Are You a "Thinker" or a "Doer"?

Everyday, we are faced with many decisions. These decisions present two options: we can act on a problem or think, yet do nothing.

            I would not consider myself to be an impulsive person. Nor would I consider myself to be a person who merely stands by and misses an opportunity for self-advocacy. Therefore, I believe I am both a thinker and a doer.

            When I am presented with a problem, I first choose to consider my options. I thoroughly consider all of my options and try to choose the one with the most possible positive consequences and the least possible negative consequences. This is because I tend to say things that I don’t really mean whenever I get angry or upset. Personally, I need some time to calm down in order to make a rational decision. However, once I have time to calm down, I act on my decision. I think that it’s important to stand up for myself and others when someone is taking advantage of other people. This is a frequent occurrence in an academic setting, where some people try to back away and force other group members to do all of the work. In this instance, I believe it is appropriate to say something and let the slacking group member know that they are expected to help out.

            I think that people who are quiet are given the reputation of being too submissive. However, I think that these people actually make many rational decisions. Sometimes, even if someone is being rude, it is better to not say anything. In some occasions, making a comment will just cause unnecessary drama. This is an instance where I think it is better to be the more mature person and just let things go.

            That’s why I think it is important to be both a thinker and a doer. The “thinker” side of a person makes a rational, informed decision, while the “doer” side acts on the decision.

"Storm Warnings" Poem Explication

In the poem “Storm Warnings” by Adrienne Rich, a storm beats down on a house while the people inside struggle to last through the storm.

            The poem begins by setting up the scene, saying “glass had been falling all afternoon”. This shows that the storm had been going on for long time, and the rain had been falling so hard that it sounded like glass on the windows. The narrator describes the storm as having winds that “are walking overhead”, showing the amplified sound of the thunder. Clouds are described as “gray unrest…moving across the sky”. This shows the constant movement of the grey storm clouds.

            In the second stanza, it becomes clear that the narrator is talking about a hurricane when she says the storm “moves inward towards the silent core of waiting”. Here, she is talking about the eye of the hurricane, which is known for being calm. These hurricanes are often and unexpected, shown through the narrator’s description of the hurricanes coming “regardless of prediction”.

                        The narrator says that the only thing her family can do for protection against storm is to “close the shutters”. Time and special weather-proof glass cannot alter the course of the storm, nor can they make the storm go by any faster.

                        As night falls, the narrator draws the curtains and lights candles, while trying to keep out “the insistent whine of weather through the unsealed aperture”. However, despite the precautions, they are also the narrator’s “sole defense against the season”. When talking about the “season”, the narrator is referring to hurricane season. The narrator ends the poem with the statement: “These are the things that we have learned to do who live in the troubled regions”. From this statement, it is made even clearer that the narrator lives in an area that is frequently plagued by massive hurricanes. However, the narrator’s community, shown through the use of the pronoun “we”, has learned how to cope with the storms.

"To Sleep or Not to Sleep": A Poem Inspired by Hamlet

To sleep or not to sleep, that is the question:

Whether ‘tis nobler to get out of bed and suffer

The painstaking process of getting ready for school

Or to remain under the comforter for a few more minutes

And beat the odds by still arriving on time. Sleep is beautiful,

Nothing more; and if we sleep we end

The stress of school and the piles of homework

That teenagers face: sleep is a blessing

To be wished for: To sleep, to dream;

To sleep, and become well-rested- but, there’s the catch:

The more sleep we have, the less homework is getting done

We may fail our tests from lack of studying

This makes us hesitate- for as much as we want to rest

We also want to succeed in school

This is what makes us deal with the suffering

Of endless nights and brutal mornings

The Extent of Parental Involvement

Throughout Act II of Hamlet, Polonius exercises a great deal of involvement within the lives of Laertes and Ophelia.

            Polonius sends his servant Reynaldo to Paris to give money to Laertes. However, Polonius tells Reynaldo to spy on Laertes before giving him the money. Reynaldo receives the instructions to figure out which Danes live in Paris, why they live in Paris, where they live, who they spend time with, and how much money they spend. Once Reynaldo finds out this information, Polonius wants him to ask the other Danes about Laertes. In order to accomplish this task, Reynaldo is given permission to lie about Laertes and say he gambles, drinks, swears, or participates in other unrespectable activities. Polonius wants it to appear as if Laertes’ faults are caused by his freedom. Overall, Polonius is hoping that if Reynaldo lies about Laertes, then the other Danes will validate the stories, thus using lies to figure out the truth. Personally, I think Polonius is overstepping his boundaries as a father. When a child goes to college, parents should trust their children to make good decisions. The fact that Polonius has such little trust in Laertes to have good judgment is concerning, and Polonius probably has some serious trust issues. I would be angry if I found out my parents sent someone to spy on me while I was at college, and I’d imagine that Laertes will feel the same way if he ever finds out.

            Polonius involves himself in his children’s lives again when he intervenes after Ophelia’s altercation with Hamlet. Immediately after Ophelia finishes telling the story, Polonius declares that he will talk to the King about Hamlet. Once again, he does not trust his children to take care of themselves and make thoughtful decisions. Ophelia is a young adult who should be more than capable of handling her own problems. Polonius is so nosey about the lives of his children that he can not stop himself from intruding.

However, this instance is more understandable because he could be worried about Ophelia’s safety from the supposedly insane Hamlet. In modern society, it is common for parents to intervene on behalf of their children if they find it necessary. Personally, I believe this differs from Polonius’s style of intervention because he is most likely trying to prove his point that Ophelia should stay away from Hamlet. Polonius even offers up Ophelia as bait to prove that Hamlet is legitimately insane. This doesn’t illustrate Polonius to be the caring father he claims to be, because most parents would not willingly but their children in a possibly dangerous setting. This is why I think that the “safety” reason is contradicted by Polonius’s  own actions, and he is instead just being his normally intrusive self. 

Poem Explication

In the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est”, Wilfred Owen illustrates the tragedies of war. The poem itself is a piece of juxtaposition; the title literally means “It is sweet and becoming to die for one’s country”, yet the poem speaks of the horrors of losing a fellow soldier in war.

Owen begins the poem with similes, comparing the doubled-over soldiers to “old beggars under sacks” as they are “coughing like hags”. He paints a picture of the soldiers being beyond the state of exhaustion, but still marching. The soldiers are so tired that they do not even hear the sound of a gas bomb dropping behind them. Owen uses a paradox to describe the bombs, claiming that they are “dropping softly behind”. This paradox is used to demonstrate that the soldiers are in such a state of fatigue that the sound of bombs barely affects them.

After the soldiers see the gas bomb, Owen describes the chaos as an “ecstasy of fumbling”. This expression shows that the gas sent the soldiers into a state of utter confusion, which is the same affect that ecstasy would have on a person. Owen’s story then turns to the soldier who fails to make it out of the cloud of gas, describing him as “flound’ring” and “drowning…under a green sea”. This terminology relates to fishing and the ocean. When the soldier is described as floundering, it relates to when a fish is pulled out of the ocean and is struggling to cling on to life.

Owen then continues with the extended metaphor and uses words such as “drowning” and “choking” to express the soldier’s last moments of life. As the soldier suffers his painful death, his face is described with a simile as being like “a devil’s sick of sin”. The poem is wrapped up with Owen speaking to the reader, asking them if they would tell this story to an aspiring soldier who is searching for “desperate glory”. He is trying to convince the reader that there other ways to find glory without putting oneself in danger. In the last line of the poem, Owen finishes his juxtaposition saying that the expression is a lie, and it is neither sweet nor becoming to die in war.           

Hamlet Initial Character Impressions

After the death of the king, King Claudius, Queen Gertrude, and Hamlet all seem to handle their emotions in different ways.

At the beginning of the scene, the King appears to be in mourning over the loss of his brother. However, throughout his speech, he also hints at the fact that he does not actually miss his brother. Instead, I think that Claudius enjoyed taking over what previously belonged to his brother, such as the Queen. Claudius tries to convince Hamlet that grieving for his father is offensive to heaven and to his father himself. He also tries to console Hamlet with the fact that all fathers die, but it is disrespectful to constantly grieve. Thus far, I consider the King to be selfish and suspicious. I question why the King is so opposed to grieving his brother, who only passed away two months earlier. I am also suspicious of the fact that he attempts to persuade Hamlet not to mourn. It almost seems as if he wants everyone to forget about the former King.

Queen Gertrude acts like she never loved her husband at all. She marries Claudius so close to her late husband’s death that her actions also arouse suspicion. Gertrude shows no sympathy for Hamlet, telling him to stop being sad and be kinder to King Claudius. She tells Hamlet that it looks like he is looking for his father in the dust, and he should know that it is normal for people to pass away. She then selfishly asks Hamlet to stay home and not attend Wittenberg, where he has been attending college. Even though Hamlet agrees to his mother’s request, I am curious why Gertrude wants Hamlet to stay home. Overall, I do not trust Gertrude and I want to know her motives that result in the lack of grief for her late husband and the lack of concern for her son.

Prince Hamlet reacts to his father’s death far differently than the rest of the characters. Right off the bat, it is obvious that Hamlet is devastated over his father’s death, and his actions are on the borderline of depression. He becomes angry when the King refers to him as his son, mumbling to himself that he does not consider himself to be the son of the King, but rather he is only his nephew. In fact, Hamlet tells the King that he is suffering from too much “sun”, and it is no coincidence that this sounds like “son”, which further demonstrates his animosity towards his uncle. Hamlet further illustrates his depressed nature when he silently wishes he could commit suicide. This shows the reader the extreme extent to which Hamlet misses his father. This sadness also stems from the anger over his mother’s lack of mourning, saying that even a wild animal would have mourned for a longer period. However, Hamlet’s mood quickly changes when Horatio tells him that he has seen the ghost of King Hamlet. He jumps at the chance to possibly see his father again, and claims that he will speak to the ghost no matter what consequences he may face. I admire this determination within Hamlet to do anything it takes to see his father, who he clearly deeply loved and respected. He is clearly a passionate and driven character, and both of those character traits are ones that I admire. I also find it respectable that Hamlet continues to grieve for his father, despite the fact that the other characters have already moved on and are encouraging him to do the same. This shows that Hamlet does not easily give in to the requests of others, and he is deeply in touch with his emotions.