Essential Question #2

The social obligations of a hero are nothing. A hero is no different than you and I, not one singular person amongst billions, but someone who lives life like the vast majority of us do, like humans. A hero doesn't have super strength, the ability to fly, or x-ray vision, nor does a hero have to land an airplane in the Hudson river, saving many. A hero is no one out of the ordinary, but the very person you see when you look in the mirror every morning when you wake up. We are all heroes to somebody, whether it be our younger siblings or an entire nation. We are not obligated to do anything but be ourselves and wait for the very day when someone says, "you are my hero".

Essential Question #1 Part B

Lady Macbeth's role in Shakespeare’s Macbeth is purely progressive and nothing more. Her role as a determined woman who lusts after power and position simply adds to the climactic plot of Macbeth and demonstrates that Shakespeare has portrayed her as a woman of ahead of her time. The mere fact that Lady Macbeth plays an immoral character who sought after the few things that many people desire even until this day is irrelevant, as she was able to hold her own against the men of the time and coerce Macbeth into obeying her every whim. Characters such as Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello also play similar roles as a villain in the story, but at the same time they were sharp and cunning. The villainy is irrelevant in comparison to the ingenuity Lady Macbeth exhibits. To answer the question as to whether or not Shakespeare was progressive or misogynistic in his portrayal of Lady Macbeth, he was progressive, for Lady Macbeth’s clever and mischievous nature is what made this tragedy all the more epic.

Outliers writing assignment

Stephen Simmons-Uvin
Ap English 11/Mr. George
5/25/10
Outliers

I consider myself to be academically successful not in the grades that I receive but the distance I have come since the day I was born. Granted that I didn’t attend school, excluding preschool, daycare, and kindergarten, until I was around six years old in the first grade, I have come a substantial distance since then. To be quite honest, since then I had only strived to become what I feel that I am today, the guy who strives to be no greater than the best and no worse than the worst. I did what I needed to in order to get by in life and in school. I showed up to class with a pen, pencil, and a mind willing to pay attention. The first grade marked the beginning of this middle man trend and has brought me to where I am today, with opportunity. The structural elements that have led me to become relatively successful in regards to academics has been the way I was taught. Since the first grade I have always had mediocre teachers who would teach, drink a coffee between periods, go about their days, and repeat this cycle daily. However, these teachers took the time to explain the material in depth and in a way that pleased everyone’s learning styles.
From being in Ap English I think I have had a huge advantage over others who may not have. By being in this course I have developed a greater understanding of the English language and have learned specific literary tactics which helped to improve my writing. By being in this course with other very intelligent people I have been introduced to new ways of thinking and different levels of intelligence. In this class I have not only been taught by Mr. George, but my peers as well, which makes being in this Ap English course substantially advantageous.
In regards to accumulative advantages in my story of academic success, I was lucky. I was lucky that I had the same teachers for the first six years of my life. I was lucky that my other teachers cared more about a blunt paycheck and summer vacation. I was lucky that I got accepted to schools and had the opportunity to learn and study with very intelligent people. I was lucky, and that’s all it really was. I lived the academic dream life that many people would have desired and got the attention and help when I needed. I went to smaller schools and found myself more engaged in the material being taught and less focused on the giant, three hundred pound, person that could have been sitting forty rows ahead of me had I gone to public school. I became used to this environment and had an advantage over those who might have been new to the school or used to attending a school with four thousand kids. It was luck, sprinkled with a little bit of effort, that crafted the middle man I am today.

Characterization: James Vane and Lord Henry

Stephen Simmons-Uvin
AP English/Mr. George
3/30/10
Character analysis: James Vane

James Vane is the physical representation of revenge gone wrong, setting out to annihilate his sisters “killer,” and suffering the very fate that he wished upon Dorian; he is a critique of human instinct and the very emotions that we feel.
James Vane is a character who appears very few times in the novel. However, James Vane is an essential character in the Picture of Dorian Gray because he can be seen as a critique of people in Wilde’s era, as well as people in the world today. James is first introduced when he promises to murder any man who might wrong his sister, and as we learn later in the novel, when Dorian’s corrupt life coincides with James’, he had been searching for Dorian or “prince charming” so that he may avenge his sisters death and destroy Dorian. The simple act of revenge as we have learned from various other books such as The Scarlet Letter, is a poisonous concoction that harms everyone involved in it and everyone near it. James Vanes over zealous desire to kill Dorian simply leads to his unfortunate death in a hunting accident. He is used as a critique of human nature and emotions because he exemplifies that amplitude of emotions and the serious repercussions of those that we fail to control. Revenge was the real accident, because some emotions are simply uncontrollable.
James Vane is a little child in the sense that he is unable to control his emotions and does not posses what I call a moral filter; something in your head that separates the moral things from everything else, purifying ones acts and cleansing the soul.
James Vane is like Lewis Black, preaching whatever intrudes his mind, and filtering nothing that comes out of it.

Stephen Simmons-Uvin
AP English/Mr. George
3/30/10
Character analysis: Lord Henry

Lord Henry is influence and evil incarnate, using his devious witticisms and abstract logic to manipulate the virgin minds of the innocent and instilling corruption within.
Lord Henry was introduced as a fellow with the tendency to influence people, and to win over the minds of those whom he spoke to. This can be best exemplified in Lord Henry’s influence and control over the young and naïve Dorian Gray, who whimsically fell in love with Henry’s outlandish theories and embarked on his journey to evil, all because Lord Henry proposed that beauty is something that must be savored and should never go away. He felt that Dorian made a fine experiment, and continued to bask Dorian in his lies: “Talking to him was like playing on an exquisite violin…There was something terribly enthralling in the exercise of influence” (Wilde 39). One must take note that Lord Henry was a very intelligent man as he was able to fool anyone and alter their beliefs in a matter of hours, as we saw with Dorian Gray. Henry was intelligent enough to realize the repercussions of his influence, yet seized to stop it and reverse the effect of his demonic paradoxes. Henry was a devil in the sense that he was not bothered by other people’s misery and used the world as his laboratory, which is reflected in Dorian.
Henry is like the devil that lingers on your shoulder perpendicular to the angel. He attempts to influence your decisions and force you to do terrible things. The devil resembles temptation which is what Lord Henry prescribes.
Lord Henry is like the President of the United States whom we all chose and have always chosen to believe for no logical reason, other than his position and presentation.

Stephen Simmons-Uvin
Ap English/Mr. George
3/28/10
PODG end

"Yet it was his duty to confess, to suffer public shame, and to make public atonement. There was a God who called upon men to tell their sins to earth as well as to heaven. Nothing that he could do would cleanse him till he had told his own sin" (228).

Throughout the novel, Dorian showcased a careless vibe, and now that has come back to haunt him. This quotation relates back to the debates on public versus private sin, where we discussed the advantages and disadvantages of concealing and confessing your sin. In analyzing the majority of the texts we have read this year, a recurring theme seems to have been redemption. Through the public confession of sin, one could be absolved of their sins, which is why Dorian perishes with the discomforting thought that he has not been forgiven.

As we have learned characters like Dimmesdale and Proctor were able to achieve redemption due to public confession, but Dorian was unable to due to the fact that he could not confess. His carelessness and inability to show compassion and take responsibility in his actions lead to his demise and ultimate ending. He who does whats right will always have righteousness, which is why Dorian shall never be redeemed. He has failed to intertwine goodness in his life, which is why he has perished.


"The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame" (224).

This relates to Wilde's statement in the preface that "there is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book," (1) and that books are simply good or bad. In society, people tend to label other things or people subjectively based on their own moral dilemmas. It is human instinct to shun others simply because we are flawed, which is what Wilde also relates to in the preface: that art contains a little bit of the artist who tries to conceal part of himself in his work. Books in general hold a very strong influence on the people that live in the world, the most famous being the bible. A bible is to the religious folk what the yellow book is to Dorian: it is scriptural influence and something more powerful than the soul. Fortunately, Dorian realized its negative influence, but was too late and too overcome by its message to change.

PODG Ch. 16-18

Stephen Simmons-Uvin
Ap English/Mr. George
3/25/10
PODG Ch. 16-18

"The keen, aromatic air, the brown and red lights that glimmered in the wood, the hoarse cries of the beaters ringing out from time to time, and the sharp snaps of the guns that followed, fascinated him with a sense of delightful freedom. He was dominated by the carelessness of happiness, by the high indifference of joy" (207).

In this chapter Wilde does as very good job of distinguishing the two separate lives that Dorian lives, his life at his Selby Royal estate, and the life consumed by evil and addiction at his main residence in London. Despite their physical characteristics, both estates represent both sides of Dorian. In his hometown, Dorian began going to opium dens, and had previously destroyed the lives of many people. However, at his Selby Royal estate in the countryside, we get a sense that Dorian is not completely consumed by evil and in-humaneness." ". His countryside residence was the bearer of good things, and even though a man had died during the hunt at his estate, Dorian, for a minute moment, showed compassion toward the vengeful James Vane, the dead body. Despite his few seconds of compassion, we must also note that shortly after he was revealed that his stalker was dead and his life was saved. I personally believe that it is things like this, the constant gratification in other peoples misery, and internal corruption that develop into an uncontrollable power that will eat its host away from the inside out. Dorian says that "on a yacht one is safe"(210), which can be true, but it is not safe from that internal corruption and guilt-promoted evil. He may have escaped the physical monster that set out to kill him, but Dorian has yet to confront the emotional monster that resides within him. The body of water surrounding his yacht will not keep out the insanity of the world, but give him more time to think about the insanity that lies within him, Dorian will perish.

"Difference of object does not alter singleness of passion. It merely intensifies it. We can have in life but one great experience at best, and the secret of life is to reproduce that experience as often as possible"(201)

This actually explains a lot in regards to Dorian's behavior. As humans, once we experience something great whether it be physical or emotional, we strive to achieve that greatness in order to continuously feel good about ourselves. Dorian's motive for so passionately and violently guarding his youth is simply this: because it felt good to him, watching other people age and perish while he still remained in the same physical form that he did eighteen years ago. His whole life has been constructed around that one main value, protecting it at all costs. He killed his beloved friend because of his portrait, felt no remorse, and sought out no redemption. He is subject of nobodies experiment but his own, and has failed to produce what we would consider "rational results." Dorian's entire life ever, ever since meeting Lord Henry at the beginning of the novel, has been focused around continuing to achieve his goal of fruitfulness, and because he was so consumed in doing that, nothing effected him. He feels no remorse and sympathy for anyone because he has simply ignored those feelings for so long, and would not know what to do with them. He always has, and will be focused on himself until someone turns on the light in the back of his head. This quotation explains Dorian's motives for living, as well as every human beings motives for living. This feeling we experience is like getting an A+ on an exam or for some, doing drugs, it is something that we simply can not forget until we are brought into the realization that life is still life without additives. We all have our judgment day, our "do or die" moment, where we are forced to look beyond our selves and further into our lives by observing others, and Dorian's is approaching.

PODG Ch. 15

Stephen Simmons-Uvin
Ap English/Mr. George
3/23/10
PODG Ch. 15

"A man can be happy with any woman, as long as he does not love her"(184).

This questionable response to the topic of happiness in marriage is said by Lord Henry, proposing the idea that happiness is not found in commitment, but in the absence of love. This line stuck out to me because although it seems irrational, I for one agree with it. The catholic church teaches that marriage is unitive and is the climactic phase of love and happiness. Religion teaches that marriage is a very important sacrament, uniting the man and woman, and in doing so, happiness is given, eventually. However, if you were to ask ten couples if happiness were a recurring theme in their marriage, I guarantee that at least three would say "no." It is a known fact that marriage does not constitute eternal happiness, it only reflects what was once love and what is now an emotional bond that some fail to break through. Happiness is not something that can only be found through a relationship or love. It can be found in friends, family, and even those that you hate. Happiness is a universal feeling in the sense that it comes and goes, and can be found whenever, wherever, and in whoever. This feeling is not something that can only be achieved by loving someone. I personally hate some of the people that I know, but whenever I am with them, I am happy. Lord Henry creates very obscure theories about life and morals throughout the novel, and for once, he proposes a very interesting concept, which is still reflected on today.


"Moderation is a fatal thing. Enough is as bad as a meal. More than enough is as good as a feast"(185).

Once again, Lord Henry's crazed logic floods the content of this chapter. In this quote he states that the whole concept of consuming things or doing things in moderation is silly. He states that "enough of something is as bad as a meal," meaning that just "enough" of something is too little, and that "more than enough is as good as a feast," meaning that too much of something is phenomenal, because you can not turn back. I picked this quote because it completely combats what we are taught as human beings today. In this modern age, we are taught from the way way we eat, to the amount we exercise and do things, that anything is good, as long as it is in moderation, meaning that everything is good for our bodies as long as we are exposed to it over time and not all at once. What seems to be logical to us and has been logical for many generations before us, is not to Lord Henry, and he makes a very valid point. This quote can be applied to the character of Dorian in the sense that Henry's influence on him happened in the course of a couple of chapters or all at once. Now that Dorian has been so exposed to Henry's teachings and done so many horrible things, he is able to "feast" because there is nothing worse that he can do to his corpse.