Look @ Me Now - Humanities
The humanities side of this project involved writing several different paragraphs about our lives in the context of literary elements. Here are my paragraphs:
Theme: There aren’t many things that make individual human lives special. So many people have lived before you and so many people will live after you. Once you’re dead, life goes on. Rather than focus on inevitable death, I focus on my personal goals. Some of my leading goals are to attend a good college and become an active community theater participant. Overall, I don’t strive to “succeed.” For many, the goal of life is to “succeed”, but I’d much rather make the most of my time by being cheery and making a difference for others. I find happiness and the well being of those around me more important than things like money and fame. In summary, life and death are inevitable. Instead of getting sad or aiming towards material goals that won’t last, I strive to make a difference for others, and be happy while doing it. Setting: The human race resides on a tiny little planet in the Milky Way Galaxy that we like to call Earth. On Earth, there are several masses of land surrounded by oceans. I live on a portion of a landmass known as The United States of America. If you zoom in on the western coast, you’d see California. Zoom in further south, and you’d see the San Diego area. Keep going and you’d eventually see my father’s house and my mother’s house, connected by the 78 freeway. I will go see other parts of Earth when I am older, but for now, my heart and mind reside here. I entertain myself and try to live my tiny life happily. Conflict: As of now, my conflict is Man vs Self. Everyone has their time to figure out who they are. Some people figure out quickly, while some people take much longer. My time happens to be now: my high school years. I make a lot of time for myself to reflect on who I am. I have thought for hours on end. The more I think, the better I feel about myself. As I think about who I am in this sea of people, I will slowly, but surely, become sure of things. That’s all any teenager can really do for themselves. Characterization: Currently, the most important people in my life are my mother, father, and sister. My mom has always been a positive presence in my life. She knows when to give me comprehensive advice, but she also knows when I just need to hug it out. My dad can help me through problems that seem impossible at first. He figures things out by laying it all out in front of me without bias. Both my parents have helped me through everything and I know they will continue to do so. Then, there’s my sister. She goes from childhood best friend conversations to real world conversations fluidly. She makes me feel like I’m on her level as a fellow teenager, but she’s also more mature than some adults I’ve met. All three of them are my life mentors. They always help me be who I am. Even at my age, they’re open to my personality and way of life. I couldn’t be more thankful for them. Protagonist: My sister brings out the best in me, even when she doesn’t mean to. She gives me so much positive reinforcement and hard critique on my work that I would never get from anyone else. Any time we put our heads together for anything, work or play, we usually come out of it smiling. We aren’t beyond our arguments, but I can tell that she fights for both of our sake. It’s clear that she cares deeply for me, even when she’s sad or angry. If I didn’t have her, I would have to learn how to handle myself alone. I am always grateful for her support. Antagonist: Towards the end of our relationship, my first boyfriend brought out the worst in me. Originally, I loved being around him and he loved being around me. At some point, things went south. It happened slowly, so I wasn’t able to notice it, but he became more focused on himself and less on us. He would act like my hobbies and interests were dumb or irrelevant. On top of that, he got more violent and insistent. I would accept his behavior without noticing that there was no reason for me to. This built up to the point where he went too far (see flashback). People said that they were glad he was gone. That made me sad at first, but I eventually realized that him leaving was definitely for the better. Flashback: The moment I think about most in my life is the week when my first boyfriend slapped me across the face. He had infringed on my boundaries one day during lunch by putting his hand on my leg. After several moments of panic, I accidentally spilled milk on his fancy hat. With little to no hesitation, he grabbed his hat with his right hand and aimed directly at my right cheek. The wind hit me first, then the felt of the hat. I felt no physical pain, but I found my head had moved from the impact. He was babbling some nonsense about how his hat was difficult to wash when he was dragged away from me by a teacher. Sometime later, he tried to convince me over text that it was my fault. I didn’t think for a second that it was my fault, but that didn’t stop me from being sad. Later on, he broke up with me because “the spark was gone.” I haven’t talked to him since, but I still try to understand his motives and thoughts. Why did he put his hand on my leg at school? Why did he resort to violence against his long time girlfriend? I ask these questions, but I know that I don’t need to know the answer. Irony: As I stated in Theme, I find the inevitability of life and death self evident. For me, it’s important to understand that petty things won’t matter in the long run so that I don’t focus on them. It helps me move on when I need to. When I tell people about my life philosophies, the result is often similar. They often say things like, “That sounds really sad” or, “Are you okay?” I understand where they come from because when some people tell themselves these things, they become depressed and dissatisfied with the world. The irony lies in the fact that I find a strange positive comfort in an ideology that many would find painful to hear. Symbolism: The biggest symbol in my life is my earbuds. When I put my earbuds in to listen to music or otherwise, it’s as if there’s a wall around me. I stop paying attention to the world around me and I begin to focus on what I can hear. Even if nothing is playing from them, it’s still difficult to hear my surroundings. As a younger child, I would build my wall during unfortunate times: as I do chores, before dinner, in the car during important conversations, etc. After years of experience, I can tell when I need to tear the wall down and be a part of the moment. I can also tell when it’s okay to go into solitude. This development was important to my family so I made the effort to learn when it’s acceptable to use my earbuds. Foreshadowing: The way I participate in theater foreshadows my way of living. I play a character, such as a young man or an old woman, and I explore their motivations and emotions. This helps me put myself in their shoes and act more naturally. When the show is done, I evaluate my own personal motives and emotions. You can compare and contrast a character’s motives versus mine all you want, but what’s important is that I don’t evaluate them for the same reason. I look at my own actions after shows to live more naturally and happily. |
We also wrote poems in the "I am" format. Since I've already written several poems like that, I chose to do some different things, like rhyming and being concise.
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