So I’ve been reading a lot of poetry lately because I really like the way it sounds and the emotions it evokes. It’s almost like a rhythm or a song that repeats in my head. I have some poetry books at home and I always love a good Emily Dickinson poem. It’s also become a very practical hobby as I saw in my practice test last semester that I need to work on my understanding of poetry for the AP test. However, I’m not only in one AP class, and I’ve been starting to realize that reading poetry can also help me in AP Spanish. Of course, that means that I’ll have to be reading Spanish poems, but I really don’t mind because it’s a really enjoyable way for me to expand my vocabulary and reading comprehension. In AP Spanish, we choose one Spanish speaking country and research its culture for every unit we do, so that we have a country to talk and write about on the exam. My country is Peru, so in this blog I’m going to talk about a poem by a Peruvian poet named Alejandro Romualdo. (I’m going to post the poem below in the original Spanish and my translation into English).

SI ME QUITARAN TOTALMENTE TODO

Si me quitaran totalmente todo
si, por ejemplo, me quitaran el saludo
de los pájaros, o de los buenos días
del sol sobre la tierra
me quedaría
aún
una palabra. Aún me quedaría una palabra
donde apoyar la voz.

Si me quitaran las palabras
o la lengua
hablaría con el corazón
en la mano,
o con las manos en el corazón.

Si quitaran una pierna
bailaría en un pie.
Si me quitaran un ojo
lloraría en uno ojo.
Si me quitaran un brazo
me quedaría el otro,
para saludar a mis hermanos,
para sembrar los surcos de la tierra,
para escribir todas las playas del mundo, con tu nombre

IF EVERYTHING IS TAKEN FROM ME

If everything is taken from me
If, for example, from me, the greetings
of the birds, or the good days
of the sun above the earth are taken,
I would have one word
still
I would still have one word
supported by my voice.

I love this poem because of the emphasis on persistence and making the most of what you have. Despite every difficulty, he still finds a way to live his life. I love any poem that talks about tenacity in life because I feel like that’s a really important quality that everyone needs. In this poem, he isn’t just surviving with what he has has, but he is actually living. He is dancing, crying, working, and loving. I think this poem is really inspirational about using the gifts and challenges that you have to live life to the fullest.

I just really love this poem in Spanish and am a little disappointed that my English translation didn’t quite encompass it. I encourage everyone to get into poetry because the messages and words really do stick with you. I know it seems a little intimidating at first, but I promise that it will be worth it. Even if you think you don’t like poetry, I bet there is at least one poem out there that speaks to you. Yesterday, Mrs. Lobb was telling our class how she didn’t really like poetry but she loved this poem about an ode to a tomato (here’s the link if you’re interested https://allpoetry.com/Oda-al-Tomate). Granted, that poem wasn’t really my cup of tea, but I could understand why she appreciated it. Anyway, sorry for that little rant, but go and enjoy some poetry. 🙂

Dearest sister,

These days I miss you so dearly and it is with great longing that I wish to see you soon. I’m not in any position to disparage my current lodgings, however, I do find them rather disheartening at times. I am most definitely not at liberty to discuss the ongoings of Wuthering Heights with outsiders, but I must confide in someone. The emotional toils berating me daily have left me withered and sometimes I fear it is too much for me to bear. I trust that as my kin you will take this sentiment into account and refrain from disclosing these sensitive circumstances.

I suppose I must’ve mentioned Mistress Catherine to you before in my earlier letters. As of late, Mistress Catherine has found in me some form of a captive confidant. Oh my dear sister! The things she tells me! A notion has possessed her that she’s to marry Mr. Linton, despite being enamored with Mr. Heathcliff. Now I’m not one to refuse a hearty conversation, as my line of work can become monotonous. Initially, I entertained her callow naivety, and questioned her peculiar motivations. I found her love for Mr. Linton to be ingenuously lacking at the least and maliciously falsified at the most. But the conversation became increasingly unsettling as it progressed. She pronounced to me not only her love for Mr. Heathcliff, but that their souls were one in the same. Now, such a proclamation left me thoroughly distressed. My Christian upbringings remind me that the Lord breathed life into all of mankind, but when I look at Mr. Heathcliff, I fear he was forged in Hell! Should the two be one in the same, I’d fear serving them to disrupt my place with the Lord.

Despite my disquietude, I understand that my occupation is integral to the family and I must preserve my good standings within the household at all costs. For this purpose, I have taken to indulging Mistress Catherine’s illogical diatribes and offering my sincerest advice. I find myself severely under-qualified to dispel her absurd convictions. Had I known I’d be taking a job as a therapist as well in this line of work, I’d have been better off to bypass this cursed household altogether. Despite my distaste for her and her circuitous hysteria, I offer my best consultations. After all, I work out of necessity not for pleasure. However, I predict my efforts will be in vain, as Mistress Catherine has gotten into the habit of disparaging the good name of the Earnshaws through her rash judgements. Wherever that devil of man leads her, God help us all.

Please do keep me in your prayers, dear. Enclosed in this letter is some of my earnings for you and your family. Do take care, my precious sister.

All of my love,

Nelly

After my extended voyage to the North American continent, I came across the customs of a relatively small community called the Skwah Avs. Despite their seeming conventionality, the indigenous peoples were unusual for a number of reasons.

Primarily, the practice of age segregation was highly important. Even people merely a year apart in age, refused to interact. Within the age groups, were even smaller subdivisions created with seemingly no rhyme or reason. The people kept to their groups for brief periods of time, only to abruptly break apart and reassemble in different locations with different people. The supposed signal to reconvene was the sound of an ancient ceremonial instrument, loud enough to permeate the entire community. Each person automatically knew where to go at the sound, as they are a very fastidious people. At the ring of the ceremonial instrument, people marched briskly to their next subdivision, as they were clearly timely people.

In spite of morals, the Skwah Avs were ruled by the whims of the ceremonial instrument. They dared not disperse from the traditional assemblies, and dutifully completed tasks. The tasks appeared to be utterly meaningless. The tasks varied from location to location, group to group, and even day to day. I found no logical rhyme or reason for the tasks besides them being a possible ruse to subdue the populace.

Occasionally, the entire populace of the Skawh Avs would convene in a large room. The purpose of such an event was simply the fault of tradition. The ceremony would be initiated by an elder declaring the intentions and heritage of the traditions. Then he would conduct the populace in a loud chorus of chanting; “S-V-A HAWKS”. The chant was believed to bring luck and fortune to the community. Similar chants would commence during the sacred tournaments against other similar communities. These tournaments consisted of proving a persons worth through physical ability to throw, catch, run, and jump. The winning community would worship the victors for bringing good fortune to the populace.

The rules of the community were seemingly ambiguous, but strictly enforced. When entering such a community, one must be highly cautious in order to avoid committing an act of offensive nature. The indigenous people were adept at following the subtle traditions, but I found them veritably impossible to navigate. Most important was the tradition of speaking. Only at certain times was one permitted to speak. A violation of speaking at the wrong time not only causes great offense, but could lead to punishment.

Truly, the nature of these people is one of extreme conformity and regulation. To fall outside the status quo, was truly a fate worse than death for the Skwah Avs. Their lack of purposeful work leads them to extreme reliance on ancestral traditions and unity by compliance. I will say, though it was an intriguing charge, I am overjoyed to be leaving the Skwah Avs behind me.

To do or not to do? That is the homework…

Whether ’tis nobler in the calculus to suffer

The finding of the derivatives and concavities of outrageous equations

Or to find myself in the arms of dear Hypnos

And, by sleeping, lose 10%. To sleep, to fail–

No more– would mine eyes burn and my head throb

The mediocre grades and loss of motivation

That senior-itus is prone to. ‘Tis a calamity in every sense

Devoutly the calc to be completed. To sleep, to fail–

To sleep, perchance to rest– ay, there’s the rub,

For in that sleep of failure what rest may come

When we have shirked our homework and responsibility

Must give us pause. There’s the indolence

That makes the senior year of so long life

For who would bear the sloth and apathy of a senior,

The teacher’s fear, the A-student’s vice,

The pangs of despised schoolwork,

The demolition of future aspirations,

The prevalence of procrastination that follows beside,

When he himself might his quietus make

With an all-nighter? Who would their grades bear,

to grunt and sweat under a lost 4.0

But that dread of failing out of high school,

The greatest plight from whose bourn

No student returns, daunts the senior

And makes us rather complete the homework we have

Than evade and be overcome with that and more homework we know not of?

Thus sleep does make procrastinators of us all,

And thus the apprehension of failure

Is pondered o’er in the fatigued senior’s thoughts

And yet, the yearning of the senior for a night of rest is the temptress of idleness

Within the sea of chance, might the weather turn awry

And to a snow day, the senior lose the need of doing the homework. Soft you now,

The fair DCSD! Pray thee, watch the snow and, in thy orisons,

Be my ill driving skills and incomplete calculus remembered.

While the mirror is presented as purely objective in Sylvia Plath’s Mirror, the personification allows the poem to analyze the relation between human emotions and truth. The woman’s raw emotions are juxtaposed to the indifference of the mirror.

The first stanza of the poem emphasizes the mirror’s objective truth. It brings an indifferent tone saying, it has “no preconceptions” and is “unmisted by love or dislike” (Plath). The poem creates an interesting premise by personifying the mirror, but still exempting it from emotion. In most literature humanity is expressed by the ability to feel and care; however the mirror has the ability to think, but remains entirely indifferent. As one point, when talking about the opposing wall, the mirror says, “I think it is a part of my heart,” (Plath). While the heart is usually associated with love, this statement from the mirror simply means the wall is a part of it, since it is always reflecting it. The mirror thinks of it as a part of itself simply because of how long the wall has been there, not because of some sort of emotional bond. This first stanza establishes the mirror as a reflection of reality with no opinion of its own.

The second stanza introduces a woman who is brought into the story to juxtapose the mirror with the depth of her emotions. Her emotions are expressed through, “tears and an agitation of hands,” (Plath). The woman expresses her humanity in these actions, while the mirror simply stands as a witness. While the woman frequently returns to the mirror, “It [it] she has drowned a young girl, and in [it] an old woman,” (Plath). While the first stanza had elaborated on the mirror staying, this stanza explains how the woman returns and changes. The woman’s humanity is shown through growth, change, and feeling. The mirror juxtaposes these ideas as a silent observer reflecting what it sees.

The relationship between the mirror and the woman is created to illuminate the aspects of humanity in the woman. She may be disheartened by the mirror, but the object itself cannot be blamed. As shown in the woman, humanity has the opportunity to change, while a mirror can only truthfully display what is. The woman can take what it reflects and form her own judgement, but the mirror’s purpose is not to judge, only to reflect.

This is some of my lit review. It’s trash, so you probably don’t want to copy it.

Setting: This book takes place in a future society called Oceania. This setting is integral to the story as it warns of a potential future that could be possible in Orwell’s eyes. The book highlights the relationship between past and present, with Winston constantly saying things like, “All of history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary,” (Orwell 40). The reader, knowing that this book takes place in the future, might be alarmed by the possibility of their own life and everything leading up to it being completely erased from history. This book relates to this sense in the readers by even alluding to familiar events such as, “the fabulous world of the Forties and the Thirties, when the capitalists in their strange cylindrical hats still rode through the streets of London in the great gleaming motorcars or horse carriages with glass sides,” (Orwell 36). This contrast between the future and past in the book is dependent upon the story being set in the future. 

Motif: George Orwell’s 1984 has a motif of ignorance. One of the most significant quotes is, “Nothing was your own except for the few cubic centimeters inside your skull,” (Orwell 27). Even when everything else has been taken from you, you still have your mind and your ability to think, even if you can’t voice those thoughts. However, in the book, it is constantly shown how the society strips them of their desire and ability to think. Newspeak limits their ability to express and formulate thoughts, and fear causes them to suppress their thoughts to avoid punishment. This forced ignorance keeps the people in check, but also destroys their happiness and meaning in life.

For my blog this week, I’ve decided to talk about Alexa again. I don’t like her. Not only does she always think I say her name and creepily reply to me, but also I’m pretty sure she’s stalking us. I’d even compare Alexa to the telescreens in 1984. You never know when or if she’s listening, but you know she could be listening. That’s all you need think to develop a healthy paranoia around Alexa. Amazon has even admitted to employing thousand a of people to listen to your conversations. Well technically, they only listen to things said once you use the “wake word”, but sometimes Alexa “wakes” without you saying the word on accident (or is it an accident?). They claim they are using the information in your conversations with Alexa to better her AI speaking capabilities, and they keep your information private. But has anyone actually proven that? Do we actually trust Amazon?

Even if we do trust Alexa, check out this article about how easily she can be hacked and turned into a listening device. Basically, researchers were able to create a program that loops Alexa’s coding so that she remains listening after you have given her a command. That information is then transcribed to an outside party, so they can read whatever was said. While this loophole has technically been fixed by now, it still raises concerns. The article emphasizes how easily this was done, so a more experienced hacker could probably easily find another way to similarly hack the device.

Regardless of who is listening or how they do it, current technology has made it possible for us to be listened to at all times. If the government really wanted to, they could probably pay off some tech companies to get some of their data. Whether this could happen or not, the paranoia around the whole situation easily parallels Orwell’s 1984 world. Technically, there’s no evidence that anyone is watching, but it creates a panopticon scenario. If someone could be listening/watching, you’re probably going to want to obey.

Screenagers is a rhetorical masterpiece recognized by most SkyView students that warns us of the horrors of cellular devices. As highschool students in the modern era, our lives are plagued by screens. To amend this situation, a cinematic masterpiece was brought into the our lives. Now I’m not here to bash a resource used to warn us of the many issues associated with screens (not today at least). I’m simply here to analyze the rhetorical affect of this propaganda on SkyView Academy’s student population.

I think it’s easy to see that the film did not have much of an effect on SkyView students. In fact, almost immediately after being shown the film, students made jokes about the subject constantly. In fact, even being shown this video years ago, I still make Screenager jokes to this day. I think a huge problem with the film was the unrealistic social interactions. In a world full of reality television, a modern teenager is quick to spot a charlatan teen. The daughter in this film is portrayed as whiny and naive. She comes across as a very young middle schooler, which automatically evokes disgust in most people. High schoolers in particular, are extremely susceptible to judging middle schoolers, and as soon as you try to compare them to a middle schooler, they tune out. The interactions between the mom and daughter are forced stereotypical situations. A prime example is when the mother asks why her daughter needs a better phone. The daughter provides a very shallow response with something along the lines of “to be cool like my friends.” While for few people that might be the underlying cause of them wanting a phone, I don’t think anyone would outright say that. Regardless, I think Screenagers is a prime example of ineffective propaganda. It was meant to convince us that phones are bad, but in the end became a meme to all SVA students.

The whole point of 1984 is to reflect on modern society and the direction it’s headed. When you look at America, you don’t see a totalitarian regime. However, you might see the violation of privacy as a step in that direction. When Winston feels paranoid about always being watched, I think back to the many sources constantly watching me.

Don’t you just love it when you dream about a product and it appears while you’re scrolling down your instagram feed the next day? Yeah me too. It’s gone from ads about the thing I Googled the other day, to literally predicting my deepest desires. Every single thing that I’ve ever done or searched on the Internet is being collected into the many algorithms of these companies, so they can better target me with their advertising.

It may seem far fetched, but I’d argue that we could even relate to telescreeens. Many times I’ve found myself covering up webcams on my devices just to ensure my privacy. There was a whole meme for a while about FBI agents watching each and every one of our personal devices. While obviously that notion might be impossible, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t tracking our devices in some other way. Even more concerning, is the array of security devices lining every building and street. You are literally being watched at every moment. Can I talk about the random appearance of those Amazon Echo devices and Alexa. One day, they just appeared in everyone’s houses, like at the same time. I hardly get the appeal of them. Who’s to say it isn’t the government’s way of monitoring us inside our houses. I mean the devices must be listening at all times in order to pick up our vocal commands. I’m not saying that’s true, but I find it mildly disconcerting.

Honestly, I don’t think we’re a long way away from thought control if the government wanted to control us more. However, with America being a Republic, most Representatives value their privacy too and probably want to protect it. Still, it’s always good to pay attention. And next time you’re having a conversation with your friend, make sure to greet Siri just to make her and Big Brother feel a little more welcome in your home.

How to Create a Utopia:

Step 1: Eliminate free will from the people, essentially creating robots

Step 2: Program the robots to work and live “perfectly”

Step 3: Watch your Utopian society function exactly as you programmed it to

In your new Utopian society, your humans will now get along perfectly. Why? Because you elimated what makes them human; their free will. But now you’re asking, isn’t free will a good thing? No! Of course not! Free will enabled Eve to eat the apple, and free will started the world wars. Free will made Jesus die on the cross, and it’s free will’s fault that you yelled at your sibling yesterday. Free will, unfortunately, is plagued by this nasty thing called human nature. Human nature is your survival instinct to take care of yourself. That’s pretty selfish! It’s okay though, you’re only human.

So you’re gonna tell me now that people are “basically good”. Yeah okay. If people were basically good, we could just ask everyone to put their selfish desires aside and they’d do it. No questions asked. But they don’t. That has literally never happened in all of human history. You tell me of one government that never got corrupted. Tell me about one human being that never made a selfish choice.

Human nature is humanity’s most basic inclinations. Think about it. Has anyone ever taught their child to be bad? Of course not! It takes years of practice to try to teach a child to be polite and obediant. A person will always have a mind of their own, and they are always going to chase selfish desires. It’s humanity’s downfall. You can’t just curb people’s desires without erradicating their free will. They might choose at one point to be generous, but at another to be selfish. However, in a utopia, you just can’t risk that. You can’t have people out there choosing things. That’s when things get out of control. All sensible governments keep things in control.

But now you’re wondering about the good choices? What happens to the good things if we get rid of the bad things? What if on the off chance, these humans make the choice to be generous and compassionate? What if they make the choice to love? Well that is far to risky. As long as people can choose, they will make bad choices. Their motivations will be tainted and the consequences deadly.

So now you get me? Do you see why we need to surpress this free will thing? Well that is if you want a utopia, with humans at least. I mean, humans are predictable. When they have choices, some might choose to give sometimes, but mostly they will take. So why not make it where there is no love and there is no hate? If there are no choices, there are no selfish, violent, or greedy desires.

Oh? So you don’t want a utopia? You say that if there’s no chance for generosity then there’s no point? If there’s no place for love, then you won’t have it? Just know, if you want free will, then you better be ready to put up with human nature and the bad it entails. Fine then, ignore my perfect plan for a perfect society. That is your choice I guess.