About The Crainial Cavity
The Cranial Cavity was created with purpose of displaying all of my work throughout the years I have grown in English class. Everything on the website is meant to be easy to find and all of the posted works are categorized by genre. The menu at the top of the website makes all of the different sections easy to access. I have also scattered various fun graphics around the website which make it more interesting to browse instead of being all white. My about me section effectively describes the goal of the website and goes into detail on my journey through high-school from an academic standpoint. Each article posted on my blog has a thumbnail picture which allows any reader to immediately tell what it will be about and whether it may interest them.
King Lear Essay
My essay on King Lear was one of the works I put the most effort into from throughout the course. It required analyzing various moments from King Lear and how they contributed to the progression of his character throughout the play. I thoroughly discuss the complex relationship between King Lear's power and his morality - after losing all of his power his morality begins to grow as he realizes his tragic mistake - which is a prominent theme throughout the play. I also made sure to take into account the time period in which King Lear was written as well as other factors that affected Shakespeare's writing, including the different kings/queens of England, contrasting religious views, and even the war between Spain and England. The essay also thoroughly analyzed the various writing conventions used by Shakespeare throughout the play as well as their purpose and how they conveyed the relationship between Shakespeare's power and morality. Each piece of my thesis is backed up by various secondary sources throughout the essay further solidifying my interpretations from the play.
ISP - Ready Player One
My ISP presentation was another project which I believe requried a great amount of effort and analysis. My ISP discusses the various themes conveyed by Ernest Cline throughout his writing in Ready Player One. I also discuss the methods he uses in combination with the first-person narration style which enhances the readers engagement with the adventurous plot that unfolds throughout the novel. I used secondary sources to introduce new and unique ideas of how the novel is meant to feel like a 'video game playthrough' and support these sources with evidence I found in the novel. I also made connections between Cline's work and the works of other authors who inspired his writing. One of the main examples being Lord Of The Rings which made a significant presence in the beginning of the main character's romantic relationship, this theory is also backed up by a secondary source. My presentation also discusses Cline's inspirations from his teenage years and 80s pop culture which is one of the most present themes throughout the novel. My favourite part of my presentation was how I believe Cline made an impact on literature - I predict that he has inspired a new generation of gamer turned authors who will produce new and unique adventure novels in the coming years. I think my added graphics and images were a nice touch that help keep the audience interested in the presentation by making it more lively and aesthetic. I'd also like to point out the embedding of the powerpoint into my website which makes it much more easy to access for users.
King Lear Poster Presentation
My King Lear Poster was one of the main contributing factors that helped me with accomplishing my essay which was mentioned previously. The purpose of the poster is to visually portray the relationship between King Lear's morality and power throughout the play which allows their connection to be analyzed more effectively. The blue sticky notes were used to represent his morality and the yellow notes represented his morality. Throughout my presentation I actively referred the level of morality and power in different quotes back to my thesis. The visual staircase of his morality that I created was extremely helpful for conveying the interpretations I made in my thesis. I believed that after losing his power his morality began to grow throughout the 3rd, 4th and 5th acts which is easily visible on the poster. My presentation only mentioned the quotes that were key to supporting my thesis which allowed it to be brief and effective in its ability to communicate key ideas to the audience.
Adapting Famous Writers - Ready Player One A Different Beginning
The purpose of this piece of writing was to rewrite a section of an author's novel or create a new section with a similar style to which they used in their writing. One of the main things I focused on was creating a contrast of emotion in the prologue versus the chapter it self. The prologue was written by Cline to feel like a manual to a video game that explains it and gives context which I tried to replicate, the chapter writing contrasts this as it is more full of emotion and action. I used similar language and structure features to Ernest Cline throughout my chapter extract and prologue to try and replicate his style of adventure writing. As I mentioned earlier Cline's writing is meant to feel like a 'video game playthrough' which is one of the main themes I tried to replicate in my adaptation. The analysis goes into much more depth on each method that is used along with how it serves a similar purpose to the methods used by Cline throughout his writing. The convention I believe I replicated the best was the first-person narration style, as mentioned in my ISP the first-person narration and unreliability in Cline's writing was what allowed him to create an epic sense of adventure in his writing. Being able to replicate this was key to creating an accurate adaptation.
Discussion 4
Discussion 4 was an assignment that I knew I had to include on this list, it was my highest mark from the entire term at 100%. I find discussions are also incredibly unique compared to other assignments as they rely on your collaborative and communicative abilities to build on the theories and ideas of others. All Quiet On the Western Front was a complex novel with various methods used to convey the horrors of WWI. I discussed how Remarque used different methods which all created imagery of the terrible events that occured in Paul's experience during the war. This discussion focused on chapters 7 and 8 which where Paul, the main character, went home which proved to be one of the most interesting chapters to examine. One of my main talking points that I remember from this discussion was Remarque using different writing conventions to convey to the reader how Paul felt alienated; he felt like he didn't fit in to his home environment anymore because the war had changed the way he functioned. I believe this was one of the biggest tragedies that occured with the 'Lost Generation' and proved to be one of the most heart wrenching chapters to discuss in class. It was also interesting discussing Paul's interpretation of the prisoners of war in chapter 8, he didn't see them as enemies but rather as individuals with similar lives, wants, and needs to himself that were just trying to escape the brutality of the front lines.
There is a good reason that ENG4U is a required course for all post-secondary programs, it is the very foundation of communicating in the academic world. My opinions and findings in all subjects are of no value if they can't be communicated effectively. English skills won't only help me in university but all aspects of life: job applications, writing important emails, and also helping to support my analysis skills on various topics. Grade's 9 through 12 have been an adventure and it has been incredibly rewarding to see myself improve over the years. In grade 9 I was barely able to construct a grammatically correct sentence and now I'm writing 2000 word long complex essays on the themes of Shakespeare's writing. However, none of this would've been possible without an amazing english teacher guiding me through the world of writing. At the beginning of grade 9 I considered myself to be a weak writer and accepted that as an objective truth; I have now realized after 4 years of Mr. Cohen's guidance and teaching that I am in fact a capable writer and I'm not sure I would've ever realized that on my own.
Thanks for being such a great english teacher Mr. Cohen.
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