In Mr. Luke's class

You could travel through the realm of knowledge

with open-minded heart, while Mr. Luke

chanted words so unfamiliar.

T, O, K, T, O, K

An hour did not seem like enough,

sadness would spring up as the bell would ring.

It was interesting at first. Theories. AOK’s.

WOK’s. Sharing opinions and looking at

different perspectives. The excitement only lasts

for a few months, the room grew dark and empty.

The classroom went from a sweet shop,

to a library filled with open eyes.

Over the winter break, it went from a battle to a war

Day after day, shuffling your feet along the floor.

Every morning the same, 30 minutes

of your life, you will never get back.

Terminology went from how does to,

to what extent. We, are, no, longer, kids,

anymore.

Lost and stuck between the world of reality

and knowledge. Talking about fallacies and

one’s subjective truth. Still hoping to go back to

early September. But, I, Have, Changed.

My subjective truth is I don’t understand.

The trees are dying, and leaves are falling

with my love for TOK. Impatiently waiting

for the day I walk through the gates and never

return.

Hell is other people

No exit is a French existentialist play that was written by Jean-Paul. The play was first performed in Theatre du Vieux-Colombier in May 1944. The play is centered around three characters Estelle, Inez, and Garcin, who are all damned souls. they were all brought to the same room in hell by a mysterious man by the name of Valet. However, upon the arrival to hell, all three of them refuse to tell one another why they all ended up there. Until Inez convinces them to stop lying to there selves and to just own up to what they have done. All three of them had done terrible things in their lives. Garcin abused his wife and ran away from the war, Inez seduced her cousin's wife while living with them. Estelle had an affair, ended up falling pregnant and threw the baby out of the window, into a lake. However, beyond the physical boundaries of the room, they were also trapped by each other's judgments.

Garcin’s biggest issue is he likes to run away from his problem. Like with the abusing his wife, the army and in the actual hell room. That when situations get difficult, he finds it easiest to run away and get out of the situation. However, Inez and Estelle try to enjoy each others company. While Garcin tries to isolate himself because he could not comprehend that he was a coward for running away from the war. Plus, he knew both Inez and Estelle can see through him and were able to judge him based on his actions. Like page 21, Inez and Estelle are having a conversation and Garcin is trying to ignore them but ends up hearing everything. He says “Quite so; not a word. I stuck my fingers in your ears, but your voices thudded in my brain. Silly chatter. Now, will you leave me in peace, you two? I’m not interested in you.” It shows that Garcin believes he is above the other two and that they talking is his version of hell. Which is why towards the end of the play he tried to escape the room because Inez and Estelle confront him, and he doesn’t know how to handle it.

Estelle’s biggest issue is her appearance in both terms of physical appearance on her body and how everyone around perceives her. Which is shown when she freaks out about not being able to see herself because she can’t cope that other people can see her and she can’t see herself. She also is quick to shut herself off from confessing that she did something wrong with the affair and killing the baby until towards the end of the play. As she likes to maintain a reputation to seem innocent. However, the other two members unpack her and play with her emotions. Like page 21 Inez says, “What’s that nasty red spot at the bottom of your cheek?” then Estelle starts to panic, and she then says “There isn’t any pimple, not a trace of one. So, what about it? Suppose the mirror is telling lies?”. This shows how Inez likes to play with Estelle’s emotions and try to gain her trust by pretending to be her mirror. but then tell her some lies to make her panic.

Inez's biggest issue is that Estelle chooses Garcin over her. It is known that Inez is the most upfront out of the three of them. However, her hell is that she likes Estelle, but Estelle likes Garcin. Which drives Inez crazy and in the whole play she tries to seduce her.  Then on page 21, Estelle asks Inez if she finds her attractive and then goes on to talking about Garcin. However, Inez gets jealous and says “Of course! Because he’s a Man!”. Which shows that she is really agitated with the idea that she likes Estelle, but Estelle likes Garcin. Plus, she as character likes to play mind games with the other two, which in most cases Inez is the primary starter to most arguments.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Gabriel Garcia Marquez was born March 6th, 1927, Aracataca, Colombia. He has eleven younger siblings and grew up with his maternal grandparents Doña Tranquilina Iguarán and Colonel Nicolás Ricardo Márquez Mejía. He was a roman catholic. His parents were almost strangers to him, and his grandparents influenced the early years of his life. He claimed that his love of storytelling came from his grandfather, who used to tell him tales about the war. However, his grandfather died when he was eight years old. He was married to Mercedes Barcha Pardo in 1958 and had two sons Rodrigo Garcia Barcha 1959 and Gonzalo Garcia Barcha 1962.

In 1940, he moved to Barranquilla to start high school and finished high school by 1946. In 1947, Marquez entered law school at the National University of Bogota. Which is when he started reading Kafka and publishing short stories. Marques wrote his first novel Lead Storm 1955 while still in college. His fiction work introduced readers to magical realism, which combines vivid fantasy with more conventional storytelling. However, due to some political riots within the country, the national university shut down and forced Marques to go elsewhere. He then went to the University of Cartagena and went onto becoming a journalist, to support himself.

One of his most famous books, ‘Love in the time of cholera’ was published. He drew inspirations from his real life from the love story of his own parents. Some of his other famous works were ‘The general in his labyrinth’ – 1989, ‘Of love and other demons’ – 1994, ‘News of a kidnapping’ – 1996, ‘Living to tell the tale’ – 2002 and, ’Memories of my melancholy whore’ - 2004

Marques won a Nobel prize for literature December 8th, 1982 in Sweden for his novels and short stories. Which is a combination of fantasy and realism, he tried to bring imagination and conflict within the world together. He was one of the best-known Latin America writers and was the first Colombian to win a Nobel prize for literature.

1999, Marquees was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer. After a successful round of treatment, the disease went into remission. But after his brush with death, which influenced him to write his memoirs. However, Gabriel Garcia Marquez died April 17th, 2014 in Mexico City, Mexico at the age of 87.

Frankenstein vs Frankenweenie

I noticed some major differences between the book Frankenstein and the movie adaption I watched call frankenweenie. At, the beginning, the stories were very similar in the way that the scientists were both were ambitious, daring, challenging and intelligent. Both enjoy questioning the unthinkable and the nature of everything around them. So, I would say the scientist character’s traits are very similar. However, I think everything else was near enough different because the movie was a more modernized version of the book and the movie was a Disney movie. Which means the movie wasn’t scary at all because the movie was intended for kids. Which is a big difference because their original book was made to scare for everyone reading it because it would talk about the unthinkable. But this movie was made for children to be a more light-hearted movie. I also found the intentions of the scientists were completely different. In the book, the scientist was adopted and at university, everyone would laugh at him. Which drove him to do the unthinkable because he wanted to prove to everyone that he was a good scientist. However, in the movie the scientist was a young boy and the monster was the boy’s dog that he lost and loved dearly. Which are completely different because in the book the scientists were trying to prove something while the movie, he just wanted his dog back. Another difference is that in the book is the scientist stole a bunch of beautiful dead body parts and brought them together and created some horrific. Whereas the movie he brought back his dog that he lost and loved. The final difference between the book and the movie was the reaction of the scientist when the monster came back. In the movie, he was horrified and was regretting bringing him alive. He was consent annoyed because his intention was to prove to everyone that he could be a great scientist. While in the movie he was just happy to have his dog and friend back. 

Oscar Wilde

Aesthetic movement in Europe (Art and literature)

How did the Aesthetic literary and artistic movement influence Oscar Wilde's life?

Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy (especially in art), that studies the principles of beauty. Which means artist and writers of the aesthetic movement believe that art should provide pleasure to the senses instead of moral messages. Which had a great influence on Oscar Wilde life. This is because he believed that art shouldn't always have a deeper meaning and that sometimes people should just appreciate the beauty of the surface. Which shown through the text of ‘The picture of Dorian Gray’. 

Define the term "Dandy" in your own words

Dandy in my own words would refer to a flamboyant man that cares about fashion and good looks. But could also be used to describe something of excellence.

Analyze the preface to the novel - what does it tell us about art

Oscar Wilde was a great believer in asceticism. This is shown through the preface of the novel ‘The picture of Dorian Gray’. This is because he stated that “No artist desires to prove anything”. Which I think shows that he believed that no creative piece needs more depth than the beauty it conveys. Another thing said in the preface was “All art is at once surface and symbol” it is shown that he is dividing the spectators of art into two categories, those who appreciate art and those who look for something deeper. Then finally it also says that “All art is useless” which I think links specifically to Oscar Wilde and his mentality because he thinks art should have a deeper meaning. Therefore, he enjoys looking at the beauty of the art and could be seen useless because they have no deeper purpose. Therefore, this shows that art shouldn’t have to have a deeper meaning, there are two kinds of people that appreciate art and Oscar Wilde believe that art is useless.

Edgar Allan Poe Collage

The Black Cat

The black cat was written in 1943. The poem follows an unnamed character, a wife and a cat Pluto. Throughout the poem, we see how the theme of substance abuse and self-deception leads the narrator into a sea of guilt, depression, anger and violence.

Question: What unconscious motive might be operating in the main character?

I think there could be a few internal motives that could have led the narrator to their ‘psychological outburst’. Like self-frustration, jealousy of the things around them and feeling undeserving of a good life. Overall a major theme portrayed in the poem is the struggle with substance abuse because it was very clear that the narrator of the poem was struggling with alcoholism. “My life changed, I became a heavy drinker and my need for alcohol tuned into a terrible disease”. Which in this quote is shows the where the struggle began and how alcohol was used to numb the pain of their inner issues. But then the addition only started to grow, and it was even referred it to as a disease. They stated, “My disease grew worst”. So no longer was it numbing the pain, but that when they started to lose control and grew angry and violent. Which could explain why the persona did everything they did. The frustration started within because of the lack of control and knowing that it would only get worst. Which made the start to resent people who loved and adored them, by shouting, hitting and lashing out at everyone around them. Just because they were jealous that everyone was so happy, while they were mad for not being able to overcome the problems and learning how to control it. Which led to feeling undeserving of a good happy life because the persona was so messed up inside, they just excepted that they weren't going to get better. So, lashing out and harming everyone around is almost the way of giving up to the problem of alcohol. But when the narrator goes to kill the cat and the wife stands up to and then ends up killing her instead. The exact quote from the poem is “But my wife caught my arm to stop me, and then anger exploded in my mind. I turned and drove the axe deep into her head.” Which is the perfect example of thinking they are not deserving to live happy because by her stand up for the cat could potentially be her confronting the drinking problem. So, killing her could allow them to finally give in to the problem and guilt. 

Annabel Lee

Little about the poem

This was the last poem Edgar Allen Poe’s wrote before he passed away. It was originally published October 9^th, 1849. The poem also portrays the theme of the death of a beautiful woman. The overall idea of the poem is the narrator, falls in love with a young woman named Annabel Lee. Throughout the poem, he gains an obsession and his love grew so strong, that when she died he didn’t see the point in living without her. While morning the love of Annabel Lee he blames the angles for being envious of their perfect relationship, so they took her away from him. 

Adaptation of Annabel Lee 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBvfLiI5uY8

I chose this adaptation of his poem because of the music, live acting and the ending of the short story. Firstly, I think the music really built to the tension of the poem because the music is very calm, and it allows the voice over to be the focal point. But also, the music changes every time the tone and situation changes. Like at the beginning when they are happy the music is very slow and happy. But when she gets sick, the ‘angels’ appear, and when she dies the music starts to get faster and more intense. Basically, it helps distinguish the shift in the different mood and tones.

Additionally, I like having a short story version of the poem because of the choice of setting and how they interpreted the words of the poem into actions. I liked how they really showed the relationship between the narrator and Annabel Lee. This is because it helped me understand how much have loved her and how he couldn’t live without her. Plus, also having the whole video set at the side of the sea because it goes perfectly with the imagery you imagine when reading the poem. They successfully help to gain the better understanding that their relationship was that perfect it was dreamlike. Which ties in with the unreliable narrative because the whole short story seems almost too perfect and could show the use of alcohol and drugs.

Finally, I like how they ended the short story because it played with the idea that the poem was written as a suicide note. This is because in class we discussed that he thought she was his life, which they included in the short story when he kept visiting the grave. This helps the audience see that he had nothing else to do than visited her grave and that over the years he saw no point in living without her. Then I confirmed at the end that the only way he was going to be happy was when he would die and be reunited with her. Which makes me think that the poem was a suicide note and he was depressed and empty without Virginia Clemm his wife that died 2 years before this poem was written. Which could represent how he was feeling inside and that maybe dying and reunited with her in heaven is the only way he could live happily ever after.

Edgar Allen Poe

Edgar Allen Poe was a very successful American writer, editor, and critic. He was born on January 19th, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts and died on October 6th, 1849 in church home and hospital, Baltimore, Maryland. He is primarily recognized for his poetry and short stories. He belonged in the gothic fiction genre, as he was obsessed with death and is known for writing dark, grim tales of misfortune and mystery. With the more texts we read, we start to understand and recognized that most of his content is based on his own life. So, he was an incredible writer, but his life was filled with depression, disappointments and misfortunes.

He was adopted at the age of age 3 and by the age of 17, he was excepted to the University of Virginia. However, he early gained a gambling addiction and gambled all his scholarship money, which began his habit of alcohol abuse. He struggled with alcohol all his life, he found it hard to control his physical and emotional weakness. Which is why he turned to alcohol as an aesthetic to try and take the pain away. He even got as far as to drink a mixture of absinthe and brandy, which is very dangerous. He repeatedly tried to stop drinking and made promises that he would stop but his addiction only grew bigger and bigger over the years. Another important part of his life was the use of drugs. So, he started off using drugs for medical benefits with prescriptions from doctors. Opium was the specific drug that he was addicted to. Opium was used to help him get into a ‘dreamy’ state, which was mainly used to help him stray away from alcohol. However, with the medical use of the drug it got him addicted because in the process of trying to stop abusing alcohol he took a large amount of opium to compensate. There are serval possible outcomes that could’ve caused his death. But a lot of people believe that most likely the addiction to alcohol and drugs were the major reasons that he died at 40, so early.

Therefore, substance abuse played a major role in Poe’s life because it took major part and possibly ended his life. But also, were the theme of substance abuse influenced his writing through the narratives of his poem. Almost like he was hallucinating while writing his best work. But he had a tragic life, but it differentiated his writing style and made his characters so unique, from all the other writers. 

About Me...!

Hi, my name is Emily Fish. I guess this is my first blog post and I think I'm just going to tell you a little about myself.  I am from Scotland but I have lived in Abu Dhabi for 10 years.

I'm very passionate about dancing, I find its something fun and distracting to fill my time with. I think I've been dance since I was young... maybe like since I was 5 years old. I find it helps bring up my mood when I'm sad, annoyed or stressed from school because you're the ability to get lost in the music and it helps you forget about all the homework and assessments you have due. Plus its fun expressing yourself through movement opposed to words and how you can communicate your thoughts, feelings, and stories through a dance routine.  I want to say one of my interests is traveling the world but the truth is I haven't been to many places outside of an airport. My family is the type that travels home every summer to visit family instead of going to new places. But I feel like when I get older it's something I really want to do. 

Studying literature is very important for many reasons because it opens our eyes to different cultures and beliefs and also helps us understand different perspectives about the world. Which is very important because we are living in a time where most people are starting to realize that most things don't have just one answer to them. But also literature helps us with important skills as well, like critical thinking and simply writing and analyzing things. Which will be very helpful in all walks of life because I will be able to look at things differently and be able to think outside of the box to understand all possible perspectives.

My favourite type of literature would just be a classic novel or fantasy novel because just like dancing I like getting lost in a book and going through an adventure with all the characters. Plus I love relating to characters personalities and personal situations they get into that are similar to things that have happened to me. I really only read novels and maybe some poems sometimes. But I'm hoping over the next two years, I might find a new love for some other type of literature I haven't thought about reading before.