Civil Disobedience - Reflection

"I heartily accept the motto - That government is best which governs least" (Thoreau). These are the very first words that Henry David Thoreau writes in his essay, "Civil Disobedience". In this essay, Thoreau talks a lot about how he feels about our government. In this quote, he is basically saying that one day we may not have a need for a government some day. He then starts saying things like, "It has not the vitality and force of a single living man; for a single man can bend it to his will. It is a sort of wooden gun to the people themselves. But it is not the less necessary for this; for the people must have some complicated machinery or other, and hear its din, to satisfy that idea of government which they have" (Thoreau). I think in this section he is talking about how in reality even though the government tells you what to do, when its all said and done, you are the one who actually does it. That government really, is just to guide you in the right direction. I guess that is why he thinks that eventually we may not need it because we will be fine by ourselves. However, even though Thoreau says that he does not want a government, it doesn't mean that he is totally against one either. "But, to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves no-government men,(4) I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government. Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it" (Thoreau).Right here he is talking about how he is not one of those people that is not for government at all, but just wants a better one and that every man should say what government they would respect and that would be the first step to getting it.

This essay definitely falls under the Transcendentalism/ Romanticism period. Like we talked about in class the other day, Transcendentalism is based on the individual intuition. There was belief in a God, but it only through nature that we are able to connect with Him (Quinn). Those are just some characteristics of the Transcendentalism period. Romanticism, as we have covered before, deals also with nature, but does not focus as much on the individual aspects. Like the journal we wrote about last class, Thoreau brings up some interesting points when it comes to the law and the government. "They have the same sort of worth only as horses and dogs. Yet such as these even are commonly esteemed good citizens. Others, as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders, serve the state chiefly with their heads; and, as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil, without intending it, as God. A very few, as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men, serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated as enemies by it. A wise man will only be useful as a man, and will not submit to be "clay," and "stop a hole to keep the wind away,"(8) but leave that office to his dust at least" (Thoreau). Here I think he is kind of talking about how people in government do not always make moral decisions or use their consciences all the time.
I really liked ready this actually. It was very interesting and I liked hearing what he had to say.



Quinn, Edward. "Transcendentalism." A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006.Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Thoreau, Henry David. "Thoreau's Civil Disobedience - 1." The Thoreau Reader. Web. 25 Jan. 2012.

Journal #26 - Breaking the Rules

I definitely think that there are certain exceptions to the rules, but it depends on the situation for sure. It is not okay to break the rules if there is absolutely no good reason to. For example, you can't go around breaking the law for no apparent reason. You really shouldn't break the law at all, but every once in awhile, I think that you can. There is this movie I watch every year around Christmas time because that is when it comes on. It is called "A Season for Miracles." In the movie, there are two sisters. When one of them goes to jail, and is not a good mother to her kids, the other sister takes her children even though she is not their legal guardian and has no money or nothing to offer them because she does not want them to have to go into foster care. Basically, they have to hide out in this little town because she is charged with kidnapping. In that town, they miraculously are able to stay at a pretty house and they meet many people that are very helpful and nice. They end up loving the town, and everyone in the town loves them. When the police find her, she has to go to court and stuff, but it ends great because in the end everyone realizes that the only reason she broke the law, is so that she could keep their little family together. That is a good example of the exception to the rule. I believe that in those cases sometimes breaking the rules are okay, but I also do not believe in taking advantage of some things as well. For example, in the story the lady only took what she absolutely needed and only lied when she had to. But she never took advantage of people or things like that. She never broke the rules unless there was no other choice. In these kind of cases, I hope that nobody ever has to break the law or the rules, but sometimes you may have to.

Reflection - "The Minister's Black Veil"

When I first started reading this story, I have to admit that I thought it was pretty strange. But like every story I read, I end up liking it just a little better than I originally thought I would. So anyway, the short story, "The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is about a man named Mr. Hooper. The sexton and some other people are curious about him for one reason. Mr. Hooper is wearing a black veil over his face. You can instantly tell that the black veil cannot stand for something good, because from the moment the people see the black veil, they automatically start saying bad things about it and getting worried. For example, in the story the people say things like, ""I can't really feel as if good Mr. Hooper's face was behind that piece of crape," said the sexton."I don't like it," muttered an old woman, as she hobbled into the meeting-house. "He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face.""Our parson has gone mad!" cried Goodman Gray, following him across the threshold (Hawthorne). This is an example of dark romanticism because it shows that right from the start, the veil represents something not necessarily good.

Later in the story, Mr. Hooper tells the members of his church that perhaps he is hiding his face beneath this veil because he believes that like a humans face, the veil can cover up a mans evil and sin (Hawthorne 280). This is also a good example of Dark Romanticism because it shows that they did both acknowledge sin and evil like we talked about last class. Along with that, other characteristics of the romanticism period is that for one, romanticism is very much based on feeling and emotion. then, there is normally some kind of dark twist, making it part of Dark Romanticism (Dark).
Anyway, this is also a very sad story, which ties in more things having to do with the dark romanticism period. So, in the end, the lady tries to get him to take off his veil, but he just wont. She tries and tries to get through to him, but he again refuses to do so. He is not yet ready to take it off and show his face. I was however, very disappointed with the ending though. I thought that in the end, it would get better or at least end just a little happier, but instead it was very sad and depressing. however, I did like the story much, much better than I originally thought I would. I really actually like the dark romanticism period, although it is not always happy, it is always interesting and has really good twists in the story unlike some other genres of literature. This was a really good story in my opinion. But I am still a little bit confused on some parts of it. I do not understand what happens at the end exactly. I read it, but I keep hearing different things about it.


"Dark Romanticism - ArticleWorld." Main Page - ArticleWorld. Web. 23 Jan. 2012.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Minister’s Black Veil.” Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm,
Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed.
Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 280-289. Print.

Reflection - Pit and the Pendulum

It is not surprising that Edgar Allen Poe wrote this short story. I actually really liked this story, but it includes many characteristics of the Dark Romanticism period. It includes many eerie and tragic things and acknowledges the existence of evil. This story is about a soldier from the Spanish Inquisition, who is sentenced to death. He is held in a cell where the walls kind of move, forcing him into this deep pit. As, I said before, this is something that Edgar Allen Poe would definitely write because many of his other short stories include things like torture and death. The Dark Romanticism period is very imaginative and descriptive, which is something that I notice throughout The Pit and the Pendulum. For example, in the story, Poe says things like,

"They were wild, bold, ravenous;their
red eyes glaring upon me as if they waited
for motionlessness on my part to make me
their prey" (Poe 271).

This is scary and pretty descriptive.I like how he does this when he tells his stories because it is much more interesting and actually, normally the stories that I read are not that creepy, but I feel like the more detail you use, the better the story turns out to be. That is why I really liked this story. Another descriptive and scary quote from the book would be this one.

"Oh! For a voice to speak-oh! horror!-
oh any horror but this! With a shriek
I rushed from the margin and buried my
face in my hands, weeping bitterly" (Poe 273).

Throughout the story, being that it is very descriptive, Edgar Allen Poe tells us many things about the soldier and how he is feeling when he is and the cell and stuff. That is yet another reason why I liked this story more than some other stories. I liked it because it tells you about how the soldier was feeling about his experiences, which also sometimes makes it more intense and creepy. An example from the story would be something like this quote.

"Upon my recovery too, I felt very-oh
irrepressibly sick and weak, as if
through long inanition" (Poe 270).
And also,

"I grew frantically mad and struggled to force
myself upward against the sweep of the fearful
scimitar. And then I lay silently calm, and I
lay smiling at the glittery death, as a child
at some rare bauble" (Poe 269).

I think that Edgar Allen Poe is considered to be very famous still because of his great story telling. I think he is so popular because he uses he perfect amount of scary images and eerie story lines, to still kind of having that imaginative, kind of Romanticism feel to it. Hence, the genre being Dark Romanticism. I thought that The Pit and the Pendulum was a very good story and I really enjoyed reading it. I hope that we can read some more of Edgar Allen Poe's stories. They would be really fun to discuss and talk about.

Poe, Edger Allan. "The Pit and the Pendulum." Glencoe Literature. By Jeffrey D. Wilhelm and Douglas Fisher. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2009. 263-73. Print.

Journal #25 - Fear

I feel like we have talked about fear and things like in the last couple of journals. Well, for starters I hate fear. Fear is one of those things that really usually it is all in your mind. Like after you watch a scary movie and then that night you feel scared because all of that is in your mind, when in reality, you have absolutely nothing to be afraid of whatsoever. However, there are many things that I am afraid of and those things are not all in my mind. For example, I am terrified of alligators! I don't know what it is about them, but they just scare me a lot. I think it might be that they look like mini dinosaurs or something, and also the fact that if you ever fell in that swampy water, you would be done for because who knows what could be swimming under you. I have actually had nightmares about that before. Now, I think I am more afraid of alligators than I am of sharks, but sharks are not my favorite either. I think its the fact that in water, you really don't stand a chance against them and you are totally vulnerable. Spiders are another thing. Actually, I'm not really scared of them at all. But if one is on me or something, I totally freak out! The small ones don't bother me, but those big, creepy hairy ones really creep me out big time! I think in general, bugs really creep me out...except for inch worms, they are pretty cute. Most of the things that I am afraid of are things that I really don't stand a chance against, like alligators or sharks. But other than that, I am not afraid of that many things. All in all, I think actual fear is very much in your head and even though it is hard not to be scared sometimes, most of the time, we have no reason to be.

Journal #24 - Spooky

I can 't really remember a time that I have been spooked. I know I have, but they obviously did not scare me that much because otherwise I feel like I would have remembered. Actually, I spook really easily. You know how sometimes when you are just walking around and all of a sudden, you think you see something or someone out of the corner of your eye? That happens to me a lot for some reason and it makes me jump every single time! (We actually learned why your brain does that in anatomy). So, I don't remember when someone actually liked scared me and it worked. But I have had a lot of things that have scared me and has made me jumped and things like that. So one time, at my old house, my friend and I were jumping of the trampoline. The sun had already gone down and our house kind of backed up to the woods. All of a sudden, we heard this growling noise. It sounded super creepy, like a rabid raccoon or something. We were going to run inside, but the house is a decent walk away from the trampoline and we couldn't tell what was there. We decided that we were just going to sprint for the house and not stop until we get there. We were just about to run for our lives, when a tiny little calico cat jumps out from under the trampoline. I jumped so high, it scared me so bad. But turns out, it wasn't a scary badger or raccoon, it was just a cat (haha.) ...It was making really creepy noises though... And my brothers have tried to scare me, but it rarely works. To be honest, I do most of the spooking in our family. We do have this Halloween tradition though where we take this big felt spider and we hide it in different places and try to scare each other. Its a lot of fun.

Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven - Reflection

The poem starts with the narrator who was taking a nap in his chambers and thinking about his lost love Lenore when he hears a tapping at the door. He calls out to it, but receives no answer. Like most, he starts to get a little nervous and once again calls out to whoever it may be. " "Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping" (paragraph 4). Once again there is no response, so now he is very nervous and anxious. He finally goes to see who could be tapping and all of a sudden a raven appears in his chambers. Noticing how serious the raven looks, he asks him his name and the bird replies "Nevermore". That is the only word the bird can say so the narrator begins to assume that he had to have learned the word somewhere. The narrator then begins to assume that the raven is a thing of evil and begins asking it questions about his lost love Lenore. As before, the raven gives the same response. Finally, the narrator becomes angry at the raven and believes that his soul is trapped under the ravens shadow "and shall be lifted Nevermore". The Raven, by Edgar Allen Poe is a good example of Dark Romanticism. Dark Romanticism often includes the more eerie side of normal Romanticism. Many of the times, it includes the supernatural and unlike normal Romanticism, Dark Romanticism does acknowledge the existence of sin and evil in the world. Other literary works that include Dark Romanticism have things in them such as vampires, werewolves, and mysterious things like that, kind of like the raven in thins poem. The raven was very eerie and gave the narrator and strange and uneasy feeling. The raven also talked, but in a way tormented him by only responding with the answer Nevermore. Another thing that I think is very interesting about Edgar Allen Poe is how many of his poems seem to be about different states of the mind. In many of his poems the narrator often feels this feeling or is thinking this thing that kinda makes them paranoid or go crazy. (stories and poems like Tell Tale Heart and Dreamland). Those are some of the things involved with Dark Romanticism.



"Edgar Allan Poe: The Raven." Poetry Lovers' Page. Web. 17 Jan. 2012

Journal #23 - Scary Stories

I do not watch many scary movies. I like to watch them, but when night time comes around and its time to go to bed, all of the things that I saw just pop back into my mind, and I get a little freaked out, so I don't like to watch them a lot. But sometimes it isn't even the story that freaks me out, normally its all of the little techniques that make a movie seem much scarier than it really is. For example, one of the things that can often scare you is the loud random noises that make you jump. It will be completely silent, and in your mind you just know that something is about to happen and it will probably end up scaring you. But somehow, you are just never quite prepared and you jump right out of your seat. Then, at night when you decide to go to bed and it is all quite in your room, you feel like something will happen, like in the movies, but it never does. Another technique that scary movies often use is their choice of music. If there is not dead silence, then there tends to be scary music playing in the background. Now, I don't know about any of you. but for me, the music is everything. Music can make you feel really any emotion, and when there is scary music in the movie, it makes it seem way more scarier than if a happy tune was playing. One other technique is the use of day and night. Everything scary usually happens at night, because that tends to be a time when we feel vulnerable and unsure of what we think may be lurking in the dark. So, overall, most of the time the actual movie is not even scary, but by using all of these techniques, it can make the movie much more interesting and intense.

Journal #22 - Sledding Poem

Sledding is one of my favorite things,
I love it so much I just want to sing.
While gliding through all the white snow,
I feel as though I never want to go.

Even if there is tons of ice,
I can promise you sledding is always nice.
With your gloves and your hat and your coat oh so warm,
You are bound to have the most excellent form.

But that is not everything winter can bring,
With all things to do you will never want spring!
Not only is there skiing and sledding galore,
There is presents and baking, and shopping at stores.

There is making snow angels and skating on ice,
And also the cider made with cinnamon spice.
And if there's one thing I know, and I tell you it's true,
That wintertime is often very magical too.

When you look out your window and see all that glitter,
You must go outside no matter how cold or bitter.
There is something about it, so clean and so pure,
It's my most favorite season, I know this for sure.

Now don't get me wrong, I love summer, spring, and fall,
But somehow winter just tops them all.
Along with winter, you must have different seasons,
Because each of them has all of it's reasons.

Journal #21 - Snowy Scene

Unfortunately, we did not have a white Christmas this year, which did in fact bum me out. Even though I absolutely Christmas and nothing could really ruin it for me, I have to admit that snow just makes Christmas seem even more magical than it already is. I can recall of another time though. There is nothing better than waking up at 6:30 in the morning and looking out your window to see if there is any possibility of not going to school that day. If you feel that the chances are good, you run up to your parents room to watch the news, anxiously waiting to see the little words at the bottom of the screen. When you first see the words you have so anxiously been waiting for, suddenly its like a weight has been lifted off of your shoulders. Most of the time I end up crawling back into my warm comfy bed and drift back of to sleep. After getting a couple more hours of sleep, you are ready for a great day of watching movies and snuggling up with a soothing cup of hot chocolate. However, that usually comes after playing in the snow. You start by putting on your snow pants, gloves, and hat and finally top it off with your big winter coat. As you open the door to the winter wonderland, you can feel the slight crisp wind on your face. The snow looks so clean and fresh, I almost don't want to step in it. But of course I go ahead and step on the powdery snow and under me it makes a soft crunching sound. I look around and notice how the snow has quietly placed itself on top of the tree limbs and occasionally, there will be a few animal or bird prints pressed into it. I'm not sure why snow seems to be so magical, but it just is. I hope it snows this year because what is winter without a little snow?