Rednecks
Circle I Limbo

The New York Yankees
Circle II Whirling in a Dark & Stormy Wind

Oakland Raider Fans
Circle III Mud, Rain, Cold, Hail & Snow

George Bush
Circle IV Rolling Weights

Republicans
Circle V Stuck in Mud, Mangled

River Styx

Scientologists
Circle VI Buried for Eternity

River Phlegyas

Creationists
Circle VII Burning Sands

bill o'reilly
Circle IIX Immersed in Excrement

fox news
Circle IX Frozen in Ice

Design your own hell

MAAN Post 2

I beleive that Shakespeare in Much Ado About Nothing intentionally uses stereotypes. The stereotypes add to the comedy. They also, however, teach the audience that stereotypes are often wrong. Usually a charactor defies the stereotype and acomplishes something which teaches the audience a lesson about judging people too quickly

First, Shakespeare illustrates the stereotype that women are unopinionated and will be seduced by anyone. This is the case with Borrachio who beleives that he can seduce Margaret to trick Claudio. He automatically assume she will fall for him and he brags to Don Jon, “I can, at any unseasonable instant of the night, appoint her/to look out at her lady’s chamber window” (II.2.14-15). He assumes that Margaret will just automatically fall for him. In the end Shakespeare defies this stereotype as Borrachio gets arrested and Margaret continues to live happily with Hero and Beatrice.

Second Shakespeare illustrates the stereotype that the poor lower class people are uneducated and are inferior to the upper class. He illustrates this with Dogberry and his poor use of words. For example, Dogberry states, "Nay, that were a punishment too good for them, if they
should have any allegiance in them, being chosen for the Prince's watch. (III.3.4-6). Dogberry's incorrect use of word allegiance shows how Shakespeare is trying to show that the poor are stupid and insignificant. Dogberry defies this however, when he ends up saving the marriage between Hero and Claudio by proving that Hero was innocent. Through these two charactors Shakespeare proves you shouldn't beleive stereotypes and judge people too quickly.

MAAN Post 1

Though all of us have been told that lying is morally reprehensible, we are all guilty of it at some point or another. Though often we are wrong in our actions, there are some times when it may be ok to tell a lie. Sometimes the truth can be much more damaging than the consequences of a lie. When a lie is told only in order to help someone else, it can be ok. However, if the lie is told to benefit oneself or to harm oneself it is still considered unacceptable.

Dishonesty, while in itself is not admirable; it can be when done to help a friend or neighbor. Often lying can be good when the truth is unnecessary and would just hurt someone. For example, for Christmas this year I bought my little sister a hermit crab. The order actually came with two, but one was already dead when it came (yikes!). On Christmas morning my little sister asked if it only came with one crab. I said yes even though that wasn't the truth. Nothing good would have come from lying to her, and it only would have made her upset. When the truth only hurts someone, it is alright to omit it. Also, when it is possible to help a friend a lie might be ok. For example, the Prince helps Claudio when he pretends to be Claudio to get Hero to fall in love with him. He makes this clear when he states,” And tell fair Hero I am Claudio, and in her bosom I'll unclasp my heart" (II, 1, 260-261). Though the Prince did lie to Hero, it was only to help them both with their relationship. Only when it is to benefit someone else is lying ever acceptable.

Though there are exceptions, in almost all circumstances lying is morally reprehensible. Anytime that someone changes the truth to hurt someone else or for their own personal gain it is unacceptable. This has occurred in Much Ado about Nothing many times. Don John, who loathes Claudio lies to him by saying, "Sure my brother is amorous on Hero and hath withdrawn her father to break with him about it. The ladies follow her and but one visor remains (II, 1, 127-130). Don John lies to Claudio saying that the Prince is trying to take Hero for himself. He does this only to make Claudio upset. This sort of lying is unacceptable because it causes nothing but harm. This is often the case when gossip is started about someone. The rumor is only created to hurt someone and therefore is morally wrong. When a lie is told to harm another, it is ethically wrong.

Poetry

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost uses a central metaphor to compare making decisions in life to traveling on two different roads. He describes a traveler who is at a point where he must choose which path to travel in the wood. He decribes one road by stating, "And looked down one as far as I could/ To where it bent in the undergrowth;" (4-5). Though he does not go out and say it, clearly this road is less popular because it hasn't been cleared. He describes the second road by saying, "Because it was grassy and wanted wear" (8). This road is definitely more popular than the first. In the end Robert Frost suprises the reader by taking the less popular road. This is like the decisions in life because often one is forced to choose between what is popular and what isn't. Robert Frost uses this metaphor to convey that while its more difficult, sometimes we must go against what everyone else is doing.

This poem meant a lot to me when I began to read it. It tells the message of doing what is right even when it is hard. This means a lot to me because I think it is always very important to stick with what you think is right, even when everyone else is doing something completely different. This poem really describes what it is like to make a decisions. I often envision two different roads I must choose from. I think this poem is wonderfully written and has a great message.

Quarter 1 Reflection

All in all I think Quarter 1 went pretty well. I learned a lot about writing, expecially writing the memoir. Also the research presentations we did taught me a lot about citations. I think that the visual images unit was the most interesting and I really enjoyed analyzing the movies and pictures. I think that what was hard in this class at first was keeping up with the amount of work we had in it. I think by the end I learned how to manage my time pretty well. Some nights we would have like 30 pages to read plus and blog assignment and maybe something else. Ms. Froehlich's multitasking lecture really helped me become efficient in doing my assignments. I'm excited for Quarter 2 and to learn about new styles of writing.

Blog Post 5

There are many other characters in Sense and Sensibility besides Elinor and Marianne that not only shape the plot of the story, but the girl's lives as well. The relationships between these characters are often the cause of conflict throughout the book. John Dashwood is the half brother of Elinor and Marianne. He is married to Fanny Dashwood and both are very similar in nature. Both are conceited snobs who though sporadically reach out to others, are most of the time only concerned with themselves and their well being. Fanny can be very disagreeable and difficult to live with and John is often stubborn and inconsiderate. This is proven right at the beginning of the book when John must make the decision of what to give his half sisters after the death of his father. Fanny insists they give very little and her selfishness her proven through her logic which Austen explains by saying, "And what possible claim could the Dashwoods, who were related to him only by half blood, which she considered no relationship at all, have on his generosity to so large an amount? It was very well known, that no affection was ever supposed to exist between the children of any man by different marriages; and why was he to ruin himself, and their poor little Harry, by giving away all his money to his half sisters?" (7). Right from the beginning of the book, these two characters set off the conflict and tension in the relationships in the novel.

The two love interests throughout most of the book also add conflict by leaving Marianne and Elinor behind without remorse. Marianne falls quickly in love with a man named Willoughby who I find extremely inconsiderate. He abruptly leaves Marianne and the next time she sees him it is at a party where he completely ignores her. He only later writes to her to tell her that he is engaged to another woman! I believe that Willoughby is inconsiderate and afraid to take responsibility for his actions. He basically runs away from Marianne only to go marry another woman. Edward Ferrars is also similarly cowardly. He does not tell Elinor that he is engaged to Lucy. While their relationship was not quite as outward, it still leaves Elinor very upset. Much of the conflict involving Elinor and Edward revolves around his fiancé Lucy who Jane Austen describes as "Lucy was naturally clever; her remarks were often just and amusing; and as a companion for half an hour Elinor frequently found her agreeable; but her powers had received no aid from education: she was ignorant and illiterate; and her deficiency of all mental improvement, her want of information in the most common particulars, could not be concealed from Miss Dashwood, in spite of her constant Endeavour to appear to advantage"(113). Lucy from the start does not have a compatible personality with Elinor and is one of the catalysts for the conflict.

Blog Post 4

Once again as the book continues, we see the two main characters, Elinor and Marianne faced with similar challenges and once again we see both of them act in very different ways. Both girls have their heart broken by possible love interests and prospects for marriage. While each is equally devastating, the girls respond in entirely different ways

Marianne had convinced herself that she was in love with Willoughby and was love at first sight. Her sister had warned her about such rash actions but Marianne was determined. Disaster strikes when Marianne sees Willoughby walking out the door, not to be seen for an entire year. Marianne is hysterical and acts as though it is the end of the world. She shuts herself up in her room, hardly ever to return. Austen notes, "They saw nothing of Marianne till dinner time, when she entered the room and took her place at the table without saying a word. Her eyes were red and swollen; and it seemed as if her tears were even then restrained with difficulty. She avoided the looks of them all, could neither eat nor speak, and after some time, on her mother's silently pressing her hand with tender compassion, her small degree of fortitude was quite overcome, she burst into tears and left the room." (75).

Elinor also experiences heartbreak when she finds out devastating news. Edward had returned and seen Elinor a while earlier and though she denied it, Marianne insisted he was still in love with her, to the point where he was wearing a lock of her hair around his neck. Though Elinor dismisses her sister, I believe she thought it was so. However, horrible shock came later. She had been an acquaintance to Lucy Steele and was politely talking to her when she discovers that in fact Lucy had been the love interest of Edward and it was her hair he was wearing around her neck. Jane Austen describes Elinor's emotions as, "What felt Elinor at that moment? Astonishment, that would have been as painful as it was strong, had not an immediate disbelief of the assertion attended it. She turned towards Lucy in silent amazement, unable to divine the reason or object of such a declaration; and though her complexion varied, she stood firm in incredulity, and felt in no danger of an hysterical fit, or a swoon. "(115).

The difference in the reactions between the two sisters is astonishing. While Marianne was hysterical, Elinor remained composed. At first we think that Elinor is clearly better than her sister and more mature. While it is true that Elinor might have more self-control than her sister, it is not healthy for her to bottle up her emotions. The sisters are the extremes of the situation and need to find a happy middle where they can express their emotions calmly.