Oedipus Rex

I wrote this for my Honors English class. I think that it's pretty thorough.

Oedipus Rex, a Greek tragedy, tells the story of how an admired king, Oedipus, suffers a harsh downfall after learning the truth about his birth and his parents. Oedipus follows the path of a tragic hero which starts with being in a position of authority, highly respected, and depended on, but having a fatal flaw or hamartia, usually hubris, which causes tragic and horrible deaths. Others try to convince the hero that he is doing something wrong, but the hero refuses to accept responsibility. In the end, the hero finally sees the error of his ways and tries to fix things, but it's too late and the tragic hero endures a bitter life afterward. Oedipus takes all of these steps, making him a tragic hero.

Oedipus meets the first requirements of a tragic hero because he is noble, powerful, and respected. This can be seen near the beginning of the story when a priest says, “Great Oedipus, O powerful King of Thebes! You can see how all the ages of our people cling to your alter steps...” (ll. 16-18) The people obviously love Oedipus and are depending on him to save them. He had saved them before from a sphinx and they expect him to liberate them from the plague on the city which, ironically, was also caused by him.

A hamartia is the next step on Oedipus's journey. He is very proud, self-righteous, and firmly believes that it couldn't possibly be him who is at fault. He thinks very highly of himself and shows it in his words, “And therefore I have come myself to hear you – I, Oedipus, who bear the famous name.” (ll. 7-8) In another instance, Oedipus puts himself above others by saying that he has suffered more than they have – “I know that you are deathly sick; and yet, sick as you are, not one is a sick as I. Each of you suffers in himself alone his anguish, not another's; but my spirit groans for the city, for myself, for you.” (ll. 62-66) Here, Oedipus is trying to make himself appear more loving and kind than he his. Earlier, when Oedipus was wandering his way to Thebes where he would become their leader, he was shown to be so prideful and stubborn that he would not allow a king to tread the path between them first. Oedipus's fatal flaw is hubris.

Oedipus is warned throughout the story that he is to blame and that he needs to fix it. The first time is by the augerer, or seer, Tiresias who tells him, “I say that you are the murderer whom you seek... I say you live in hideous shame with those most dear to you. You cannot see the evil.” (ll. 347, 351-352) Tiresias is referring to how Oedipus unknowingly killed his father, the previous king and the one Oedipus would not let go before him on a path, and married his mother. Oedipus, being very arrogant, accuses the prophet and Creon, his brother-in-law, of conspiring to take the throne. The city continues to suffer because of Oedipus's ignorance – “Now our afflictions have no end, now all our stricken host lies down and no man fights off death with his mind; the noble plowland bears no grain and groaning mothers cannot bear...” (ll. 172-176)

Having ignored and denied all accusations, Oedipus finally reaches a point of reconciliation. A messenger arrives in the city and tells Oedipus how he, Oedipus, was abandoned as a child by the previous king, Laius, his father. A shepard adds this this testament by saying that he was the one who found the child and later recognized him for who he was as Oedipus murdered his father, Laius. In response to this enlightenment, Jocasta, Oedipus's wife and mother, kills herself. When Oedipus discovers this he gouges out his eyes fulfilling another prophecy. He begs Creon to cast him out of the city – “I pray you in God's name, since your courtesy ignores my dark expectation, visiting with mercy this man of all men most execrable: give me what I ask—for your good, not for mine... Drive me out of this country as quickly as may be to a place where no human voice can every greet me.” (ll. 1377-1380, 1381-1382) Oedipus had finally realized his sin, but it was too late. The city suffered, Jocasta died, and he lost his sight.

Oedipus reached the end of the path of a tragic hero when he left Thebes. He began as a powerful, beloved, and influential king and was diminished to a blind sinner. Oedipus Rex conveys the fact that even the greatest and most powerful can fall and are not perfect. The Greek gods had total control of Oedipus's life and he could not escape it. Oedipus is an ideal example of what a tragic hero is.

Mesopotamia & Egypt

This was the first essay that I had to write for my AP World History class.

Mesopotamia & Egypt

More than 5,000 years ago, two of the earliest civilizations began on the continents of Asia and Africa. “The land between two rivers”, Mesopotamia, was built between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in modern-day Iraq. In north-eastern Africa, Egyptians settled along the Nile, one of the longest rivers in the world. These two groups had some similar cultural and social aspects, but they also had some differences. Both used new technologies to improve their lives. While there were differences in classes for both peoples, distinctions in social divisions were more prominent in Mesopotamian history. Egyptian and Mesopotamian lives were based around temples and religion.

The Mesopotamian and Egyptian people were able to create such great civilizations because of advancements in technology. One of the biggest ones was the domestication of plant and animals. It allowed for more people to be fed through the efforts of less people. Populations rose quickly as families were able to successfully raise more children. In Egypt, farmers depended on the flooding of the Nile to grow their crops. Mesopotamians built dams and dug channels for irrigation. As the production of food rose, they needed a way to keep track of everything. The Sumerians in Mesopotamia invented a language written into clay tablets that became cuneiform writing. Egyptians used picture symbols called hieroglyphs and wrote a cursive script on the first kind of paper, papyrus. These kinds of writings were used for economic purposes, art, and religious objects. Metallurgy was developed by Mesopotamians, and both the Egyptians and Sumerians made pots and bricks out of baked clay. As things were being recorded, we were able to examine other social and cultural attributes of these two civilizations.

As agriculture took hold of the the ancient world, men became more dominant because they were better able to cultivate land. Consequently, women became less important. As the first governments were formed, it was men who were at the head of them. Even as women diminished in social standing, social classes appeared as certain landowners gained more wealth and power. Hammurabi's Law Code in Babylonia shows the difference in rights of people: “1. the free, landowning class, which included royalty, high-ranking officials, warriors, priests, merchants, and some artisans and shopkeepers; 2. the class of dependent farmers and artisans, who were legally attached to land that belonged to king, temple, or elite families and who made up the primary rural work force; 3. the class of slaves, primarily employed in domestic service.” (The Earth And Its Peoples, pg. 38) But things were not exactly the same down in Egypt as they were in early Mesopotamia. Women in the royal family are shown in tomb paintings with their spouses. They are shown as having dignity and affection, even if they they weren't as powerful as their male counterparts. Documents from ancient Egypt describe how women could own property, inherit from parents, write wills, and control their dowries. There were Egyptians who had more power than others, but no formal class structure appeared. At the head was the king and important officials, then lower officials, local leaders, priests and professionals, artisans, and wealthy farmers, with peasants at the bottom of the chain. The Egyptians most likely used peasants, who were paid, to build their huge pyramids and other large structures, while Mesopotamians had slaves to work for them.

Egyptian and Sumerian civilizations were centered around their temples and religion. The Sumerians believed in gods that controlled and symbolized forces of nature. These included Anu of the sky, Enlil of the air, Enku of water, Utu of the sun, and Nanna of the moon. The Sumerians built temples, such as ziggurats, devoted to gods that could have high walls, plazas, multiple chapels, shrines, and other various rooms. The priests attempted to appease the gods in order to gain their favor. They believed their gods controlled the natural disasters that occurred and the people feared them. Likewise, Egyptians believed in many gods that embodied parts of the world. Ra was the god of the sun, Osiris of the underworld, and the people associated the king with raising the dead and the symbolism of the sun god. The huge pyramid tombs with innumerable treasures are a testament to how Egyptians viewed the afterlife. The pharaohs would be carefully mummified and entombed with food, water, gold, and his servants to help him in the next life. Egyptian art depicted parts of the journey to the underworld made by the dead and the events that occurred there. Religion and the temples that were used to accommodate it played an important role in the ancient world.

Everything accounted for, Egyptians and Mesopotamians had many similarities with a few differences. They used advanced tools and ideas to their advantage. Social hierarchies separated people, but not as much in Egypt. Most importantly, religion and temples served as the basis for communities. Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt started what lead to the ideas, laws, systems, and values that we have today.

Something New

I've had a hard time lately coming up with something to blog about. I've looked at others and saw that they've done stories that they just add to each time and I thought I'd try something like that. This is my attempt to create some interesting story. It was bitterly cold. The vicious winter storm had tumbled over the mountains like the end of a river cascading down a waterfall. It had come quickly and with tremendous sound. The wind that whipped past the tall evergreen trees, threatening to knock them down, brought a sound which made Tarin wonder if the top of the mountain had broken off and was sliding down the slopes towards him. He heard a sound from his right. Merick was yelling as loud as he could to him, but he couldn't make himself over the sound of the wind. Merick gave up and started forward again, motioning for Tarin to follow him. They still had a long ways to travel. The pass in which they were traveling by horse was winding and treacherous. Tarin's own mount had stumbled frequently in holes and over rocks that were hidden by the snow. Tarin looked up again as he heard Merick trying to tell him something. He was pointing at something. To Tarin's left was a space carved out of the side of the mountain that was shielded from the onslaught of the storm. It wasn't quite deep enough to be considered a cave, but it was large enough to house Tarin, Merick, and both of their horses. Tarin nodded to Merkick and started pushing a path through the powder towards the inviting cover of the "cave". He quickly dismounted once out of the snow and lead his horse to the back of the cave. He turned to see Merick doing the same. "I can't wait until we get back to Therald's Hold so I can chew Carter out for this," Merick grumbled. A week ago, Merick and Tarin had set out to find an artifact that had supposedly been hidden in the ruins of a decrepit monestary high up in the Algion Mountains. When Tarin and Merick had arrived at the described place they found nothing but a few broken pillars and knocked over walls. There had been nothing of significance whatsoever there. The week of traveling through rough land had been for nothing. With heavy hearts, Tarin and Merick had begun the return journy. That was five days ago. The tempest had slowed them considerably, lengthening their trip substantially. What had been planned as a two week endevour was now turning into a three week one. They weren't even half-way home. Tarin watched as Merick attempted to make a fire. Merick's cold finger's fumbled over his tools. There was a spark and a small flame appeared in front of the two weary adventurers. As Merick put away his tinderbox, Tarin worked to keep the fire alive. He added small sticks and twigs to it and saw the flame grow a little larger. "That's not going to last long unless we can get some more wood," said Merick. "Look for some under the juniper and pine trees; it should be dry there," he added as Tarin left to search for fuel to feed the fire. The biting wind slashed at his face as he re-entered the storm. He saw a large pine tree with low branches not far up the slope opposite of their camp and began moving towards it. The heavy branches laden with snow dropped their load on Tarin as he pushed past them. The sudden weight on his shoulders and head surpised him and he stepped back tripping over the tree's roots. He landed on his back in the knee high snow looking up at the white sky. After struggling to get back up, he shoved his way back through the stiff foliage and began hacking at the dry, dead branches in the inner part of the tree with his hatchet. With armfuls of the dry fuel, Tarin made his way back to where Merick was waiting. He saw Merick grinning at him as he dropped the wood by the cave wall. He glared back and sat down on the ground next to Merick. Merick had unsaddled the horses and pulled out the sack that contained their meal for that night: a half loaf of bread and a few strips of venison. Merick took out a small pan from the saddlebags and began to fry the meat. Tarin ate a broken roughly torn piece of bread as Merick tried not to burn the rest of their meal. When the meat was done, they sat down to eat. "What do you think Carter wanted us to get?" asked Merick. "I don't know," replied Tarin. "He just called it an 'artifact.'" "Well I hope it was worth sending us through all of this," Merick said waving his hand at the storm. After slowly eating their small meal with frozen fingers, they laid out their bedrolls between the tied-together horses and the fire. The slowly dying fire cracked and popped as the red-yellow flames ate at the sap in the wood. They both still wore their heavy cloaks as they pulled the rough wool blankets over themselves. Tarin slowly closed his eyes while following the path of the falling precipitation. He wrapped his hood over his eyes and ears and fitfully fell asleep.

The Black Death-How Different Were Christian and Muslim Responses?

This is the essay that I wrote for Geography. I noticed that I've only been blogging about what I've done, am doing, and plan on doing when I looked at some of my friend's blogs. I haven't really put up anything that I have written. I typed this up on Utah Write and got a perfect score of 30 on my first try. I was surprised with myself.

Hundreds of years ago, a plague swept over the known world. The Great Plague, Great Pestilence, and Black Death were a few of the names that it was given. In the Background Essay, it states that, "the plague killed between 25 and 45% of the populations it encountered." It was played a huge role in the history of the 14th century. There were three bacterial strains of the plague; all of them were deadly. According to Document 2, the mortality rate was 31% in Europe, 33% in England, 25-33% in Egypt, and 33% in Syria. About one third of the population in most places was killed or affected by the plague. People reacted differently to the plague. Although Europeans and Middle-Easterners both had similar beliefs, they behaved differently with the plague.
Christianity was the predominant faith in Europe. Europeans acted in "depraved" ways and were "more inclined than before to evil and wickedness". (Document 6, William Dene) The people of Europe saw the plague as the end of the world and did not care for what they did. Document 6 explains that workers rebelled and abandoned their work, priests looked for benefices where they could receive larger stipends leaving places unserved, and the people were "not thinking of death nor of the past plague nor of their own salvation..." Europeans didn't pay much attention to authority or to the law. In Strasbourg, citizens accused the Jewish population of poisoning the wells. Even though the town council of Strasbourg attempted to protect the Jews from the people, the townspeople burned many Jews alive after they (the Jews) had confessed to the sin. In Document 7, it says, "The Jews were guilty of this crime as all around was said, by poisoning wells at this same time." Gabrielle De Mussis, a "chronicler" who lived during this time period, says in Document 4, "We know that whatever we suffer is the just reward of our sins." He believed that the disease was a curse from God due to the wickedness of the people; he thought that the people could be saved if they repented of their sins.
East of Europe, in the South-West part of Asia, the population reacted to the plague by drawing closer to their religion. "Prayer for lifting the epidemic is abhorrent because the plague is a blessing from God; at the least, a Muslim should devoutly accept the divine act," states Muhammad Al-Manbiji in Document 4. Al-Manbiji saw the plague as a blessing from God; he said that praying for the end of the plague was abhorrent. The predominant faith in the Middle-East at that time was Islam which means "Submission to God". (Background Essay) The people in the Middle-East thought that they should accept the plague as the will of Allah (God). They acted in a calm manner. Micheal Dols, a scholar, wrote in the Princeton University Press, "The is no evidence for the appearance of messianic movements in Muslim society at this time that might have associated the Black Death with an apocalypse," which is found in Document 10. They might have even become even more diligent and faithful in accordance to the plague. Document 9 states, "...the people fasted for three successive days...assembled in the Great Mosque until it was overflowing... and spent the night there in prayers... they all went out together... carrying Korans in their hands." All the people of Damascus prayed together. Jews went out with Christians; there was no segregation.
Both Christians and Muslims had similar beliefs. Both religions are monotheistic and believe in the same God. Document 5 compares the non-religious explanations for causes and preventions of the Black Death. Both Europeans and Middle-Easterners thought that it was caused by miasma or astrological events such as shooting stars or the alignment of multiple planets. The both believed that building fires and drinking solutions of Armenian clay would help prevent the plague. While they had similar beliefs, the two faiths did not act similarly. You can see in Document 3 that the people of Siena, Italy (Europe) were "stupefied by seeing the pain." They abandoned family members, dug mass graves, and avoided each other all in fear of coming down with the malady. On the other hand, Middle-Easterners in Damascus were terrified. They became scared when they saw the effects of the plague. The fact that they saw so many die may have been the reason that they drew closer to their faith. The were scared, but they acted with more acceptance most Europeans. If you return to Document 4, you can see the difference. While Christians in Europe saw the plague as "the just reward of our sins", Muslims in the Middle-East accepted the plague as "a blessing from God."
As you can see, the Muslim and Christian faiths both had some similarities and differences in how they reacted to the Great Pestilence. Both had similar beliefs, but what they did in accordance differed. Europeans bluntly saw the plague as the Apocolypse and the people did what they could to avoid the plague. Muslims in the Middle-East accepted the plague as a blessing and turned towards God. The reactions of these two cultures, faiths, and areas may reflect the nature of their standards, beliefs, and thoughts.

A Tale of Two Cities and More

I have not posted in more than 2 weeks. I've forgotten, procrastinated, and fallen asleep before doing this. This is me writing two weeks worth of blog in less than 20 minutes.

I've been getting really behind on A Tale of Two Cities. Right now, I'm only on chapter 14 in book 2 and should be done with part 2 by now. I think that there are more than 30 chapters in book 2. I need to do some serious reading.

Something that I've noticed is that the book really isn't all that hard to understand. It was a little like understanding Shakespeare for me. I read it, thought about it for a second, and then moved on. I've heard a lot of people say that they have no idea what is going on. These people are either ahead or right where they are supposed to be in reading and maybe that has something to do with it. I don't really understand how others can't understand it. It seems pretty simple to me. There are parts where the wording takes some thought, but they are not very numerous. It just takes a little bit of thinking to figure out what Mr. Dickens is saying.

I've been able to maintain my grades pretty well this term. I've got all A's right now except for an A- in math. It's just barely an A- though and it will probably go up nearer to the end of the term. Geography has been a new class for me this term. I've enjoyed it, and it hasn't been to much of a strain on me. I enjoy being in the class, learning the subjects, and, sometimes, the assignments. Computer Technology has been another new class. It's fun, but I already know most of the stuff that we are learning. I can attribute that to growing up with computers and my dad being a computer person. I'm just doing it because it is required to graduate and I want to get it out of the way.

I just recently got an email from my science teacher with the results for the Science Olympiad competition at Westminster. My partner and I got 1st Compute This! (These events are explained in earlier posts). When we took the test, I had forgotten the paper that is required for each team to participate in an event. While my partner started on the test, I halfway across campus to the gym, where our stuff was, got the paper and ran back. That was kind of annoying, but it surprisingly didn't take too long. My partner had only finished a few questions, so I started making the graphs that were part of the test. We had to use Mac laptops which were a pain. It took so much of our time just figuring the layout of the computer. We didn't know a lot of the commands and where the programs were and had to figure them out. I was really surprised that we were able to finish everything, but, when we were finished, I felt like we had done really well. We actually did do very well,but this competition was just a practice and we weren't able to earn any medals or anything.

For Storm the Castle, we got third. I was okay with that because the competition was run right. The event supervisors were supposed to make a counterweight that fit inside of a 15X15X15 cube. They didn't and the weight was too tall. When our trebuchet fired, the weight hit the bottom of it because we had built it for a 15X15X15 counterweight. I wasn't too worried about this though; it was just a practice competition and what we did didn't change anything.

I wasn't able to get all my blogging in right now, but I will finish it up tomorrow for sure.

Act 5, Scene 3: Romeo

How oft when men are at the point of death
Have they been merry? Which their keepers call
A lightning before death: O, how may I
Call this a lightning? -- O my love! My wife!
Death, that hat suck'd the honey of they breath
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty
Thou art not conquered; Beauty's ensign yet
is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks
And death's pale flag is not advanced there
Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheets?
O, what more favor can I do to thee
Than that hand that hath cut thy youth in twain
To sunder his that was thine enemy?
Forgive me, cousin! -- Ah, dear Juliet,
Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous;
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
Thee here in the dark to be his paramour?
For fear of that I still will stay with thee,
And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again: here, here I will remain
With worms that are thy chambermaids: O, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest;
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh. --Eyes, look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace? and, lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death!--
Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide!
Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on
The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark!
Here's to my love!-- O true apothecary!
Thy drugs are quick. --Thus with a kiss I die.

Science Olympiad

Yesterday (Saturday), I went to the District competition for Science Olympiad. At, this I competed in 2 of my 3 events; I competed in Compute This! and Storm the Castle.

My partner and I won first place in Storm the Castle, but it wasn't because our machine was better than any other. It was because we had graphs showing how to use it. You get scored on how well the trebuchet does, but almost half the points are in the graphs. We were the only team at District to actually have those graphs, but I expect we'll see more prepared teams at the State competition. In order for us to do well there, we're going to have to build a better machine. We need one that throws more than twice as far as the one we have now which will be quite difficult seeing as how the one we have now was already difficult to figure out how to build. At the District competition, we could have also done a little better. My partner looked at the graphs wrong when we were setting up the target and didn't put it far enough out. We missed both times and I didn't notice his error until after the first shot. I looked at the graph that he had made and was immediately lost. It took awhile to figure out what his graph meant. I think that I need to do the graph next time. We won, but we could have done better.

There were a lot of problems with Compute This!. The first one involves my partner. He doesn't like me giving him advice while he works. He finds it annoying even though he does the exact same thing when it's my turn to work. I don't say anything when he annoys me though. It's frustrating sometimes to do this event with him. Another problem was that the test was not written right. In the rules it states that there can be up to 5 questions and 1 graph. The test at District had 10 questions and with the way they had worded it, 5 graphs. Afterwords, they told us that they intended for there only to be 1 graph, but it was worded poorly. The guy who had written the test had never done it before. I was ticked off about that. We got second place because we were not able to answer the last few questions because it took me so long to change the graph into 5 separate data tables and graphs. I did that because I was following the instructions exactly. We got full points on the graph.

Overall, I think that we did pretty good. At the District level, they don't announce school winners because it's more of a practice competition. We do it to prepare ourselves for the next upcoming competitions. We only received photocopy certificates, but we will be able to earn medals at Regionals and also at State. I've got a lot of work to do involving the building events: Storm the Castle and Mission Possible.

TKAM and Walk Two Moons Comparative Essay

Walk Two Moons and To Kill A Mockingbird

Scout and Sal are two unique names for two unique people. Scout’s story happens during the Great Depression in Maycomb, Alabama in the book To Kill A Mockingbird while Salamanca lives on farm in Bybanks, Kentucky in the story of Walk Two Moons. There are some similarities between Sal and Scout: they’re adventurous, they both have odd friendships with a boy; but there are also some differences. Scout lived in a time before Sal’s and she also has a sibling, Jem (Jeremy). Salamanca also seems to have a very different personality than Scout.

Scout and Salamanca are alike in that they both are adventurous. In TKAM (To Kill A Mockingbird), Scout likes to spend most of her time with her brother. The both of them enjoy walking around and exploring Maycomb. In chapter 11: “”Mrs. Dubose, we’ve been goin’ to town by ourselves since we were this high.” Jem placed his hand palm down about two feet above the sidewalk.” From this and other parts of the book you can tell that Jem and Scout know the area that they live in and frequently traverse it. In Walk Two Moons, Salamanca always talks about the farm where she lives. Right at the beginning of the book it states: “Gramps says that I’m a country girl at heart and that is true. I have lived most of my thirteen years in Bybanks, Kentucky, which is not much more than a caboodle of houses roosting in a green spot alongside the Ohio River.” Along with this, Sal consistently adds thoughts about how she misses her old home, it’s swimming hole, and numerous trees. She liked to climb the trees, swim, and explore. Though Scout and Salamanca live in two very different places, they both like exploration and adventure.

Another thing that ties Salamanca and Scout together is that they both have strange friendships with a boy. In TKAM, Scout has Dill. At the beginning of chapter 5: “He had asked me earlier in the summer to marry him, then he promptly forgot about it. He staked me out, marked me as his property, said I was the only girl he would ever love, then he neglected me.” Scout and Dill are close friends, but as the story progresses Dill grows closer to Jem, then back to Scout, back to Jem, and so on. In Walk Two Moons, Salamanca is friends with Ben. Throughout the book they each try to kiss the other, but the one who is trying always times it wrong. It only happens twice in the book. The first time is on page 238: “...our heads moved completely together and our lips landed in the right place, which was on the other person’s lips.” Sal and Ben have an odd friendship. They don’t ever acknowledge it, but they both know it’s there. Sal and Ben are like Scout and Dill in that they’re friends, but they know that it’s more than that.

Though Scout and Sal both have abnormal friendships with boys, their personalities are different. In TKAM, Scout is more straightforward and realistic. She’s interested in the truth and figuring out the world. At the very end of the book: “Daylight . . . in my mind, the night faded. It was daytime and the neighborhood was busy.” This passage continues with Scout taking Atticus’s advice and putting herself in Arthur Radley’s shoes. She wanted to see herself as Mr. Radley did. In Walk Two Moons, Sal is constantly thinking of her mother and wishing that she could come back. On page 195: “My father was right: my mother did haunt our house in Bybanks, and the fields and the barn. She was everywhere. You couldn’t look at a single thing without being reminded of her.” Other times Sal has talked about how she wished her mother would come back as if she really could. Scout and Sal’s minds work differently. Scout focuses more on how people in general think, while Sal is all about a specific person.

There was one theme that weren’t exactly applicable only to Scout and Sal that I found in both stories. In TKAM, it says it as “You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.” Walk Two Moons version is “Don’t judge a man until you’ve walked two moons in his moccasins.” Scout gets the moral from her father, Atticus, while Salamanca learns the lesson from the anonymous notes that Pheobe receives. Both of these themes take most of the story to develop and are explained thoroughly by the end.

There are similarities and differences between Scout and Salamanca. Their personalities differ, but the lessons they learn in life are alike. Both stories have lessons that are plain and easy to see, and both also have deeper meanings that are a bit harder to find.

Into Thin Air

Awhile ago I finished Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer and have only recently written a review for it.

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Mt. Everest is the highest mountain on Earth with it's peak at 29,035 feet high (from the National Geographic Society). Many have reached the top, but more have tried and failed. Into Thin Air is somewhere in-between success and failure. The story is from the point of view of the author, Jon Krakauer, and how he takes part in the climb of Everest.



Into Thin Air takes place in May of 1996, and starts with the aspirations of Jon Krakauer. In his youth he enjoyed climbing and reached the peak of many low altitude mountains. He dreamed of climbing Everest one day, but as he got older he became involved with other things and, for the most part, stopped climbing. He got married and became a journalist. He went for years without climbing, but when he got a chance to climb Everest he took it without missing a beat. Outside magazine wanted him to do an article about the "mushrooming commercialization of the mountain." Jon ended up going with Rob Hall's team* and soon flew to Tibet to meet with them. They started the acclimatization process (or getting used to the thin air on the high mountain).



The ascent to the peak went well for the most part. The greatest problems they had were with cooperating with other teams. This continued through most of the climb upward. They argued about who would climb first, which path to take, and other things like that. It wasn't until they reached the peak that the serious and more dangerous problems began.



Nobody recognized the storm clouds that appeared right before the final ascent to the top for what they really were. Most of the climbers could not think straight from the lack of oxygen at the high altitude. Almost all of the climbers on Rob Hall's team reached the top, but they had started the climb later than they had planned and everyone climbed at their own pace. The team became spread out across the top of the mountain, and when the storm hit many became lost. The wind blasted across the mountain at temperatures well below zero. Some of the climbers froze after becoming to cold to move farther down the mountain. There were a few amazing survivors who were miraculously saved, but the climb was a disaster.



Jon Krakauer tells this story with as many details as possible. He interviewed many people who survived soon after the climb and used pictures in the book that he took himself on the mountain. This was something that I really liked about the book. I also liked out Jon didn't so much judge people on their personality or how they looked as much as their climbing skill and past experiences. On page 39: "I wasn't sure what to make of my fellow clients. In outlook and experience they were nothing like the hard-core climbers with whom I usually went into the mountains." It was also really inspiring to read about how some of the clients worked their hardest to get to the top and to survive. On page 264: "Although Beck was blind in his right eye and able to focus his left eye within a radius of only 3 or 4 feet, he started walking directly into the wind..."



I think that this book was written for people who wanted the most full account possible of what happened in May 1996. Others who might want to read it include action readers or those interested in taking up mountain climbing. I would recommend it to readers who enjoy an action/adventure book. There is lots of foreshadowing and building up of suspense. It also teaches a couple of concepts: 1. There is a significant difference in the air we breath and the air higher up in the atmosphere and 2. You can spend your whole life doing something and still not completely be prepared for it. If I were able to ask the author one question it would be: How do you feel about the experience you had now?



*At first, Jon was going to climb with Scott Fischer's team, but Outside magazine received a better offer from Rob Hall.



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A New Year

2011 is now over and the year 2012 has begun. I had a lot of fun and some interesting experiences in 2011 and I hope I have the same in 2012. The world is supposed to end next December, so that should be interesting to see. I don't actually believe that it will, I just want to see how people get ready for it.

When you sum up most of the resolutions I decided on, it comes down to not procrastinating. It's become a serious problem. I've turned in so many huge assignments at the last minute that I was seriously worried that I was going to fail a class or two. I made it through though, but it was close. I think it will be a lot easier on myself, give me more time for other things, and I will do a better job on assignments if I do them as soon as possible and turn them in as soon as possible. Included with that, I want to practice the bass a lot more than I already do and maybe learn a song or two on the guitar. I used to take lessons for guitar but I stopped once school started. I wish I hadn't now. I still want to maintain a 4.0 GPA and participate in a lot of extracurricular activities.

For New Year's Eve I celebrated by having a party with some friends. It was lots of fun. We watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes, played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and sat around a fire eating roasted marshmallows and drinking sparkling cider. My parents were pretty much freaking out about me getting ready for the party. They took me to the store and we bought way to much stuff for what we did. I was planning on messing around with fireworks (with adult supervision of course) with everybody but we never ended up getting fireworks. We still had a blast though. I think everyone enjoyed, although there was somebody there whom I think everybody was annoyed with.

I've finished the book To Kill A Mockingbird, and am almost through with Walk Two Moons. I have to write a comparative essay between Salamanca and Scout for Honors English and I thought I'd start reviewing right now for it.

The first thing I noticed about both of them is that neither of them currently have their mothers with them. This is an important aspect in Walk Two Moons, but it doesn't play so big of a role in TKAM (To Kill A Mockingbird). I think it's because, for Sal, it happened recently and she knew her mother well. For Scout, it's not such a big deal because she never knew her mother and she has a sibling to look up to and to help her get along.

Both Salamanca and Scout grew up in Southern parts and it has influenced them greatly. Salamanca loved the farm she grew up on and she is always saying how she misses it in her story. Scout lives in Alabama, in a small town and is still trying to understand how it works. They're both pretty young, both are girls, and both of them love their parents.

Salamanca is different from Scout though. She's older, has experienced more, and knows more. From what I understand, she is partly Native American from her mother's side. Although she grew up in Tennessee, she moved and hasn't quite grown accustomed to it. She tells her story as she is on a road trip with her grandparents to Lewiston, Idaho where her mother died.

I think Scout is a lot more straightforward than Salamanca. She tells things as she sees them, not the way she wants to believe as Sal does. Scout is more interested in learning about the world she lives in than individual people. Sal is always thinking about her mom and how she wants her to come back. TKAM is about how Scout learns about the town she lives in and how people act and think there. Walk Two Moons is more about the people Salamanca meets and how she interacts with them.