Do Now:
Our Do Now question in class today was “How would you define the word ambition?” And we were asked whether or not it commonly is used with a negative connotation or a positive connotation. Group 4 defined it as a goal you strive for, positive or negative. It was agreed upon that ambition, used in a negative way, could be like an evil genius taking over the world. A “real world” application of this would be Pinky and the Brain, a cartoon based on the villains first introduced in Animaniacs. Throughout both shows, the goal of the Brain (and Pinky by association) was to take over the world and he constantly strived to achieve this. It was agreed upon that this kind of ambition or “strong desire to do something” wielded incorrectly would be way less than ideal.
Teamwork
Continuing on the topic of ambition, we were assigned a teamwork activity in which we were required to read a Case Study and answer various thought provoking questions regarding the theme. In the text, there is a very driven young woman named Kathy A. , whose goal was to become an Olympian. She made it to the finals, which were narrowed down to 6 people, with only 5 being able to skate in the Olympics. Two other finalists were named Susan C. and Marlene P., and were staying with her family for the duration of the trials. One day Kathy went with Susan to a fortune teller because they had been shopping and found a little stand. The lady told Kathy that she was meant to be a winner, and to “Never take second place to anyone if you can help it.” Susan was told she would win in the long run. They agreed on the way home that that was assurance that they would both make it to the olympics. After Kathy woke up in the middle of the night from a dream she had been having about the fortune teller she turned off Marlene's six alarms set for the morning of the trials. She woke up at 7:45 for the 8:00 trials and when only 5 finalists showed up, they got the spots.
Through our class discussion we came to the conclusion that Kathy is ambitious and competitive, but at the same time insecure, and this is shown in her actions. She dreamt about the fortune teller and interpreted it how she wanted to. She read into her fortune “if you can help it”. She took action because of the dream and the words of the fortune teller. These words contributed to assuring her insecurities and causing her to go to lengths to achieve what she wants. Karma might catch up to her though, the fortune teller said she would not win in the long run. It’s similar to a “I got away with it once might be able to do it again” mentality, and it was agreed that that never works out.
An analogy used was that it’s similar to using ladders to go rock climbing. It might be easier at first but eventually it will get harder and easier to crash and burn.
This story was similar to that of Tonya Harding who was an American Olympic figure skater.There was a scandal concerning her and Nancy Kerrigan. Her husband had hired a man to send Kerrigan threats but he instead struck her above the knee with a nightstick in an attempt to break her leg. Tonya then went on to win the event after Nancy was forced to withdraw. She is very well known because of this incident and there are many movies and books based on her life.
Antithesis
The lesson covered antithesis, which is a form of juxtaposition. Antithesis was defined as A situation in which the author places two sharply contradicting ideas side-by-side in parallel words, phrases or structure.
( https://youtu.be/Jzf65fNbTDc)
Example: A William Shakespeare quote from his play “Hamlet”- “Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.”
This is an example of two contradictory ideas; listening and speaking
Paradox
Paradox is defined as “a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true. Additionally, both parts are true, but in general, cannot both be true at the same time.”
(https://youtu.be/-iQwze1yD6I)
Example: Disney’s Pinocchio stating “my nose will now grow” If the nose does not grow, that means he’s lying and whenever Pinocchio lies, his nose grows (very thought provoking questions)
Another Look at Foreshadowing:
Foreshadowing is where future events in a story, or perhaps the outcome, are suggested by the author before they happen.
(https://youtu.be/P07O8cacBsk)
Example: A character in a scary movie saying “I have a bad feeling about this” prior to attacks or tragedies in the movie.
MacBeth Scene I Act I
In class we listened to the audio version of MacBeth Scene I Act I, as it added to the mood of the story. It began as there was lighting and a crash of thunder, and three witches appeared and began to chant. They spoke in ragged tones and discussed meeting again after the battle, lost and won, to confront MacBeth. The class interpretation was that this can mean one wins and one one loses, meaning one may win but lose a lot of lives or resources or one may lose but gain knowledge or power. We know it’s a physical fight because hurly burly is defined as an actual fight.
The Teamwork centered around what was derived from the short text. The Mood had been established as sort of dark and mysterious, maybe mystical because of the introduction to witchcraft. Based on their voices and language I, personally, would imagine them as old/ experienced and maybe dirty, matted hair and long nails. (stereotypical witch appearance in books/films. It can be assumed the setting is kinda dreary, with the thunder and lightning. We haven’t even been introduced to Macbeth yet, but we already receive characterization based on what other people are saying (other people being the witches). It can apply to either Macbeth or Lady Macbeth.
Reflection
Today the lesson centered around preparation for the reading of the first scene of Macbeth, and I learned about various characterizations and writing tools. Ambition was also a heavily elaborated-on topic, most likely due to the ambitions of characters in the story and how they may affect the ending. It was brought up after reading a Case Study that Tonya Harding was fueled by ambition and it ended up being harmful to those around her. This need for success was also pushed by her mother, and this affected their relationship in a negative way. This supported the point that drive, to this extent, practically to the point of madness, could only end badly. There must be a certain amount of level headedness to balance out and keep the focus/ values. One of the analogies used was that it's similar to rock climbing with ladders, while it may seem easier at first, it will get easier to crash and burn as you go on.
The literary devices referenced today were taught to assist in possible annotations that might need to be done in the future not only in class but whenever it is necessary to really get a deeper understanding of a text. This is especially important in older texts that may use outdated phrases and references. The first scene of Macbeth included phrases such as “hurly-burly” and a location referred to as “the heath” which upon further analysis were determined to mean bustle/noise and an open field, respectively. The teamwork helped with this because many different people were able to share their prior knowledge to further the understanding of the group as a whole. We were also able to use prior knowledge in other literary terms and apply it to the text such as foreshadowing, which was part of the curriculum Freshman year. It was used to show that the witches will meet again, after some sort of battle, to meet Macbeth who at the time was not introduced, so virtually nothing was known about him. Literary terms are applied through all genres of most time periods, so a good understanding is necessary to be successful in literary endeavors.
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