H.W. Questions from Beowulf 09.08.09

Please post any questions that you have from the reading Pp. 21-28 on your blog.
Your post may include sidebar questions that you were unable to answer or are unsure about.
You can also include any other questions/misunderstanding that may be in your notes.

I don't really have questions or misunderstanding about Beowulf or my notes. I pretty much understand the concept of the story. Well I guess I do have one question. Why is Beowulf so powerful ? What made him have so much power ?

--
Note:
*I was absent on 09.08.09.

The Power of the Individual

How do individual characters in these books struggle against the society? Do they change the society? Are these books too idealistic? Can an individual really change society? 

Throughout this year we have read many books and they all seem to have the common theme of struggle against society, Man vs. Society. In all these books, society is trying to punish the character for being different. At the ending of each book, the character seems to change society's mind and prove that what they did is not as wrong as they believe. For example, in the book Inherit The Wind, people start thinking for themselves and realize that it's what you believe what matters, either from God or monkeys, it is up to the person. People began to realize that evolution was how we got on this Earth and that we do descend from lower animals. I do believe that an individual can change society today. They can either spark someone's thoughts to believe the same as them or prove things to make people realize that they are right.

Forbidden Topics

Are there any topics that shouldn't be taught in school? 

I believe that there are certain topics that should not be taught in school, but not to the point of censoring everything. There is certain age levels that people should learn such subjects and that's what teachers do in each grade. They explain topics with more maturity required in higher grade levels and less explicit topics in lower grades. I think that teachers do a good job at teaching us everything, from controversial subjects to the smallest little subjects, I think that exposing students to controversial subjects gives them a better understanding in case they are presented with the subject later in life. Students and people not exposed to the subject will not be prepared to encounter them if they encounter it anytime in their lives.

Debate Reflections

*Reflect on the experience of preparing for the debate and the actual debate: 

-How did you work together as a team? 

-How did your part turn out? 

-Who stood out on your team? Who stood out on the other team? 

-Did you change your opinion about the topic because of the debate? 

Our group was on the side that Huckleberry Finn should be taught in schools. I think we worked really well together since everybody did their parts in our group and got everything done on time.

I believe that Silvino, Melissa, and Thayne really stood out on our team. Silvino and Thayne came up with really good arguments and Melissa did a splendid job, especially on her ending part. I absolutely loved how it was so poetic. I know our whole group was very proud of her and everyone else :)

To me, Mariela and Mehak really stood out on the other group's side. Their arguments were good without too much exaggeration.  They did a really good job.

Even though I did not speak, my part was to do research and find good information that would help Angel have good support for her arguments. We both also wrote parts of the speech for the debate and out both of our research together for it.

No, my opinion did not change about the topic even though our opposing team's arguments were very good. I still believe that  Huckleberry Finn should be taught in schools.

Another Version of Huck Finn

In Spike Lee's version of Huck Finn, Jim is portrayed as a much more complex character with more emotions than in Twain's version. Since it is a screenplay, you can actually see the characters facial expressions and actions. The screenplay is in third-person point of view so it describes all characters well and it also shows Jim as not just a dumb slave, but an intelligent human being.

Banned in the USA

Why are books banned in the USA? Most books are banned because of sexual content. The pattern I see on the list is that they are mostly banned because of their sexual content and racism. I believe that books shouldn't be banned from our society., maybe just for certain age groups. We need to be more open minded to things and learn from these human flaws we carry, like racism even, children need to learn this things.

The Lowest Animal

I believe that humans are generally good people but with many flaws. None of us are perfect and probably will never be. Some flaws that we have are that we can be very selfish and greedy people. Some people think that if they help someone out with something then their going to get something out of it. They just won't help a person out without expecting anything in return. I think people should be more willing to help other people and not expect anything from it. All of us should stop being greedy and selfish. We should share what we have if its possible and care about everyone, not just ourselves.

Satire

What is Satire?

Satire is the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity and vices, and politics.

Some of the articles on theonion.com use satire because they exaggerate some real news and add humor and irony to the articles. They also make of politics in some articles.