Writing Reflection

Ideas and Content

With regards to ideas and content my writing has demonstrated relevant knowledge and understanding in the Alchemist essay, ‘Journey to Remember’. I focused on the main character Santiago, an ordinary shepherd boy, who followed his desire and succeeded in finding his treasure. Although just an ordinary shepherd boy he had extraordinary personal attributes that assisted him in his adventure. The strong characteristics that aided him in his journey were his adventurous spirit and courageous heart. The key factors that helped Santiago find his treasure was not the treasure alone as he thought, but the journey itself, which was the real treasure. However, in many ways my writing could have expressed my ideas better and enhanced the content. If I had interpreted my ideas better and supported them with a clearer understanding from the novel and then used that to demonstrate my knowledge and understanding, it would have helped me to improve my ideas and content. Most of the time my ideas showed in my writing but I did not back up what I said or cover it in any depth. Therefore, the message does not get across to the reader as well as I wanted.

Organization

In the essay ‘The Greed in Julius Caesar’ I believe I have demonstrated appropriate organizations skills. The play contained a lot of jealously between people who wanted more power. The man that I chose to write about was Cassius and how he was on a rise for more power and ultimately this jealousy resulted in a conspiracy and plot to kill Caesar. My introduction focuses on the topic and introduces Cassius’ conflict. I crafted a thesis statement that was evident enough for the readers to understand the conflict and give a purpose for my essay. I also believe that my topic was clear, my interpretations were clear and I backed up my claims with evidence from the play. In addition I also think my conclusion was strong and I summarized the play adequately. Some of the things that I can do to improve my writing are numerous. First, I have a difficult time using a proper transition between areas of my writing. Secondly, I made certain statements and found it difficult to connect back to these ideas. Lastly, I could have had a much stronger summarization of the points out I tried to point out.

Personal Growth

What I can get out of this writing reflection is that there is somewhat of an improvement between my Alchemist essay and my Julius Caesar essay. Now, I feel more capable of writing a strong paragraph that shows a clear topic and that I can back up what I say with examples and quotations that are adequate. My thesis statement is evident when before I wasn’t sure of how to make it evident to what I’m focused on. Sometimes the context of what I wrote could have been stronger and more clear to the reader but I feel have improved from the fist essay to the one now. I also feel my conclusions are better than I previous but I can still improve on reconnecting to the topic assigned.

SLR Reflection

Reasoning Critically would be the essential skill to use when crafting an essay. You need to reason critically even before starting the essay by using organization than used again throughout the writing. The ideas are needed to be plane out that is organized in some way that writing is direct to the topic assigned. When there was a time for choosing evidence, reason critically comes in had for you to be wised and select supportive evidence to the claims with the right interoperation. In order to have a strong conclusion you should use critical reasoning to select relevant support and situation in conclusions to relate back to the main topic of the written essay.

The Collage of Reflections

Think Creatively!

Identify and discuss some of the creative elements of your collage.

Some of the creative elements in my collage were that I chose to enlarge my poster size. The purposed for using a work with a larger size of poster was that it’s allows me to put down all the images that overall the conflicts in and out the Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan. Letting me explored the artistic side of the assignment having to Think Creatively with the space that I’m working with and how each part of the collage must have a connection to the other. Another creative thing that I did was that I made my collage able to stand the top part is meanly about all the conflicts in Sudan what the Lost Boys been through and the bottom bit was about the journey of the migration with that conflicts faced in the U.S.A. This makes it easier for the viewer to understand the elements by dividing it apart.

Reason Critically!

How did you use the images and text that you selected to highlight your understanding of the Lost Boy’s situation?

The images that were used to explain my understanding of the situation that the boys were in was that I used images that really show the hardship that they faced before immigrating. For example the civil war that was going on the danger, emotions in their situations, and poverty to starvation in their travel. The words were chose carefully that is was best fit the situation and what I want to get my message across to the addressed to audience. Words that was strong and powerful that explain it all, with the aim of a needed action.

Communicate Effectively!

Explain how your collage creates awareness for the Lost Boys’ plight.

My collage is well communicated with the awareness of the Lost Boy’s troubles. I meanly focus on the conflicts in the country before the migration and what was the reason behind it that causes the boys to flee the country. I thought that it was very important of us to be aware that till this day the War between the North and South regions are still going on. Yet many lives are taken by death cause by poverty, the low lack of the most basic resources that lend to starvation and no security of safety. These things are a very serious topic that we need to be considered how lucky we are to be living the life that we are living. That is can be a solution to the problems going on and what we can do to help.

Live Ethically!

Explain how you think your collage demonstrated empathy and might evoke an emotional response from your viewers and/or incite them to act.

The whole point of the collage was to created empathy in to viewers and evokes an emotion in each of them. A picture is worth a thousand words that are why I must be wise with the images that were used and makes sure each one of them help cause an reaction in the big picture. Each of the images must give away a greater message that makes you think about your action. Images that makes you care, the once that makes you feel that you should be taken action. I also have images that capture happiness from people who tried to make a different in people lives, giving you the same the emotion that you could do that same. Make a different.

I-Movie Script

Peace Vanished. Escape. Let us pray. These are the six words that best describe what I have learned from the study of the Dinka culture which includes the their ethnography, forced migration from their native home land. This land was once a place filled with harmony. From their experiences as a refuges and journey as a Lost Boy of Sudan they move from stepped migration in the refugee camps that included surviving the hardships that the camps placed on them to finally having to flee into a new life in the United Sates. This move to the United States was also a great struggle for them.

The top left-hand corner show images of what I think illustrate the Dinka culture prior to the war. It was a beautiful and peaceful place with an amazing landscape of sight and scenery. I then show images that depict the changes that came about as the nation of Sudan became divided. One image in particular shows a wire fence separating the North and the South region of the country. I also pasted cut out words showing the connection between the images. ‘North and South At war’ is one example of how I chose words to relate to the images. Other images also show how the destruction of the culture, the civil war caused by the different ethnic group that is ongoing leading into a humanitarian crisis of people dying each day. Then I used text that is very powerful to show this crisis- “Life Isn’t Beautiful”. I wanted to get the message across to the viewers that in the world that we share there are many challenges and we as humans should be aware of and take more of a notice. We need to get involved to stop these troubles. “The Power of We” can put a stop to these tragedies, and make our world a better place.

The Greed in Julius Caesar

“A man no mightier than thyself, or me, in personal action, yet prodigious grown, And Fearful, as there strange eruptions are”- Cassius Act 1 scene 3 line 76-78. In Julius Caesar many of the characters are filled with greed and jealously for power. One in particular man on the rise to have more power was Cassius. He is one of the lead conspirators against Julius Caesar. Greed for power, jealously and the need to build his reputation were the motivations that caused Cassius to conspire to kill Caesar and build his reputation among the Romans .

For years Cassius felt unequal to Caesar. Caesars rise to his power made Cassius greedy and hungry for the same things. This was recalled early when in Act 1 Scene 2 “ Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus, and we petty men walk under his huge legs, and peep about. To find ourselves dishonorable graves.” Caesar had viewed himself as a god like figure, high, noble and esteemed above everyone else. This makes Cassius angry because he knows he should be equal in power to Caesar. Why should Caesar be treated like a god and not him? They are equal in Cassius’s eyes. Choosing to walk down the path of greed, this lead Cassius to the plot of conspiring to kill Caesar. Cassius was able to push himself onto and influence several other characters. Knowing that he needed honorable men, men who were above reproach with the Roman people, he chose Brutus to help as an accomplice in the plot to kill Caesar. “ O, you and I have heard our fathers say, there was a Brutus once that would have brool’d Th’ eternal devil to keep his state in Rome as easily as a king.” This quote shows Cassius flattering Brutus because of his fear of losing power and becoming just another citizen of Roman. He needed the help of Brutus .

Jealousy was another key motivator that drove Cassius to kill Caesar. Ruining Caesars reputation among the citizens of Rome was something he tried to do. He wanted to have the power and authority that Caesar carried. He wanted to be seen as the ’Northern Star’ who every looked up to like they did to Caesar . Cassius believed that Caesar had a better reputation than he did. He wanted all that Caesar had, everything. This was the cause for the jealousy that motivated Cassius to kill Caesar. Jealousy! “Alas, it cried, give me some drink, Titinius, ’as a sick girl. Ye gods! It doth amaze me a man of such a feeble temper should so get the start of the majestic world and bear the palm alone” Act 1 scene 2 lines 127-130. This was a great example to show how Cassias felt about Caesar . An equally bad motivation for Cassius was that he often envied Caesar because Caesar had been getting more respect than him. “Did I the tired Caesar- and this man is now become a god, and Cassius is a wretched creature and must bend his body if Caesar carelessly but nod on him”. Act 1 scene 2 lines 115-118 are another example of how Cassius justified to himself the need to kill Caesar.

Cassius was jealous of the power that Caesar and this greed motivated him to the act of conspiring and ultimately killing Caesar. Cassius attempts to rise into the power structure of Rome, his need for more money and influence and his envy of everything that Caesar had were his downfall. In the end Cassius did achieve his goal of killing Caesar and eliminating his threat to gaining power but the outcome of Caesar’s death was not what he expected. Cassius fell from grace with the Roman people and took his own life as a result. Loosing his life and the lives of his loved ones did not justify the need to have more power and glory. Selfish behavior resulted in everyone’s lose. His tragic personality flaws were his own worst enemy.

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