Classmates that I'm thankful for

Every Thanksgiving, before we start to eat, my family and I go around the room and tell everyone what we are thankful for. In the past my answers would always be “I’m thankful for the food we are about to eat” or “I’m thankful for my family and friends.” However, this time around I began to think about the blog that was do the next day and how this year I’m thankful for being at Whitney Young, and more importantly being in our 3^rd period American Literature class. Not only because I have teacher who actually wants to make you learn, but that I have classmates that keep the class pleasurable. All of my classmates bring different personalities to the class, but I’m truly thankful for the whole left side of the classroom, from Ulises, who doesn’t talk that much, but always has something good to say when he does talk, to Gordon, Emmet, Lauren, and Briana all of which bring great entertainment to the class. You can’t forget Nikki, and Brittany who always keep me posted on what’s happening. Overall, I’m am sincerely thankful for everyone in our class, mainly because they make want to go to 3^rd period.

Phoebe and Holgrave's love

Kamal Bilal

Per. 3

Phoebe and Holgrave’s Love

            Hawthorne portrays many different themes and motifs throughout the story. There is the major ones such as “appearance vs. reality”, and “You are what your past generation was.” Also there are the less obvious ones, such as “decay” (such as the plump chickens and the aristocratic Pyncheons). I believe that Phoebe’s love for Holgrave shows two themes, “renewal” and how “opposites attract.”

            Phoebe is an inexperienced, and lived a very simple life. However, she has a lot of wisdom, and even though she has lived a very simple life her personality is unforeseen by both the reader and Holgrave. For example, at first Hepzibah anticipates Phoebe to be a burden, but she actually is a great maid, and shopkeeper. Most importantly, Phoebe is a Pyncheon. On the other hand, Holgrave is older which means he has more experience in the real world. Holgrave has also lived a very diverse life. Furthermore, even though both Holgrave and Phoebe have wisdom, Holgrave’s wisdom shows more. Moreover, Holgrave is a Maule. Despite these differences Phoebe and Holgrave declare their love for one another, hence the theme of opposites attract. The theme of renewal is also shown because of the Maule and Pycheon feud. Maules, and Pycheons, are known for not liking each other, primarily because of the dispute over the land, resulting in the Maule curse over Colonel Pycheon. So, the love between Phoebe and Holgrave renews the peace between the two families. 

Appearance vs. Reality

The Deceptiveness of Appearances

In the House of The Seven Gables there is a reccurring theme of “everything is not what it seems.” Hawthorne uses places, and characters to demonstrate this motif. There were multiple characters used, but I think that you can clearly discern this theme in the characters of Hepzibah and Judge Pycheon. The townspeople and many of Judge Pycheon’s acquaintances would see him as wonderful, kind man, since he has a wonderful smile and displays himself as a man of aristocracy. While Hepzibah is seen as a terrible, grumpy old lady, because of the scowl on her face.

            Hepzibah is nearsighted so it seems that she has a permanent scowl on her face. Because of this many of the townspeople and even her own family are scared to talk to her. However, if they would actually talk to Hepzibah they would see that she is a very nice and caring lady. She manage to treats her customers with the utmost respect and politeness, and those who have the courage to come into the shop are able to see her true personality. Nevertheless, because she seems so unapproachable she is very lonely and sad because of her loneliness.

            Contrarily, Judge Pycheon is seen as a very amicable man because of his beloved smile. In truth the Judge is very unrighteous. If he doesn’t get what he wants his uncharacteristic traits seem to show. From the perception of people who just see his appearance, he seems like a respectable gentleman, but people like Phoebe, Hepzibah, Clifford, and even Holgrave, are easily able to through his deceiving smile. Furthermore, for these reasons among others we are able to see the recurring theme of appearance vs. reality.

I Am Plow

The true definition of a plow is a heavy blade used on farms to break up soil and cut furrows in order to prepare for sowing. From some perspectives I see myself as a plow. A plow cuts soil in order to prepare new soil for sowing. I see myself as learning, practicing and studying in order to create a better life for myself in the future. Studying helps me to understand topics more and will help me learn more in school. Learning in school will help me in the near future when I take classes of that similar subject the next year. A plow will cut through soil for the sowing in the future. Just like we use the prior knowledge we have to learn more, the plow reshapes and restructures the original soil so it can create something new. So, as a human being who wants to learn about and experience life to the fullest, I see myself as a plow.

1st Quarter American Literature

I felt that I learned a lot from the first quarter of Mr. McCarthy’s first quarter class. I felt that we actually got to express ourselves through writing in the class, whether it be the daily morning journals, or the weekly blog entries. I liked this class more than many of my other classes because in this class there is not always only one right answer. There are many different perspectives, from many different people, which gives us gets us deeper into the reading or writing that we are doing. It allows us to understand things better and really gives us a different take on the subject. However, we were only able to see these different ideas in group work, or when we read the journals, and we only worked in groups during the end of the quarter. So I believe that we should do more group work in the future, because it lets us fully understand the area under discussion.