Shreya's English Blog

  In this work of art, Banksy satirizes aquariums and zoos by employing the toilet bowl, hula hoop and kiddie pool. These elements suggest that the animals at these places are confined and aren’t able to live freely and contently. Banksy utilizes indirect satire to mock how sea-animals are kept captive in a space that is simply too small.  As if this were not enough, the sea-animals are forced to perform tricks all while being confined for other people’s pleasure. This aspect causes a reflective tone to its viewers as they ponder on this practice by human nature and think about whether it is worth jeopardizing and harming a living thing’s existence for simply brief enjoyment and monetary value. By creating a mocking, satirical and reflective tone, Banksy hopes that people will view his work of art and change their human practices to better reflect the interests of sea-animals, as they are living things too. This piece also criticizes places like SeaWorld as they have made a bu...

 Some students in high school stack their schedule with a bunch of challenging classes and leave no time for anything fun. Like do they not have anything better to do? Why do they spend endless hours into the night studying for tests and finishing homework when they could be indulging themselves in activities they actually enjoy. Everyday they arrive at school as zombies as they struggle to get through the day filled with a million tests in their million AP classes.  It seems to be a competition between these students with their friends to see who can take the most amount of AP classes, who can win the most award, who can earn the best grades, who can play the most varsity sports. Why do these student push themself so hard? What is their light at the end of the tunnel? Is there really a reason, or is this just a new game, high-schoolers play? Do they do all this to prove their worth on a few sheets of paper? Do they define themselves just by this? Is this what drives them to p...

  A similarity between historical texts and modern texts is the theme of quest for identity. In most works of literature, the quest for identity is described as an exceptionally captivating journey filled with ups-and-downs and unexpected events where one begins to understand their self clearly. The “quest” is truly like a roller-coaster as realizations come to light and facts are uncovered. Most of the times, during the quest for identity, the characters show a period of growth and understanding that set a positive path for the rest of their lives. However, in some novels, the characters who go on a voyage for identity end up discovering a harsh truth that sends them into a downward spiral. While I think the quest for identity is an important journey everyone will take, I feel that the amount of questioning of “who am I” or “where do I belong” should be limited.  For example in Oedipus Rex, Oedipus’s path takes a turn for the worse when he uncovers the truth about his fate an...

Reading the piece, We Were the Mulvaneys , prompted a realization for me. In the passage from this novel, Judd is characterized as a child who isn’t living in the moment and is thinking about things of the future such as death. Because of his constant worries for the future, I feel that Judd is hindered from truly experiencing the adventures of a child and is unable to enjoy life at the moment.  Though I have never reflected on something as intense or serious, I often catch myself worrying about the future and pondering what would happen if things don’t unfold the way I want them to. Sometimes, I even catch myself reminiscing of the past or regretting things that occurred. However, reading this piece made me realize that if I keep worrying or regretting events that are out of my control now, I would be distracted  from the events currently taking place and miss out on beautiful details.  Sometimes when I do wonder about life’s hardest questions and the future, I am unable...

 I am currently reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. The story revolves around Pip, an apprentice in a village who is suddenly catapulted into high society by a mysterious benefactor. He tries his best to adjust to his new society through the process of self-development. So far, he has been meeting with many people from around London to better understand the social situation and how he can adapt to it.  Pip is ambitious to improve himself so that he can be his best-self and starts to explore the influence & importance of social class. He also often reflects on high-class’s economic privilege and whether is an integral aspect of human character.  Pip’s personality mirrors Santiago’s personality from The Alchemist. Both characters are idealistic and try to achieve their “personal legend”. Both characters have naivety that hinders them from seeing the true world. Pip is very much attracted to the idea of improvement and whenever he perceives something as better...

Every time a new acquaintance is made or a conversation is started, the same friendly phrases such as "How are you?" and "Nice to meet you" are exchanged. Once these greetings are out in the open, people begin to talk about what they actually want to talk about. These polite greetings serve an important role in our community as they set the stage for a pleasant conversation. Polite speech is extremely valuable because they can reflect how a person is. A person who uses polite speech is considered to be one with manners and will be respected for this quality. In addition, polite speech can often times be used to ease into a conversation and can make communication more effective and efficient. If a person starts off a conversation without using any polite greetings/speech, the person may come off as disrespectful or a person without courtesy and the other person in the conversation may not want to further converse. These simple greetings can impact a person's ...

In the excerpt, "A Measure of Restraint", Chet Raymo satirizes and parodies human responses to novel and new items. Raymo emphasizes that people are so caught up in the illusion and mirage of discoveries and inventions that they don't think to reflect or speculate any possible dangerous side effects. Following with this, people start to give names to the novelties that reflect their mentalities. Raymo writes that radium was often referred to as "liquid sunshine", "spontaneously luminous" and thought to have "curative powers". Raymo then proves his claim with juxtaposing these positive remarks with Marie Curie's death. He then concedes that all scientific discoveries are good to an extent; in other words, he uses parallel structure to show that a novelty could be an "instrument of healing" but also be an "instrument of death" when used in excess as people in history were doing with radium. People would include radium in...