Kayley Nguyen
Mrs. Harrison
ELA
April 28, 2017

Choose one of the themes in the book that we identified and discussed in class (this should be in your notes) and decide which one you believe is the primary theme of The Great Gatsby. Explain why you think this is the primary theme and provide three pieces of textual evidence to support your position.

    I think that The American Dream had a theme of unreal hope and artificial happiness. In class the group that did the American Dream really caught my attention because the book didn’t talk about it often but their evidence made it all make sense. There was some parts of the book that made The American Dream sound like it wasn't a good thing. I also really like how the book was more descriptive on details when talking about the people who were more wealthy living the American Dream. In class we talked about the green light and how it is very important in the book because it also represented the American Dream, the book also quotes that Fitzgerald wrote, “Gatsby believes in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.” If the green light was a symbol for The American Dream then why was Fitzgerald saything that The American Dream every year moved farther and farther away which made it less achievable even though Gatsby still believed in it. Fitzgerald also quoted “For Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant.” I also really like this because Daisy was technically living the American Dream.
   

Kayley Nguyen
Mrs. Harrison
ELA
April 22, 2017


What is the climax (turning point) of the novel? How do you I know? How is the central conflict addressed in the climax? Use textual evidence to back up your claims.

The climax in my opinion was when Gatsby was shot because it eliminated the love and conflict in the book. Also when Gatsby died there was no longer two guys for Daisy to choose between because the choice was made for her in a way. Another example is when Tom Buchanan’s mistress died then Tom didn't have somebody to cheat on Daisy with even though he could probably just find someone else in the city. Even if tom didn't have anyone to cheat with, there is still the conflict of who Daisy loves. Also I thought that the climax of the story usually happens during the middle of the book but to me all the other characteristic of a climax were met when Gatsby died. Also, after Gatsby died everyone started leaving and going off on their own. Everything seemed to calm down and separate after Gatsby died.

Kayley Nguyen
Mrs. Harrison
ELA
March 7, 2017

For class, the group I was in read Othello. Othello is a tragedy, you can find information to back this up in the play because pretty much everyone in the play dies. The main characters in the story tend to get in arguments a lot especially Othello, Iago, Emilia, and Desdemona. In the play Iago and Othello kills their wives making themselves both look really bad. On the other hand, the one person that no one would really expect. Iago was the villain. Iago was the reason for his wife's death and he framed people. The whole play was really unexpected that any of this actually turned out the way that it did. 

Kayley Nguyen
Mrs. Harrison
ELA
February 28, 2017

For my response to The Merchant of Venice I decided to write a poem. It was hard to come up with things at first to try to write about because there was so many things I could write about. I was also trying not to make this poem really long by describing every single detail on the book. I ended up writing about the most important parts,l or the parts that stood out most to me. I thought that it turned out pretty well, but I also thought that if I had more time I could've made it better. If I could've changed it, I would want to add more details on what I was talking about and being able to end it well off. I would also liked if it would rhyme better. I think that the rhyming was ok, in other spots not so much. Overall I really liked what I had chosen. Last year I wrote a poem for a creative response and I thought it was really fun, so I would try it again. I would definatly choose to do this again, I thought it was really fun to write and also it brings out the creative parts in you, to be able to put all your ideas to make a poem. 

Kayley Nguyen
Mrs. Harrison
ELA
February 21, 2017

    In The Merchant of Venice, I liked the part with the three caskets. I thought it was interesting to read about and it. I dont think that was a smart way to find your future husband in my personal opinion. When i saw the she had put her picture in the lead casket, I was thinking that she was pretty intelligent by doing that. I also really liked all the scenes where Portia was dressed as a judge. I became really interested in this part of the play because I thought that it was a really smart idea to go spy on Bassanio. I think in this case it was a good idea to spy on her husband, because Bassanio and Portia had just become married and if she didn't do that she couldn't have ever found out about the ring. I also think it was written very well to fit into this play, and to add something this important was kind of like a plot twist.

Kayley Nguyen
ELA
Mrs. Harrison
February 10, 2017

As a modern audience, do you think that Shylock deserves the punishment that he receives? Why or why not? Also, how do you think an Elizabethan audience would have felt about this (would they have thought he deserves his punishment)? Why or why not?
   
In my opinion I think that Shylock deserved his punishment. His role in the play was a money lender, and back then it was common for Jewish people to lend money to others. In the book I understood why he was mad at Antonio for not paying him back because that is a lot of money. On the other hand when Shylock wanted to cut a pound of Antonio's flesh, that caught me off guard.

I liked how Portia played her part on how not to make herself noticeable by the other men in the room. In the video that we watched in class we saw that Portia told Shylock that if one drop of blood were to shed from the pound of flesh, he would die. This caused a bunch of stuff to happen with Shylock and Antonio and eventually Antonio punished Shylock. I think that Shylock deserved his punishment with losing all his money, but for him also to become a Christian? In class I saw that this was very traumatic towards Shylock which in those times that was a serious and humiliating thing.

I think that in the Elizabethan audience would have mixed opinions only because everyone's opinion is different depending how they are. Some people might think that it is ridiculous that Antonio got away with all that debt, and some people might think that Shylock was overreacting and deserved everything that happened to him.

Kayley Nguyen
Mrs. Harrison
ELA
February 6, 2017

1. On page 49 (Act 3, Scene 1) Shylock gives his speech that seems to be sympathetic to the plight of Jews ("I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes?..."). Considering the rampant anti-Semitism in the play, why do you think Shakespeare would have included this speech? How does it change what we think of Shylock?

    I think that the speech that Shylock was saying was interesting. This made me think about those kind of days and how it was normal for people to treat Jews like this and how this kind of stuff was funny to people during that time. Personally I think that Shakespeare was adding this to show readers that even if they were good people then, time and history changes things. This quote made me think and visualize how people were treated then. I also think that now that the readers, being our class have seen history, have seen how people treat each other, we have a better understanding of how that was cruel. I also think that Shakespeare added this because it was normal back then for people to talk to each other like this so it wasn't a big deal for them.