was in his music somehow, or in the way Shamengwa played it.
Thus Shamengwa wasn’t wanted at every party. The wild joy his jigs and reels brought forth might just as easily send people crashing onto the rocks of their roughest memories and they’d end up stunned and addled or crying in their beer. So it is. People’s emotions often turn on them. Geraldine, a dedicated, headstrong woman who six years back had borne a baby, dumped its father, and earned a degree in education, sometimes drove Shamengwa to fiddling contests, where he could perform in more of a concert setting. He even won awards, prizes of the cheap sort given at local musical contests—engraved plaques and small tin cups set on plastic pedestals. These he placed on a triangular scrap of shelf high in one corner of his house. The awards were never dusted, and sometimes, when his grandchild asked him to take them down for her to play with, they came apart. Shamengwa didn’t care. He was, however, fanatical about his violin.
He treated this instrument with the reverence we accord our drums, which are considered living beings and require from us food, water, shelter, and love. He fussed over it, stroked it clean with a soft cotton handkerchief, laid it carefully away in the cupboard every night in a leather case that he kept as well polished as his shoes.
“Shamengwa,” originally published in the NEW YORKER, by Louise Erdrich. Copyright © 2009 by Louise Erdrich, used by permission of The Wylie Agency LLC.
Which of the following best characterizes the passage as a whole?
A) retelling of the events leading to a character’s downfall
B) description of an event that allows for commentary on a group of people
C)discussion of a character that provides insights into a defined community
D) collection of discrete incidents that illustrate a historic event
E) presentation of an individual who conforms to a common stereotype

In the tempest how might Prospero’s famous line “we are such stuff as dreams are made on” apply to his own magical powers? Why do you suppose some critics have said that Prospero’s words are Shakespeare’s own “farewell” to his audience?
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/tempest/full.html

Read
Othello
– Act III and answer the following:
Link to the reading:
https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/othello/summary/act-3-scene-1
What does Michael Cassio say about Iago, after Iago offers to help him in Act III, Scene 1? (Cassio says this after Iago leaves). What is ironic about Cassio’s statement?
Identify the lines in Act III Scene 3 where you think Othello first believes Iago’s words to be true. Write out the lines, not just the line numbers.
When Iago says, “Trifles light as air / Are to the jealous confirmations strong / As proofs of holy writ” (3.3.370-2), to what “trifle” does he refer, specifically?
From Act III, Scenes 3 or 4, identify one moment in the text where Othello intentionally uses the stereotypes against Moors to describe himself. (Recall stereotypes against Moors from Act I; consult our notes for guidance) Write out the line(s) and identify them with a citation (Act #, Scene#, line #).
What does Emilia mean when she says:
“‘Tis not a year or two shows us a man. / They are all but stomachs, and we all but food; / They eat us hungerly, and when they are full, / They belch us.” (3.4.120-3).

1. Choose a recent happening or any pressing issue in the school or community and make a feature article about it. Make sure to use primary sources in writing your article. You may conduct interviews with involved parties, eyewitnesses/participants, and gather relevant official documents. 2. Research on the proliferation of fake news? Cite 3 causes and propose a particular solution to these causes. In particular, read on the following articles accessed from these websites: a. What is fake news? How to spot it and what you can do to stop it and what you can do to stop it” by Elle Hunt (201. The Guardian) https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/dec/18/what-is-fake-news-pizzagate b. “Fake news” by Ana Marie Pamintuan (2017, The Philippine Star) http://www.philstar.com/opinion/2017/06/2/1713616/fakenews

THINGS FALL APART NOVEL
how does the father-son relationship throughout three generations shape personalities of Okonkwo and Nwoye? the characteristics and the role their fathers play in making them who they are.
“conflicts within the characters are driving forces for actions that creates the plot of the story’, discuss the statement.

Fahrenheit 451 Novel by Ray Bradbury
People are prevented from deep, meaningful thoughts or relationships in Bradbury’s novel.   List specific details about various characters in Fahrenheit 451 that stand as signs that people are unhappy or dissatisfied with their vapid world.  How do those signs express unhappiness and dissatisfaction?