Smith AP Lit

Miranda has never seen men before besides Prospero and Caliban.  She is also the only woman in the play and is very naive and innocent.  I connected this naivety with imperialism, which was a huge topic in the 17th century.  Near the end of the play when Miranda sees men other than the ones above and Ferdinand, her response is one of amazement: "How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, / That has such people in't!" (Act 5, Scene 1).  The fact that Miranda stated these lines is very significant because she was naive and said the men were amazing and brave.  Imperialism involved exploitation and was a controversial topic during Shakespeare's time because it involved murdering native people for the benefit of one's country.  Shakespeare seemed to be adding his views into the discussion on imperialism by making the naive young girl be the one to call these men brave and show excitement towards them.  He is telling his audience that he does not have the...

One thing is evident throughout the play, Prospero has power beyond normal limits, and he uses it often.  Ariel is Prospero's magic invisible being who was freed by Prospero after he was locked up by Sycorax.  Prospero says that he will let Ariel go free if he obeys his orders, yet I found that Prospero was very hypocritical.  He wants revenge on his brother for taking over his power, yet he does not free Ariel right away.  Prospero forgets that he too was forced to do something, in his case be sent away from Milan, and he acts the same way towards Ariel. I also found it interesting that Ariel was not a woman.  This is not because of his name, but rather because of the status of women during Shakespeare's time.  I would have expected Ariel, who is a servant to Prospero, to be a woman because that is what woman were back then, just obedient to men.  The fact that Ariel was a man does show that status also had a major part in social affairs, and it wasn...

     A huge topic in this book was sanity vs. insanity, and that peaked when Darl was taken away to an insane asylum.   While the family thought Darl was insane, I believe they themselves were actually the off-kilter ones, and Darl was one of the sanest.   It was not the same insane that we see today, but rather an insanity caused by isolation and poverty.   Darl was the only family member that had gone outside of their little life on the farm and seen something other than poverty because of his service in the war.   The other family members acted strangely in their relationships and overall actions, especially when they wanted to drag their dead mother into town to bury her, even though the river flooded over the bridge.   The family eventually sent Darl to the mental institution after he set the barn on fire with his mother's coffin and animals in it.   In Darl’s chapter, when he is being sent away, he seems to actually...

Mrs. Smith gave me a bad grade on my test.   I know what I did wrong but I thought that if I could just get Mrs. Smith to understand what I did and that I knew what I did was wrong, then maybe she would give me points back.   I only need a few.   “She should have given you points back,” Cathy says.   If the Lord didn’t want me to pass then He is all powerful and I will let it be, but she gave me a bad grade on my test.   I am going to study much harder for the next one, and I am going to make sure I know everything from class, but if He wants it this way, I will let it be.   Of course, He knows best.   “She should have given you a few points back,” Cathy says.   The Lord is just so I know he will still love me even if I get a bad grade.   Maybe Mrs. Smith will understand if I write a note, or maybe she will change her mind about it all tomorrow.   I will pray about this tonight.   If only Mrs. Smith didn’t give ...

     After I read McCarthy’s punctuation rules, I understood the points he was making, but I did not fully agree with them.  McCarthy says that punctuation is not necessary in many cases and it only fills up the page with excess marks.  While some punctuation is excessive, I think it is important to include punctuation where it is necessary.  This makes sentences grammatically correct, but it also helps the paper flow.  McCarthy says he uses commas, but not very often.  This is the first point that I disagree with.  Commas are important for a writer to let the reader know when to pause in the text.  Without them, sentences would be long, monotone, and most likely confusing.  Another example would be commas in lists.  If they are not included, the separate words could not be differentiated from one another.  McCarthy also says that he does not use quotation marks because it is the writer’s job to make the ...