Lada – IB English A Literature

PR to Slaughterhouse five

The book was written by American humorist Kurt Vonnegut in 1969.

The narrative technique of Slaughterhouse-Five is non-linear, which means that the timeline of the story frequently jumps back and forth in time rather than being told in a chronological order. It is also a combination of third-person and first-person narration.

The story is broken into many sections and told from the characters perspective, Billy Pilgrim who becomes “unstuck in time” and as if tells or remembers the events from his memories through sections. Billy Pilgrim, a traumatized kid and later soldier who fought in WW2.

This sci-fi and fantasy story creates a dreamlike atmosphere in the book, the narrative technique that wants us to mess with the perception of time, which compared to the other novels we read earlier in clas, the The Awakening and The Colour Purple which are told in a chronological and structural way; filled with elements of bitter reality that some may unfortunately relate to and therefore drowns us in the reality of the scenario and pin points us to a specific timeframe. These two novels as readers set us in a harsh-reality, as if making us survive with the main character, keeping us on our toes, yet the Tralfamadorians moral of life in Slaughterhouse 5 suggests us to forget about the sense of time for a moment and look at life as is.

“There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvellous moments seen all at one time” (p.88).

And “one thing earthlings might learn to do if they tried hard enough is ignore all the awful times and focus on the good ones” p.117

And this felt freeing to be honest. For the first time I felt like I had one less of a responsibility to keep track of something “so insignificant” like the aliens say, time.

The sense of freedom leads me to my next point, religion.

Billy does not follow any religion, unlike Celie in the Color Purple, where the book starts with the line “Dear God..”

“Billy wasn’t catholic, yet had a gory crucifix hanging in his room as a child. His father had no religion..” p.38

But we see him later form a prayer on his office wall which expressed his method for keeping going even though he was unenthusiastic about living:

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change courage to change the things I can and wisdom always to tell the difference” p.60

God was Celie’s outlet, her companion and friend ever since she was little and taught to only tell God about the darkest secrets while Billy never told anyone about his struggles, never spoke about his pain. This made me think about how many men still refuse or are too scared to be vulnerable and tend to keep it all inside themselves for years. The “a man is supposed to be tough” really speaks out to me as I see close relatives of mine whom I never saw cry and probably never will. We see the earlier traumatic event of Billy’s life when his father taught him how to swim by throwing him in water, causing the poor boy to develop severe anxiety while standing near water like the canyon. And yet this is described as a memory, where even “in Billy’s head” he doesn’t address the situation and never vents,

Celie begins to write to her sister Nettie at one point, when she overthinks her concept of religion. Why is God a man with a white beard in her eyes, why does she feel the need to write to him? And with the help of her lover Shug she is able to obtain those answers. Celie only has one life, and she is not about to waste another year keeping quiet. I found that when Billy learns to put aside the concept of time after his encounter with the aliens, it is as if he also finds the answer, or at least, some comfort in his being now. Travelling back and forth in time as he knows that

“I, Billy Pilgrim, will die, have died, and always will die on February 13, 1976” p141 which he records on a tape and leaves it locked up with some other valuables.

As I continue my journey in life, I find that both approaches suit me; Celie’s determination to live her best life without wasting it on anyone other than her own wellbeing and Billie’s tranquility, as we know that all things come to an end one day.

“So it goes” the famous line Billy says throughout the book, and interestingly enough, the Tralfamadorians use it too. Usually, when a person passes or an unpleasant event occurs that makes us have this uneasy feeling, a pit in our stomach as we wonder how to react to this new information, waiting to see if Billy will react in any way, but his answer to it is a simple “so it goes”. This leaves us room and a sense of independence over our own feelings and how we should react to things like misfortune and even death, which is described many times in Slaughterhouse 5.

PR to Orwell’s Politics and the English Language

George Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” argues that if we use language that is simple and facile it makes us put less effort into it, this leads to us falling into bad habits of word choice and thought. This is because “language and thought are so closely linked” , says Orwell.

I agree with this due to my personal experience, since I speak more than one language and I am used to making those shortcuts; like combining languages and making my own “metaphors” which is more like copying and literally translating phrases and expressions from one of the languages to make it easier to explain my thoughts and share my opinions with others. I often receive comments like “you have an awkward or unclear expression here” and Im seriously working on that.

“..language is a natural growth and not an instrument which we shape for our own purposes.” pg358 and I have to disagree on that. I feel like language is a tool which we not only can, but have to try to use in different ways. I feel like we need to explore, find and use ways that will help us speak our mind. There are so many examples when languages underwent changes and modifications in order to be what they are today, and the English language is not an exception.

Take a look at Shakespearean English for example, his influence on the language was so significant that now we cannot imagine our modern days without it, as there are thousands of words that Shakespeare invented that we still use today. An example of a word that was invented by Shakespeare comes from the 1570s, the phrase “to court” which at the time meant “to woo” soon became the word “courtship” which he used in The Merchant of Venice.

At the same time, I understand how many people won’t agree with me, and think that the language should stay “respected”. Of course, many people do not support the idea of slang for example, an informal expression more common in speech than writing that is typically used among a group of people; usually used in order to avoid longer words, by taking a shortcut. Many say it ruins the language, substituting words and even phrases for a quicker alternative.

But in general, I think that we need to recognize that language changes and modifies overtime.

I like how Orwell makes a point about dying metaphors and how many of them are outdated and are often used incorrectly by the authors completely. For example the Achilles heel, which refers to someone or something that has a weakness or a vulnerable point; as Orwell writes “Many of these are used without knowledge about the meaning” and I can somewhat agree to this as we tend to see this in more modern literature. I also grew up using this expression, mainly because my grandma uses it a lot, but the older I get, the less I hear it being used.

This connects to me using Pretentious Diction when I was younger, without ever knowing that it had a name to it. When I used to use complicated words and phrases to make me sound more “wise” like Orwell discusses in his writing.

I thought I sounded smart and cool, as fancy words like laissez faire and comme ci comme ça were coming from me at age 6. Today, I need to fully understand an expression or a word before it takes its place in my lexicon.

Thoughts on Pygmalion

As we started reading the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Show, I honestly felt intrigued. The impression from the little introduction to this work planted an idea that this will be some cliché romance novel, as I circled back to the idea of this play originating from a Greek myth of Cyprus; a sculptor who had no interest in local women and instead carved a sculpture of his ideal girl, named her Galatea and instantly fell in love with her. He was head over heels for his creation, and quickly found himself obsessed with it, later asking Aphrodite to bring the statue to real life, as she does, being flattered by the fact that Cyprusי inspiration was indeed herself. The story ends with everyone being merry. However, this was not quite the case with this play.
The story of a simple poor girl Eliza Doolittle who turns out to be very independent from a young age, sells flowers on the street. She later meets a strange man, Mr.Higgins, a wealthy professor who does not need to bother working himself to sleep as he is so rich. Eliza starts to take speech and behaviour lessons from him in order to sound and look like an upper class woman.

The conditions Eliza is met with in the following weeks are not as great as they might seem at first, as being allowed to live in a wealthy home, eat, sleep and wear fine clothes are all very new experiences to Ms. Doolittle. Her life is difficult, having an unfortunate childhood and growing up with no mother, an alcoholic dad and living in a strict household causes her to experience anxiety at the new place; but she continues to work hard knowing that this is her chance to change her life.
To this all I can slightly relate to, as the situation that Eliza appears in reminds me of our grade transition to DP1 IB; having to adjust to a new lifestyle and working hard towards our dreams. This makes the play Pygmalion one of the examples that show that hard work always pays off.

The duo of Eliza and the housekeeper Mrs. Pearce I found very comforting as well as Eliza`s communication with Pickering. This was the girls first time taking a proper bath, and talking to a real gentleman, with the contrast of Higgins, which I found really cute.

“Sit down“ – Higgins
(Eliza stands, half rebellious, half bewildered)
“Won’t you sit down?“ – Pickering
`Don’t mind if I do“ ( she sits down) – Eliza pg.14

The closer we got to the end of the play, the more I got annoyed by Higgins. He is so used to using his status card everywhere he goes, mentioning his education and wealth as if these are his personality traits. oh, well at this point it almost seems like they are! Clearly in his world, money does solve all the problems. He also thinks that wealth determines a person’s value, therefore laughs at Eliza when she confidently confesses her love for Freddy, and that she will marry him as soon as he is able to support her.

“Rubbish! You shall marry the ambassador. You shall marry the Governor-General of India or the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, or somebody who wants a deputy-queen. I’m not going to have my my masterpiece thrown away on Freddy“ pg.70 -Higgins

“…Mr. Higgins, left alone, rattles his cash in his pocket; chuckles; and disports himself in a highly self-satisfied manner“pg.72

Pygmalion is a great play which shows how important it is to stick to the opportunities around us. And while some people just need a little nudge in order to help them stand straight on the their feet, they will run, just like Eliza who ran straight to her bright future; others won’t even bother listening, just like Professor Higgins, he is an inexorable person who is hard-headed and cannot be convinced to change, no matter what. At the end of the day, this whole situation doesn’t seem to have changed his view on the world and people in the slightest.

PR – A Dolls’s House

The play written by Henrik Ibsen was like an emotional roller coaster. The plot filled with patriarchy, misogyny and the sacrificial role of women truly made me stop and think about feminism today.

Before and even as I was reading the play, I was really confused about the name of it. I couldn’t grasp why its name is “A Doll’s House” and had different theories of why that might have been the choice. At first I thought this was going to be related to the children of Nora, since I thought about dolls being connected to childhood, but this theory quickly became inexact because the play focuses on Nora itself. A “childish” woman.
As I got closer to the end of the book, everything made sense. I think the name choice was brilliant, we really get the sense of it when we get to the lines onp182

“When I was at home with Daddy, he told me all his opinions..He called me his doll-child, and he played with me..” “..I then went from daddy’s hand over into yours.”

As we watched the movie, I remarked how the actress barely said a word during the scene when Torvald finds out about the whole situation. The absence of words and emotions made a great impact because we are left with our own thoughts at this moment, and oh I felt so disappointed. We can only imagine how Nora felt in the moment, heartbroken? Crushed? Miserable? This reaction of Helmer wasn’t unexpected, but in the movie when Torvald slaps his wife, that was what left me in utter shock. I mean, the physical abuse of that time is not the shocker, it is rather the fact that it got down to it.

Needless to say, I was very intrigued when the scene of Nora and Torvald sitting down to have a “serious conversation, first time in 8 years of their marriage” came along. After all of this dreadful and hopeless amount of pages of misogyny, we are finally being rewarded with a grand finale.
Nora demands Torvald to sit down and not interrupt her as she speaks; shocked at her sudden loss of fear, this is probably the strongest moment in the whole play. I was practically cheering when she stated that she will leave and educate herself, and that she wants nothing from Torvald, making him take his wedding ring off too. That she will only take the things she owns, even though she owns very little, this shows how independent she is and will not tolerate any control over her any longer.

I did not enjoy this play as much as The Merchant of Venice despite the fact that this pay has an actual happy ending. Everything is resolved. Nora leaves her abusive husband and I believe will definitely have a bright future; as for comparison, the play by Shakespeare leaves us with so many questions left for us to decide on what is true to us. Cannot say if I like the author or not at this point, I will need to read a few more books by Henrik Ibsen in order to have a formed opinion of his oeuvre.

The Merchant of Venice- PR

I enjoyed reading The Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare and can say that this was by far my most favorite book we have studied this year. This play leaves so many questions and a disturbing feeling of melancholy, which makes it so significant to me. Unlike Romeo and Juliet for example, this play does not have a “happy end”. Shylock is forced to become a Christian after being stripped away of his daughter and money in return for seeking revenge, Antonio is once again left to be alone, Portia cannot trust her husband and more..
The plot of the play covers racism, discrimination, revenge and antisemitism and is considered to be a classic. Piety is a great theme in this play as we see this in the Jewish and the Christian communities.

Shylock’s speech in the book seems to be less powerful compared to the movie, but we can still sense the tragedy as Solanio and Salarino talk amongst each other about the old Jew that “uttered in the streets” “My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter! Fled with a Christian!”. As we are reading this from the side, we cannot fully comprehend the whole spectrum of emotion that Shylocks is going through, which I think is a very important part to the play, as we, readers, grow to sympathise for him; the famous speech by Shylock is a great example.

Despite this being one of my top favorite works of literature this year, I definitely struggled reading the play. Confusing words and sentences which at times did not make any sense at all, for example

“The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose”- Antonio, Act 1 Scene 3. P15 or “Young in limbs, in judgement old” – Morocco, Act 2 Scene 7

Shakespearean English is tough to grasp at first as the flow of the lines are very unique and have their own sense of style, but you get used to the structure of the play and the language. “Whither goest thou?” – Lorenzo, Act 2 Scene 4 p 30 is an example of those lines which made no sense at first, sounded weird when I tried to say it, but as I continued to read the play were becoming fun to recite.

Regardless of the challenges I think that in the future I will pick up other books by Shakespeare on my own time.

PR Merchant of Venice movie

Merchant of Venice 2004 was directed by Michael Radford.

The actors I found amazing, Portia played by Lynn Collins and especially Shylock, by Al Pacino, which I will talk about in more detail later. I find it intriguing how they took the turn with Bassanio and Antonio being potential lovers. In my opinion, it made the movie better that way because it opened up the character in a different perspective, which differs from the book. We clearly feel Antonio’s love for his friend at the very start of the movie when he puts Bassanio’s needs above his own, risking his life. We can see this when Antonio volunteers to lend him, Bassanio, money in order to sail to Belmont, Portia.

The characters definitely have chemistry going on between them, and I like how the actors were able to play around with their roles, for example, when Bassanio improvises the kiss after Antonio gives him credit to go to Belmont. Another powerful scene when both are at court and Antonio is sentenced to cut a pound of his flesh off, we can see how Bassanio truly cares for his friend and would even give up his newly married wife in order to save Antonio from the torture.

My favorite character of the movie was Shylock, the Jewish moneylender, because his charisma stood out to me the most. The casting of this actor fits naturally in the movie. Just his eyes could tell more than the words that he spoke. We first meet Shylock at the start of the movie, when he stands in the crowd, watching Jews being thrown off the bridge into the water; he, like the other Jewish people wears a red hat to mark his race, and eventually gets spat in the face by Antonio, who happens to pass by.

At the end of the movie, at court, Shylock, demanding justice, stripped away of his daughter and money, is forced to become a Christian, which was his breaking point. The scene where he drops on his knees and weeps, really made me shift uncomfortably in my chair. His whole life he hated Christians, he wouldn’t dare to dine with them, he detested their way of life, and the last thing he ever wanted was to become one. I was impressed while watching him stand silently, watching his people closing the doors of the synagogue, the place he used to pray.

The end of the film left a lot of questions and an unsettling feeling of melancholy and despair. His daughter, Jessica and the ring that was gifted to her by her dead mother, it doesn’t feel right, she doesn’t seem happy to have left her family. And the new couples, or specifically one, which in the movie seem more like a love triangle between Bassanio, Antonio and Portia. And since Portia is quite smart, I refuse to believe that she does not suspect her husband being unloyal to her, after the incident when Bassanio gives away the ring to the Doctor, who we know is actually Portia, that he swore to never lose.

Antonio’s state is the same as in the beginning “In sooth I know not why I am so sad” after everything he does not seem to be happy either.

The bully and the victim

There is quite little information on the situation as a whole, so judging who is at fault in this case, is very difficult.

I believe that both are at fault, but I am more curious about the victim, and here is why: first of all, as we know from the text, no one wanted to stand up for the victim in the first place. “Other students called him names, make fun of him, push him around occasionally, cheat him out of his possessions etc..No one is prepared to defend or support him against his abuse” so we can assume that this was going on for quite some time now. His decision to payback the bully(s) was a forced measure, and therefore, was not a random unthought action.

I believe that the victim’s family should pay for the medical care, but the bully should carry out consequences like being suspended from school for a while.

Langston Hughes PR

Langston Hughes (1925) famous for his poetry, novels, plays, and children’s books. In his poetry he touches on serious topics like: equality, racism and injustice, African American culture and religion (spirituality). It is interesting to note that most of the things he wrote about are still pretty accurate till this day. For example, Christianity, and how this was and is still a big part of African American culture today.

One of my favorite works was: Ruby Brown and The Weary Blues, because it speaks upon people that have to cope with their struggles in different ways in order to survive. The pianist that “made that poor piano moan with melody” and Ruby Brown who was trying to make enough money, and had no other choice but to go for prostitution.

As I was reading his poems, I struggled a bit adjusting to the language use and the structure of the writing. He also applied old fashioned language that is found offensive today.

He uses interesting forms that unite the reader and his people together, speaking for a whole culture. The word “me” doesn’t always mean singular form, in fact most of the time it means “we” which changes the passage completely.

I found it helpful to listen to other people read the same poem after me, which gave me a better idea of the potential feeling and intonation it would be spoken in. Overall, his work made me more of an analytical reader and gave me a better understanding of African American culture.

Outsmart your brain reflection

After reading chapter 5 of Outsmart Your Brain, Willingham, I was left in complete awe. This was probably one of the most interesting chapters I have read this year, and this is because the book not only gives great tips on studying, but also erases a barrier between the reader and the author, making the experience unique, as if you are in an actual conversation with a person.

Willingham first makes you read a short little paragraph which does not grab your attention at first, but that’s until he explains that: “Readers are very likely to notice a word they don’t know. They are also very likely to notice if the grammar of a sentence is wrong. But they are much less likely to notice when two sentences contradict each other.” After this, you are left in a small shock by the fact that you ( or should I say, your brain ) totally fell for the trick, and you definitely never paid enough attention to notice the contradiction in the paragraph.

Another important point that the book makes is about a very famous way of studying and taking notes: highlighting. Willingham makes it very clear how many people never learn from “just reading and highlighting” or they miss the concepts that were, for example, accurate to the test they had to take later on. This happens because they don’t highlight the important information. This happens because we simply have different “important information” that helps us learn, which is personal to everyone.

He even writes about the research that was conducted with the aim to find out if people will highlight the same things in the same copies of one textbook. Logically, everyone should have the same things highlighted. The results were misleading. Researchers found little to no overlap in what the students highlighted.

This does not mean that we should never use this method when studying, but it is highly recommended to only use material that you are highly familiar with, where the general information is clear. Not in new units or subjects that you are just beginning to learn. “Highlighting might be fine if you are reading about a topic you already know a lot about”

How to actually intake the information properly? Well, by the end of this chapter, I can say that I will definitely stick to the SQ3R method, that is simply: Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Review

Previously, I have used something similar to this method, which was mostly concentrated on recalling the text, and seeing how much I could recite after I read the whole thing. But the SQ3R method is not only used for comprehension, it also helps students remember the overall concept better, by connecting the new information to other observations they have made and thought about.

This method does not allow the reader to “just read along” but forces our brain to contribute to the learning process and take mental notes and make connections as you proceed.

PR candide

Candide, a novel by Voltaire, 1759. This is a story about Candide, a young man who is the main character, who goes on a journey almost all around the world, in order to understand, are we actually living in the best of all possible worlds? This is the main theme of the novel, the concept of the idea of “the best of all possible worlds.” The best part is that there is no simple answer, it’s not only a journey of Candide, but also a journey for the reader, to find our own meaning and create responses to all the questions that appear.

Other themes that I came across were: justice and piety. People being treated horribly, poverty with the contrast of rich and wealthy, for example, when we come across chapter 18 in when Candide and Cacambo arrive at El Dorado, sage. They have a conversation with the king, and while Cacambo doesn’t act much surprised by what he hears, Candide can’t seem to wrap his head around the ways of their life. They worship one God, which they thank daily for everything he gave them, and everyone gets along, this place seems too peaceful to be real. It took them a month to realize they did not want to stay there, not unless Cunegonde was there with Candide.

As I was getting towards the end of the book, I couldn’t help but think about the rich man, Senator Pococurante, a Venetian nobleman who was not only extremely wealthy, but wise. He has everything any man could ever wish for, beautiful gardens, rare paintings, women, musicians, books… Yet, he is terribly bored and unhappy. Nothing seems like, will ever satisfy him. So, I wonder, what if Pococurante sells everything, gives it away, leaves himself with nothing expensive, simply nothing, will he find peace and happiness? Or is he too wise, and will forever stay miserable?

I enjoyed this book. I can’t say that I would pick it out to read in my own free time, but it was definitely one of those novels that had me thinking about the different approaches people have in life, and how we are, quite literally, the creators of our own “ best of all possible worlds.”

Reflection “Let Evening Come.”

As I went through my text after I received it, I noticed way less grammar mistakes than I usually had, but the problem was rather the way I described the poem, more like re-telling it, rather than describing “ the mood it was establishing” .

The thing I need to work on is making sure I quote correctly. I can improve, by analyzing previous texts and/or other texts which show the correct way of quoting sentences, and remember to do that for the actual paper.

The other mistake, which does not have a quick or easy fix, is using unclear expressions. My best solution would be saying the thing I want to say, as it is, if I am not sure how to express my simile.

Paradise and Death personal response to the essay

Paradise and Death The Temptations of Odyssey by Eric MacKnight had me thinking about modern concerns in the world revolving around temptations. This essay summarizes the parts of the book that we have read with detail and it was very helpful to get over the plot of the story. It was easy to follow along and carried out its own observations on the topics like: drugs, living in the past, self-awareness/consciousness; which I believe are so important to our society as to this moment. Today we live in a world filled with information. We are surrounded by so much that we don’t often realize how much we are consuming; our brain understands that it cannot process this much, and it results in binging. Feeling stressed, anxious and burned out, it is very hard to complete daily tasks without a struggle. Even getting homework done right after school after a long day, seems impossible. So instead you go on your phone and get lost in the endless scrolling, thinking it will take a couple of moments before you feel ready and more energized. But we never do, we become aware when we check the time to see that more than 20 mins has passed since, unlike your routine that needs catching up. It is so tempting to get back to scrolling, the short lasting satisfaction with a long term consequence.. Just like any other drug. Whether it is the Lotos, or the Kyklops, we need to be more like Odysseus; always think about the aftermath and distract yourself from the temptation, and replace (scrolling for example) with a better activity, like mindfulness and yoga.

Thinking about how we could have made a better choice, we can easily get caught up in even more unpleasant emotions. We often tend to come back to our memories, and relive them, finding comfort and peace in the past. This is because we lack these emotions in the present, we miss the “good old days” back when everything seemed so “right” and we never valued these moments enough, until all we can do is remember. But we need to question ourselves: why aren’t we with these people anymore? They sure would be in your life today, right? Everything happens for a reason. We need to start living in the present. Creating (new) memories, making those special moments ourselves, letting ourselves be happy in the moment.

-“It is what it is, it was what it was, it will be what it will be”

Reading the 18 page essay, I was amazed by the structure of the writing. Managing to include so much detail and not repeat the same points over and over is something I am looking forward to achieving when writing my own work. I also learned that not every “sentence” has to have a proving point/evidence with the quotations from the text. Some things are so well explained, that the quotations would not be necessary. The essay included the numbers of the pages, and did not have line numbers, which I will take in notice as well.

Antigone reflection

This book is filled with despair, loss and agony. Comparing it to Oedipus the King, I didn’t find that play as emotional as this one. Antigone manages to bring up many important subjects that are still relevant. Like feminism; and how the chase for money may blind you. I like to note how valid these things are today.

Despite the fact that this play was a bit hard to read due to the rich language and a few confusing analogies, I enjoyed it. It was interesting to see Creon in such a miserable state at the end. This was one of those characters that I found unpleasant from the start, and seeing his character unwrap one page at a time was quite great.

Creon is left to suffer the rest of his life alone, mourning at his family’s tombs. Ismene lives as well, but the memories of her sister and her family-tree will remain with her. The best thing she can do is learn to cope with these things and live a happy life. No matter how horrible your past is, you can always choose to start living your best today.

Oedipus the King – Personal Response

The story of Oedipus the King was a fairly short story which draws you in the few first pages. I enjoyed viewing the rich language and seeing the style of speech that was presented, it all seemed to have a twist and turn. I also noticed a lot of irony throughout the book and double meanings which can be interpreted very differently depending on what intent you put into the phrase.

There is no “bad guy” in this story. There is just the outcome of the situation; the consequence(s). We are only humans, but humans aren’t perfect. Everybody makes mistakes, and it touches me because none of this is really his fault. He admits all his errors, and I believe that this is what’s important, the hardest part is to admit. But he also knows there is no way he can fix this mess now. So he makes yet another hard decision, he wants to be gone; not dead, but gone far away from his children and people, where no man can see him, he wants to suffer the rest of his life to atone for all his sins.

As you get to the end of the book, you can feel the agony of Oedipus through the pages as he mourns for the things he has done. It is what life/ gods have prepared for him. It definitely impacted the way I view the concept of “destiny”in this book.

Introduction – Lada

Hello, my name is Lada and I am 16. I am from Ukraine and I enjoy quite a few things, but my favorites are drawing, painting, listening to music and writing. My favorite thing to do after school is spend time with my doggo ( her name is Yummy).
I hope to learn as much from this year as possible, I want the new knowledge to stay in my long term memory as well))
I am exited to participate in this English class because this is one of the subject that I enjoy.