Short Stories.

During my English class we read ten different short stories. The tales are different and alike between them, and there are themes and way of write that I liked and I didn’t like. The things that I like in the short stories were they descriptive details, because they make me feel like if I were part of the story like been a character that sees the events. Another thing that I like about the stories is that they give a cultural context of the author’s country and era. I also like that they make the reader see the cruelty of the world through anecdotes within the story.

The things that I did not like are that in most of the stories the feeling they make feel to the reader are feelings of sadness, hopeless, ect. Also I did not like that they didn’t see the positive part of the things life. 

Hero's Journey

The Hero’s Journey, what is it? Does it tell the story of a journey a hero made? The Hero’s Journey was established by Joseph Campbell, and it says the stages a story has commonly. These stages can be applied for any story including your life. For example:

--Call to adventure: in my life the call to adventure was the opportunity I had to change my old school to a new one, Tecnólogico de Monterrey

--Refusal to the Call: at the beginning I was not so convince that I wanted to study there.

--Supernatural Aid: The magical helpers were my best friend and my mother, because they guide me through my journey at high school, they advise me in the rough times.

--Crossing First Threshold:  this occurred when I finally decided that I wanted to study at Tec I did not know exactly what it was going to be, none of my family members had studied their high school at Tec or the International Baccalaureate.

--Belly of the Whale: the final separation of my know world was my first day at school. It was completely different first of all I did not know anybody and it was the first time I was going to a school where there were boys and girls.

--Road of trials: during my stay at Tec I have experience a lot of events that proves my capacities to continue, like the work, my friends and the relationships I have with the others.

--Meeting with the Goddess: fortunately I have experienced this with my friends. At Tec my classmates have give me their unconditional love, for example every time I have a problem they will always be there to support me. Although I am not a friendly and a social person, my companions have given me their friendship.

--Temptation: Many times my friends of my other school tell me the activities they made and how united they have become, that makes me feels homesick and I want to return to my old school. Another temptation that the only way I can see my best friend is if I stayed in my old school.

--Atonement with the Father: I think it would be the final projects I have to deliver so I can have mi IB diploma, for example the monograph, the math exploration, ect... in some way they are works that will prepare me to the final exam of the International Baccalaureate.

--Apostasis: in a metaphor way, I could say that the persons that die are my companions that cannot accomplish with the IB.

--Ultimate Boon: It will be when I acquire my IB Diploma; it will be the finish of my journey in high school.

 --Refusal of Return:  probably when I have acquired my diploma I won’t want to leave the friendships that I have build, and to return to my old school or the beginning of the journey.

--Freedom to live: once I have my IB diploma, I can make study whatever I want in any place.

Tell me how you write and I 'll tell you who you are

The best way to know a person is to read one of his works; it could be a story, an essay, among others. The reason is that each author has his own voice, which is the way he narrates the story, and his own perspective in one topic or idea.  The voice of the author is unique and makes him different form the others, for example when you read a sentence or a paragraph you can think in one specific author because of the manner the paragraph is written.

During my English class, we make an activity that consisted in listening to a classical song and write whatever came to your mind, it could be a poem, a song or a story.  After writing, the teacher read some of the works and you can realize about the authors point of view and their voice. For example the theme of love was treated by many students, but they were different. While one was talking about love like a fairytale and all happiness of being in love other was talking about deception and dissolve.  Many of the stories my classmates wrote, where based in their experiences or in the movies they have seen or in the books they liked.

Finally, the knowledge that I acquire in this activity was that each person have his own personality in their writing. A writer will always write in the way he wants to read a story. For example the way I write is informal, like if I were talking to the reader in person, and that most of the time I make a long story or join some aspects in a story. When I read a story I like that the author describe it to my like if he was there, like if it was a movie. Another thing that I discovered in this activity was that the writing in some ways reflects the emotional situation of the writer. As conclusion you can learn many things about a person by reading their ideas because they are a reflection of their personality, ideas and behavior.

Can characters that be like you?

Through a story, it can be a movie or a book; there will always be characters with different personalities and desires. Commonly the reader will have different opinions about the behavior of each character and sometimes he can feels identify to one character.

In the play of Faust, as in all the stories, there are some characters that appear more often than others and are more important, and we can know them better. For example in Faust we can have a better opinion towards the attitude of: Faust, Mephistopheles, Margaret and Valentine. I have differents opinions towards Faust and Mephistopheles.

 I think that Faust let Mephistopheles influenced him to do what he wants, and that he is irresponsible because when he has what he wants from Margaret he abandons her. About Mephistopheles I think that he incite Faust to do evil things because is part of his job, I mean he has to fight for the souls so he has some in the hell.

My opinion about Margaret is that she is foolish because she permitted that Faust seduce her and when he goes away she the one who suffers the consequences. Probably it was the author’s purpose to show the reader the innocence that some people can have.

Valentine’s attitude towards her sister I did not like it very much, because instead of help and support her he was only replying for her actions. I think that Valentine was disappointed and that in that time it was dishonor to the whole family. But the way he acted make me hate him, I think that he have no right to judge his sister in that way and to make it public.

As you can see these are my opinions but probably you will have another point of view, about the personality of each character. That is very common to have because humans have that instinct, to judge so they can protect themselves by learning of the other’s experiences or by getting away of problematic people. And until this point of my reading I do not feel identify with any of the characters because I think that my personality and my attitudes toward some events are very different to the characters in Faust. For example if Mephestopheles appears to me I will probably run to the opposite direction. Have you feel identify with one character in the play of Faust?

Themes and Motifs

As more as you read the better you know the character. Faust sold his soul to the demon in order to get more knowledge and to accomplish all of his desires. The devil, Mephistopheles, will do whatever Faust wish in order to prove God that the human’s nature only follows the pleasure. Goethe’s story develops a series of ideas and others are repeated constantly. The ideas that are developed are call themes and the ones that repeat are motifs.

Themes:

·         The liberty that humans have to choose between the bad and good.

·         The morality and the immorality.

·         The human ambition

·         Life and Death

·         Religion

·         The human’s naïve

·         The innocence 

Motifs:

·         The fight between evil and good

·         The human ambition

Commentary about one theme:

      The naïve of Faust is the one that provoke most of the disgrace in the history. For example at the beginning of the story Faust believes that the demon can help him to accomplish all of his desires.

Commentary about one motive:

The human ambition repeats a lot through the text. It is on of the principal ideas of the story, because of the human ambition Faust destroys himself.

How to understand literature

Have you ever read a book wich is using words in its ancien form? Most of the people have read or herd about Faust. This reading is a little bit difficult because in the translation there are word from the German and also words in its acient form. The mayor problem when you do not understand a word is that you can get lost in the story. So, is there a way to comprehend the story in better way?

In literature there is a method called Formalism, where the reader makes an analysis of the composition of the work, in other words that sees how the author construct the story and why the author decided to put it in that way. Another thing that studies this method is the historical context and the author's life. When you know these thing it is more easier to understand why the writer chose one theme, why he emphazies certain things and why he has an specific point of view in one topic. For example: Faust was written when the movement of romanticism was follow by most of the artist. this movement change the perspective of religion and nature. In the prologue of Faust, you can see that the way the author writes about God is more friendly and common. Before the romanticism, God was seen as untouchable.

Formalism also analyse the rhetorical figures,that helps you a lot to interpretate and to get a better idea of the author's purpose. The rhetorical figures are not easy and if you misunderstand one the meaning of the text changes. It ca also helps you when you have to write an essay, because you analyse the character, the scence, ect... that when you have to write about one topic of the book you can easily to support you idea or opinion. 

Improoving

Through the life we experience a  serie of events that give us knowledge, and that can be use to improve our daily life by making us a better person. During this month, thanks to my English teacher who showed me that reading isn't boring, I have change the way I see literature. Nowadays I read more than I used to and because of that I can understand better the author's purpose and the topic of the reading. Also because I read more I have lost the fear to write, now I know more topics and forms to express my ideas.

I have also improved in my math clase, I have always been very distracted and confident, but if I do not pay attention in my math exercise I would probably fail. I have been practicing to avoid distraction and although I keen on mathematics I study. Thanks to that I improve on my grades and the way that I studied. I have learn that not because I am good on something I don't need to make an effort to improve.

In responsibility I have improve a lot and I say it because in the first year that I did not have my best, friend who reminded me of everything, I lost and forgot all my homeworks and my books. During this month I have not lost anything or forgotten to do any homework. How do I manage to improve in responsibility? It is easy, I only write all the things that I have to do in a Post- it and chek my place of working before I left the classroom. 

When you make a change in your life to be better that would cause that you improve in other things, it is like a chain.  So you have only to take the first step and you will see how your life gets better. 

Prepare to write

An Essay or a Big Fear?

During your life you will always be asked to write, but most of the times we have trouble to start and decide our theme. Why is it so difficult to write about something? Maybe is because of the fear. The fear that your writing is not good enough and that it can be judge through the generations. Other times the reason, why it is difficult to write, is because we do not know how to express our ideas through the words.

The main purpose in writing an essay is probably help us to unwrap in the writing. In the school

they will always ask you to make an essay or a comment of the book you have read. So why do they still asking us to write if we do not like it? There are many advantages that writing can provide. You improve your grammar, your language domain and even it can help you to have a better organization.

An essay also can be a good way to know your personality. I was required to write an essay, about Naruto, in my English class; I can say more things about me during the process of writing an essay than when I started to write it. For example I know that my mind is completely disorganized and to have an order in my ideas I need to write my ideas in a paper so I can define an order to make my text coherent. Another thing that I discovered of my personality is that most of the time I change form one topic to other with no transitions and it is not only when I write but also when I talk. If you want to know more about of your personality why don't you write? And if you do not like or are afraid to write it can be a good therapy so go ahead and express you ideas of one topic.

The Culture in Literature

When you write any kind of story there will be different factors that can influence your writing, one example is the culture. If we search in the dictionary what culture is, it is said that culture is a set of traditions, ideas and knowledge that characterize an ethnical group. There are many things that make each region unique and interesting because every region have their own believes and their own way to see the daily life. In this blog we are going to talk about how the literature is influence by the country’s culture.

The literature between the countries is very different. When we compare the Greek mythology with the Mayan mythology we can see that although they try to explain the same event there will always be certain characteristics that can’t be the same because their tradition and the knowledge they have. Both of them were polytheist but the way they associate their gods and their interaction with the human world is unique and it is part of the culture.

Another example that comes to my mind of how culture influences the literature is the Manga. There are many cultural things that we can see. Most of the Anime has an historical background, Japanese mythology and important values (honor, courage and humanity). We can observe this in Sakura Card Captor. The values are represented in the story because Sakura wants to protect her village and she doesn’t think that she is in real danger (courage, honor and humanity). The Japanese mythology is present in the magical cards because each of them has their own attribute and is personification by a woman or young lady dressed holding an object according to its power, an old or young man dressed or holding an object according to is power or an animal related to the power. Also we can see the mythology in Sakura’s protectors Yue (moon) and Keroberos (Sun), that in the Japanese culture the Sun is the most powerful and the sun has created the humans and in the story Keroberos is the most powerful.

As you can see literature has a lot of culture of the country where it is written. Many cultural things give ideas to the authors like the mythology, traditions and the knowledge they have. It is very interesting to know the different countries by reading. So if you want to know about one culture read a book and investigate their history to get a better idea of the background.

Another Day More Knowledge

Reflection

During this week I have learn a lot of things, not only because I read Naruto but also in my classes and coexistence with my classmates. Something that I like very much during this week was that the teacher showed us how to write in Japanese. I didn’t know that in Japanese language in de syllable “do” the o sometimes doesn’t sound.

What I learn that can be useful during my whole life is that friendship is found in the place where you cannot expect. For example in Naruto, the principal did not expect that Sasuke, help him and they started to create a kind of friendship. Another knowledge that I acquire is that is very difficult to trust someone especially if they have broken it. And it is not because you don’t love them anymore but is because you don’t want to be hurt again. During this week there were some events that teach me that there will be people that only want to destroy you and make you unhappy and that they would do anything to accomplish that. So the only thing you can do is to prove them that you are stronger and you can defeat anything. Also that you cannot judge a person for the way they act because you don’t know the things they have lived. The experiences that a person live change their way they act because is a way to protect their selves.

Everyday has something to teach you so every bad and good experience gives you knowledge that will help you through your life. Live your life happilly and do not worry because every expirence has his good part.

Naruto

There are many ways to tell a story and there is one that I like very much and that I have been reading since I was in Primary school. It is the Manga. In this part of my blog I will write about Naruto. Probably you have seen the anime on television but if you have not seen it yet don’t worry I will not tell anything about the story so you can read it.

For estrange it sounds you can learn something you didn’t know in Manga stories because there are many things that are related with the Japanese culture, others with the human life and also you can  see different values that can give you a life lesson. I will explain to you the things that I learn from Naruto.

•  All the humans need to feel love.
• Nobody can judge a person because you don’t know their past.
• A father is who takes care of a child.
• When you have an adversity you need to face it and you will be stronger.
• You can achieve your goals with hard work.
•  You need to be constant and don’t give up when you fail.
•  Is more important to be kind with other people than following the rules.
•  Friendship is valuable.
•  Do not give anything for sure.

What I like about Manga and Anime is that is really hard to predict, most of the times you say what would happen next in the story is very different from your prediction. In this moment I have been ask to write about what I think it will happen next in Naruto. I think that Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke will become very united and will make a great team protecting each other but they will need more training so they can defeat Zabuza. Probably Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi will be in an ambush set by Zabuza’s chief Gatou so they can kill Tazuna but they will scape. I also think that maybe Inari will help the team #7 to kill Zabuza. I do not really know what is going to happen next but is fun to try to guess and see if your prediction was correct. Why don’t you try it and comment which your expirence.

Getting Ready for a Magical Adventure

Traveling to a World of Fantasy

A Magical Planet

Reading has many advantages and if I mention all probably you wouldn't finish reading them. Most of the teenagers don't like to read because they prefer to see the movies or play videogames but the opportunity you have to create your own world and to experience it like if you were in the place cannot be compare to anything and I think that this is the more significant advantage. Other benefits you can acquired when you read are that you can improve your vocabulary, culture and of course your creativity which is the only thing that can make humans innovate their daily life. Most of the technology that we have nowadays is because someone imagines it and the ideas can come from the books. For example the submarine was invented because Jules Verne mentions it in his book Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. I know that there are many people that don’t like to read and I understand them. Sometimes I also hate to read because in my house they bother me a lot and they do not allow me to read in peace! But besides that, I love reading because I can invent other stories base on the book’s theme; also I like it because I make drawings of how I imagine the scene and something that is very unique when you read a book is when you can comment it with your friends which is another reason why I like reading. Finally to conclude I want to give you an advice that is: read to stimulate your imagination because if you can imagine you can create it.

Make the ordinary into extraordinary

Principal Page

This is a space dedicate to reading, fantasy and imagination. So let your mind travel to another world where there is no limit. Do not be afraid because the adventures you live will make you stronger and the creatures you will see are so extraordinary and magical that can only be seen by the ones who believe in them. Come with me to a place where all the imaginary things are real.