My Interactive Reflection Journal

This blog was created for my ninth grade English class. Every so often, our teacher assigns the class Interactive Reflection Journals, or IRJs. IRJ categories include Quick Responses, where we find quotes from our reading to write about and Open Prompts which we can use any quote as our topic. My favorite IRJ is the Creative Piece, where we can write about anything and truly display our individual writing styles.

IRJ#22 – Reflection (The Odyssey)

After reading the first three books of the epic poem The Odyssey, I noticed a strong emphasis on the ancient Greek culture. This helped put me on the positive track as I continue reading because I really enjoy learning about different cultures, modern or ancient.

The first point I noticed, as well as the first we discussed in class was the overall hospitality from the hosts to the guests, as well as their relationship in general. The hosts care about serving their guests and making sure they are happy and content. When Prince Telemachus, son of Odysseus, first encounters the goddess Athena, he says, “Greetings stranger! Here in our house you’ll find a royal welcome. Have supper first, then tell us what you need.” (Ody.1.144-146) One point that struck me was how welcoming the prince was; yes, Athena may be a goddess, but my impression of the prince, especially the son of great Odysseus, as a snotty, stuck up, I-am-better-than-you attitude. I was surprised by how welcoming and down-to-earth he was.

We also discussed and read that in ancient Greece, hosts are the gift givers, not the guests. Ancient Greek hosts did this to gain more respect, like whoever gives the better gifts become the most respected. This seemed interesting because if the ancient Greeks were all about caring for their guests, why is it a competition to see who’s better? Shouldn’t the gifts be out of the kindness of their hearts? Today, guests are the ones who bring gifts, but if we apply the idea of getting more respect, I feel like it doesn’t fit. Guests bring gifts to show their thanks and respect for the host, and as far as I know, guest don’t tend to compete to be the better guest, or try to get more respect over the other guest.

I feel like I can relate to the ancient Greeks’ customs because there are similarities between ours. We are hospitable when acting as hosts and care for our guests; in favor, when we play the guest role, we thank them for their generosity while the ancient Greek hosts give gifts to see who is more respected and generous. Our countries may seem far apart but our traditions feel a bit closer on the culture spectrum. I am excited to learn more as we continue on reading The Odyssey.

IRJ#21 – Reflection (Genesis)

Sibling Rivalries

As I read our Genesis assignment, I came upon an interesting and somewhat shocking incident. When Jacob chooses Rachel, the daughter of Laban, over the older daughter Leah, God “opens the womb” (Gen.29.31) of Leah and leaves Rachel infertile. Leah then has four children, making Rachel very jealous.

Rachel makes her maid Bilhah to have her children, and then when Leah discovered that she could not bear anymore children, she too made her maid Zilpah to have kids. What I think may not be true, but from what I read, I got the impression that Rachel had to have kids in order to feel at the same level as her sister, and then when Leah discovered she could no longer have children, she did the same. I felt that having the most children would make them the more powerful and better sister.

Along with this “rivalry,” I think that competition among siblings is a common motif, at least through the last few chapters I have read. Esau and Jacob fought for their father Isaac’s blessing, and the situation did not bring out the best in either of them.

Siblings always try to be the better child, the one with the bigger slice of cake or the one that gets the better grades. I believe that sibling rivalries do not always bring out the best in them, like in Genesis and even now, and this motif will appear in later chapters to come.

IRJ#20 – Reflection (Genesis)

Confusing Morals

As I read chapter 20 of Genesis, the quote from King Abimelech of Gerar stood out to me. After being tricked by Abraham, King Abimelech questions, “‘What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought such great guilt on me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that ought not to be done’” (Gen.20.9).

For the second time, Abraham tricked another king into believing that his beautiful wife Sarah was his sister in order to spare his own life. Abraham first tricked Pharoah of Egypt, and now King Abimelech. Both incidences, God came down and told them that Sarah was actually the wife of Abraham and threatened to curse them if they did not return her. Both kings proceeded on giving Abraham livestock, slaves, and land.

I do not feel as though it is right to punish those who were tricked into believing a complete lie, like these kings ended up doing. God embarrassed both in front of their people, though Abraham told them that Sarah was his sister, not his wife. Should a parent spank their child if the child did not know that he was not allowed to take a cookie? Would it seem fair to give detention to a student if he did not know that the teachers’ lounge was off-limits?

I feel as though these kings did nothing wrong. Sure, they took away Abraham’s “sister” for his wife without permission, but back then it was more acceptable than now. A negative message I get upon reading this chapter is Abraham being “rewarded” for lying, especially to a high authority. God makes the kings reward Abraham with wealth for using deception to spare his own life.

Overall, from what I read, I concluded that it is not fair to punish those who did nothing wrong or did not know better. When Abraham received gifts, I felt as though the message was to how it can be “acceptable” to lie and people can sometimes be rewarded.

If this is true, then God, next time I tell a big fat lie to my parents, can I get some money, clothes or even a few more horses? I mean, if Abraham can lie and get away with some animals and countless acres of land, why can’t I?

IRJ#19 – Reflection (Genesis)

Ending Evil With Evil

English I holds my first legitimate encounter with the Bible. Before, I would find copies of the Bible in hotel rooms and look through it when there was nothing on television, or I had visited church on several occasions only to become lost and confused as I tried to follow along. When I read the first few chapters of Genesis, I did not expect what I got: everything seemed extremely unrealistic and the matter of fact versus fiction came into pay in many occasions. What really set me aback was throughout chapters 6 through 9 of Genesis, when God to “blot” out humankind on earth because he saw “…their hearts [were] only evil continually” (Gen.6.5).

God saw how corrupt the earth was and decided that Noah would be the one he could “count” on in making earth a better place. He told Noah to build an ark and bring two of each kind of animal aboard along with his family, while God would flood earth with tremendous rainstorms, killing all living things, people and animals, on the earth.

Upon reading this, I felt that God’s idea seemed illogical and unnecessary for multiple reasons. To begin with, not every single person on the planet had evil in their hearts; God ended up killing innocent people, which also shows that he used “evil” ways (flooding and drowing the people) to kill the “evil” people.

After the flood, Noah built an altar that pleased God and then realized, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done” (Gen.8.20). As I read this shocking passage, I concluded that God had just killed every living thing on the planet only to realize that what He did was wrong. Then He proceeded to tell Noah and his family to be fruitful and mulitply in order to make up for what He destroyed, but I thought that the descendents of Noah and his family could become more “evil” than those before. What would God do if that happened; would he let them create havoc and distress throughout the world?

What struck me most from tonight’s reading was God’s “solution” to the problem. Instead of figuring out a way around what He did, He proceeded to kill every living thing on the planet and then realize that He should not have done what he did. Maybe what God did was to teach a lesson to Himself, or maybe it is just because I am only just beginning to understand the meanings of Genesis, but I will always remember these particular chapters as contradictory and questionable.

Image citation: http://www.rwrinnovations.com/images/noahs_ark.jpg

IRJ#18 – Reflection

As I read the “journal entries” of the cynical, above average intelligent teenager Nick Twisp, I fully understood the true meaning of “love causes us to do some crazy things.”

Nick falls for the hyper-intelligent Sheeni Saunders, the teenage goddess he came across at an average trailer park campsite. Realizing that she was the “one,” he did all he could to woo her with his semi-charming charms. Out of his uncontrollable love for the blonde brainiac, he created another side to himself: Francois Dillinger, the complete opposite of his personality. Francois is a smooth talking, devilish counterpart to Nick; using the first name Francois because Sheeni hopes to one day marry a French man and the name Dillinger, Nick’s dream of replacing the horrid name Twisp. Francois creates ridiculous havoc among his disjointed nut-case of a family as well as his arch enemies like Sheeni’s “ex boyfriend” Trent, and Dwayne, the crazy fat ten year old.

Francois fully fit the simple famous quote, “be bad.” In no particular order, he literally burned down almost half of Berkeley with just a car, nearly killed two girls using sedatives, and now, remains a fugitive and disguises as a girl named Carlotta Ulansky, all out of his love for Sheeni. In order to stay low from the police for the Berkeley fire, he results to dressing like a mysterious, odd-looking girl and attends Sheeni’s high school to stay close to her.

I do not hear love stories like this one everyday, nor will I probably ever will, but Nick Twisp proves the best example, so far, that if someone has found their one true love, they will go to amazing and extreme heights to prove their compassion towards them.

Image citation: http://www.filmshaft.com/images/2009/11/youth-in-revolt-michael-cera.jpg

IRJ-QR#17

The Secret Life Behind the Mask: The “Perfect” Person
As Lyra begins to uncover the mysteries of the “Gobblers” and the alethiometer, she meets John Faa, the lord of the gyptians, and as she spends more time with him she concludes “she [is] afraid of John Faa, and what she [is] most afraid of [is] his kindness.
Lyra thinks that John Faa is too good to be true, and that he acts so nice that his personality does not seem real. She never grew up around people so nice and kind, and meeting John Faa takes her back a bit because of his kindness.
Some people may portray themselves as the “too good to be true” type of person, whether they appear too innocent, too friendly, or too kind. They can also be the “perfect” person. For example, in some stories like teenage novels, the boy seems to be the most perfect guy in the world: perfect looks, athletic, smart, and kind. Girls often see them as too good to be true. They cannot believe they have found the perfect guy. In some cases, the boy turns out to be hiding something, whether it is a dark past, or secret. He cannot be perfect.
John Faa could be hiding something from Lyra because he comes off as being too good to be true, and so kind.
Proposition: People may seem “too good to be true,” or so perfect, but that does not mean that they are; they could be hiding something from everyone else.