In Response to Previous Blog Post

Let me make this clear incase you are confused. In no way do I think that Heathcliff is a hero. Heroes include the firefighters who risked their lives to save others at the World Trade Centers. Another example of a hero is someone who rescues a baby who is about to fall off of a cliff. You get what I mean. Heathcliff may display several characteristics of a hero, but he is not a hero. I was just meaning there was no true way to label him. If I had to pick, I'd say he is a villain.

Thanks for Blogging

Over the past month in Advanced Placement English 12 ( the hardest class ever), we have read Hamlet and Wuthering Heights. To be honest, I did not really enjoy either of the works, but I can see why they are classics. For my blog this month I want to talk about a question that spurred a great debate in our class. Here is the question: Was (insert character here) a hero or a villain?
So the first step to answering the question is you need to define what a hero or villian is.

According to wiktionary a hero is:
1. A real or mythical person of great bravery who carries out extraordinary deeds
2. A role model
3. The main protagonist of a work of fiction
4. A champion
5. An unwilling sufferer of an of terrorism, a terminal disease, or another tragedy
 
According to the same source, a villain is:
1. A vile, wicked person
2. An extremely depraved person, or one capable or guilty of great crimes
3. A deliberate scoundrel
4. The bad person in a work of fiction; often the main antagonist of the hero

So now that we have established what a hero or villian is, it's time to decide Who's Who. We'll start off with Heathcliff, from Wuthering Heights. I was confused during Hamlet, so we will only look at Heathcliff.
Hero?
1. does not do great deeds, they may be out of the ordinary, but they don't make him brave or great
2.  Is Heathcliff a role model? Is Kyle a good listener? Would a drunk make a good baby sitter?
3. It is hard to tell if Wuthering Heights has a protagonist. We'll give Heathcliff this one.
4. Is Heathcliff a champion? Yeah, if you consider a life of revenge and hatred, culminating by dying while having nearly everyone hating you, a win. It's kinda like Charlie Sheen. He said he is a winner or winning, but he is not. Heathcliff is not a champ.
5. Heathcliff is kind of suffering against his will. All he wanted is to be with Catherine and he suffers because he is not with her.

Now the case for villian.
1. Is Heathcliff a vile, wicked person? Can Geico really save you 15% in 15 minutes?
2. Well, Heathcliff deliberately sets out to get revenge, by way of death, which is a great crime. So yes.
3. A scoundrel is one without honor; a villian. Check.
4.This is in the gray area. Heathcliff does seem like a bad person, but if he is an antagonist, who is the protagonist? I'll say no to this one.

Heathcliff has 2 characteristics of a hero and 3 of a villian. This is a really difficult debate. Heathcliff displays characteristics of both a hero and a villain. Let's call it a tie. There is no definitive answer, so it will be a draw. If you have an opinion feel free to comment.

1800- Just- Blogit

So here we go again and Im ready. The last few weeks have been dominated by this novel called Beowulf. I really liked the book. I felt a little overwhelmed though with our discussions in class. All that people talked about was the religous aspect and whether the book was written with religion in mind.  Personally I just like talking about the book and how we liked it. I know this may offend you, and i am sorry, but I hate over analyzing literature. I feel like we should just appreciate the book for its entertainment value and not debate over why the book was written. I learned one thing through our debates, no one knows whether beowuld was written in a religious way. So how about we stop debating the unknown. Although our whole world is like that. People argue over aliens, ghosts, and gods even though we truly do not know what the answers are. I felt like our class got so cuaght up in why the book was written that they did not even appreciate the novel. after Beowulf we read Oedipus and boy was that weird. Once again the conversatiuons were heated but in a good way. People almost came to fists flying with what happens in life. Oedipus showed that we all have a fate and cant change anything involving our destiny. Others including me argued that all of our choices do have a consequence and shape our lives. But I can see both sides. I think that there is some destiny we all have but that we are alll making a path to get to that destiny. It is like we are in a cornmaze and there are many paths to the exit. Thank you all for reading. If you have any shoutouts I can make them for a small fee of $ 200.