Civil Disobedience Refiection

"Civil Disobedience" is the emerges of the Transcendentalism which followed the Romanticism period of writing. This piece of Transcendentalism was written by Henry David Thoreau and was a part of a new wave of writing that was influencing other people and spreading new views throughout America. The Transcendentalism period of time was influenced greatly by the rebellion of religion and government (Barney). "Reacting against both the Puritanism and the rationalism of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Transcendentalists adopted neither religious faith or radical skepticism but instead explored the spiritual and imagination and contact with nature" (Barney). Another characteristic of the Transcendentalism period is the disbelief in the government and the rebellion against them thinking that the do not know what is best for the people. In the novel Civil Disobedience they talk about the government and how the best government is one that governs least ( Thoreau). Today people believe that the government is to involved and that they need to leave things alone like the recent bills going in to effect about allow the government to regulate what is published or copyrighted on the internet. These bills were going to block site that contained copyrighted information and that would have the government putting their noses into stuff that they do not need to be involved in. Transcendentalist today would have been outraged at the idea of the government trying to control yet another thing that they do not understand completely.

"Transcendentalism espouses a belief in a kind of god or a divine principle inherent in humans that binds them to the natural world" (Barney). The thought of Transcendentalist is that they are connected to nature and not wrapped up in all the religion and politics of the time. They want to rebellion against the normal status quo and that is also kind of the same as the Romanticism period with the belief in the nature and not the so caught up in blaming others and government problems."After all, the practical reason why, when the power is once in the hands of the people, a majority are permitted, and for a long period continue, to rule, is not because they are most likely to be in the right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority, but because they are physically the strongest" (Thoreau). The people want the power and they are not getting it so they are writing about their frustrations with the government and the opinions that they have about the nation and what they want to see in the world. They are also in search of equality and fair treatment in the eyes of the people compared to the high life of such officials in politics and higher paying positions. " Such command no more respect than men of straw or a lump of dirt. They have the same sort of worth only as horses and dogs. Yet such as these even are commonly esteemed good citizens. Others, as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders, serve the state chiefly with their heads; and, as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil, without intending it, as God" (Thoreau). This statement from Civil Disobedience describes their feeling of how they believe they are being treating and it is true they deserved to be treated like just like everybody else. The United States was built on the idea of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness and even in the Constitution it states that all men are created equal and this idea is what has sparked wars and revolts against the same people who are suppose to be living according these rules.

"Thoreau's Civil Disobedience - 1." The Thoreau Reader. Web. 25 Jan. 2012.

Barney, Brett, and Lisa Paddock, eds. "Transcendentalism." Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Age of Romanticism and Realism, 1816–1895, vol. 2, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Journal 26

The debate between morally right and wrong is a gray line and whether or not there is a time or reason great enough to break the law. If you are dying and the only way to live is to break the law break that law the need to survive and provide is extremely important and it triumphs all the laws because life is important. If a woman was homeless and had no money to provide for her kid I think it is okay for her to do whatever she needs to do to give that baby the best chance to survive. I think it is acceptable for a person to break the law in need to save their family and keep things at home okay. If she is going to steal food it should be healthy food and not like brownies or candy. The law is a great thing and it prevents many people from doing stupid things but some people take advantage of the system that provide for the poor people. People that do not work and are totally capable of working and collecting welfare or disability is the fault of the government because they do not regulate it as much as possible and these people are able to continue using government funding without really needing it and taking away from the people who really need it and I believe that this is a crime and should be punished for these crimes. The government should have better regulation of their money. Their are those who have to live on the welfare and it is sad when people abuse it. The law is the law and if you have a woman who is living on the street with no money and food who really needs to feed her kids should she be allowed to get the money compared to the people who are abusing the law. I think the woman should have just amount of right to help her family. The law is a questionable thing that is messed up in many ways.

The Minister's Black Veil Reflection

"The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is another piece of Dark Romanticism that reflects the psychological aspect and the mystery because no one knows why Mr. Hooper has started wearing a veil across his face and there is the mystery and like in many other towns rumors start to spread. "The veil isolates him from humanity and is an emblem of his martyrdom to spiritual truth. His emotional life has been curtailed and he has cut himself off from others on the basis of an abstract religious conviction" (Wright). This is Mr. Wright's thoughts of the mystery veil that Mr. Hooper wears and in many opinions the veil symbolizes his sin. Even the great Edgar Allan Poe a famous Dark Romanticist writer is even unsure of the true symbolism for this veil but he believes it to be a symbolism of Hooper's specific sin, which could be connected with the funeral of the young woman he conducts (Wright). Hawthorne character of Mr. Hooper describes a man growing detached from the world and the communication with others and he is isolating himself by acting different which makes people start to avoid him making him closer to isolation and this does things to the mind.by isolating yourself you become out of touch with the reactions among people that are so important to mental health and when someone cuts themselves off these connections are lost and lonely and become sad.

" She withdrew her arms his grasp, and slowly departed, pausing at the door, to give one long shuddering gaze, that seemed almost to penetrate the mystery of the black veil. But, even amid his grief Mr. Hooper smiled to think that only a material emblem had separated him from happiness, though the horrors, which it shadowed forth,must be drawn darkly between the fondest of lovers" (Hawthorne).

This is another example of how the veil is separating Mr. Hooper from society and the relationships of the world he told the woman that he cold not be with her in the world now but that they could be together in the afterlife in Heaven. This thought about his relationships in the afterlife is disturbing because most people tend to avoid the whole subject of death and focus on the relationships they have now instead of the ones they want to have when they die. "In this manner Mr. Hooper spent a long life, irreproachable in outward act, yet shrouded in dismal suspicions; kind and loving, though unloved, and dimly feared; a man apart from men, shunned in their health and joy, but ever summoned to their aid in mortal anguish" (Hawthorne). The people area afraid of him and they do not know what to think about him and this causes him to loose touch with society. He lived a very long time and watched most of his parish die and he performed most of their funerals as he continued to live. This could have also played a factor in how he isolated himself he watched all the other people die and did not want to feel the pain that came with death so he parted himself from the people and became detached from the people around him so that he did not have to feel the pain of lost.

Wright, Sarah Bird. "'The Minister's Black Veil'." Critical Companion to Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Hawthorne,, Nathaniel. "The Minister's Black Veil, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1836." Eldritch Press. Web. 23 Jan. 2012.

Journal 25

Fear is when you are afraid of something like the fear of spiders in arachnophobia. Fear has extreme power over people and can prevent them from doing certain things and it influences lives and the things you do. The fear of heights can stop people from going on airplanes, roller coasters, and even riding in elevators. I am afraid of being pushed and trapped into a dryer or drowning. The thought of being consumed by water and not being able to get out and feeling the water filling my lungs fill with water. It does not seem like it would be a very pleasant way to go and that is why I think I fear it the most. I can swim but then thinking about possible being trapped in a boat or a car and being trapped is a huge reason that I am scared of drowning. There are a lot of people who drive off the road and land in a lake or any type of water and they die so that is something that I am afraid of. The whole dyer fear started when I was like eight and I watched a scary episode of CSI where they killed the little kid by putting him in the dryer. Now I am afraid that some evil person is going to push me into the dryer and start it. That is why I hate when there is that one sock that is in the very back and you have to reach in their really far to get it almost putting your whole head in and that is the moment that I freak myself out. I am also afraid of someone kidnapping me because they were hiding in the closet so I have to sleep with my closet door closed. I have to be able to see my closet door, the door to my room, and the window to be able to sleep. Those are my fears and they are weird. I know that but that is what I am afraid of.

Pit and Pendulum reflection

"The Pit and the Pendulum" is a very dark piece of the Romanticism writing written by Edgar Allan Poe that explores the psychology destruction of a person. The man in the story is sentenced to death and is trapped in a dungeon during the time of the Spanish Inquisition. The man has been put into a torture chamber area where they are torturing him and he recounts his mental state and what the torture did to him. This is an element that is deeply explored in the Dark Romanticism era not only the imagery and the paranormal, mystery, but the destruction of the human mind and spirit in such tragedies.

" I dreaded the first glance at objects around me. It was not that I feared to look upon things horrible, but that I grew aghast lest there should be nothing to see. At length, with a wild desperation at heart, I quickly unclosed my eyes. My worst thoughts then, were confirmed. The blackness of eternal night encompassed me. I struggled for breath." (Poe 445)

The man is stuck down what he believes is a tomb but at first he believes he has been buried alive. This causes him to think of things that are crazy. The man is afraid to open his eyes and in his mind he is thinking of the worst things that could be happening to him, which eventually he is tortured pretty badly. " The hot iron walls of his dungeon begin to close in, forcing him ever closer to the frightening pit. It is here that the carefully crafted, frightening and suspenseful tales falls flat." (Hammond) The psychology torture that this guy endures he closely related to what some prisoner's of war had to deal with before their were rule to how a country to treat prisoner's of war. The lucky thing for this man is that he is saved at the very end. While reading the reader could relate this treatment in a more kid really way with the Disney Classic The Hunchback of Notre Dame because the Justice of the Peace guy that rules the city has a scary torture chamber that is kind of similar to the torture dungeon that this guy is put in. " I thrust my arms wildly above and around me in all directions. I felt nothing; yet dreaded to move a step, lest I should be impeded by the walls of a tomb." (Poe 445). The darkness that surrounds him is just like a dungeon that the guy has in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It the same thing here only since this is a Dark Romanticism piece it is a bit more graphic compared to the rated g movie approved for all ages.

"The sweep of the pendulum had increased in extent by nearly a yard. As a natural consequence, its velocity was also much greater. But what mainly disturbed me was the idea that had perceptibly descended." (Poe 449)

That is extreme psychology torture and it is messed up to torture someone like that and this shows that the people who have this guy are just as crazy as what happens to the people who are tortured. The sick idea of the man who is creating these devices and torture things need a psych evaluation. The destruction of their victim is not only psychological but also physical.

Hammond, J. R. An Edgar Allan Poe Companion. Totowa, N.J.: Barnes & Noble, 1981.

Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Pit and the Pendulum." In The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2006.

journal 24

I do not really get scared every I and the person scaring other people but I am terrified of drowning and getting stuck in a dryer. There was this one time that I got really scared but it was totally okay because it was a freaking scary night. It was really late and my aunt and I were coming home and their was this creepy car that had the door open but it was not open enough for the inside light to come on. We walked quickly into the house and watched the car from the house and the person just sat there in his car. I was so scared. We were staking out the car that was possible going to break in to the house and kill us. My aunt was scared and I was scared and we did not know what to do. So she called my uncle who was a police officer and he told her that he would drive by in the squad car in a bit. While she was on the phone with my uncle she sent me upstairs to wake up my other uncle up so that he would be there. He was really mad at my aunt and went outside in his underwear to the car. It turned out that the kid was still there from Ben's crazy party and the guy was probably super drunk and did not know what was going on. That was probably the most scared I have been in a long time. The other night I scared Emily and she about peed her pants I scared her so good. I stood by the pantry and as she was walking out of the kitchen I jumped out and yelled and it was super funny how freaked out she got. I scare her all the time because it is super funny and she is really easy to scare. I like to be the scarer and not the person getting scared.

Edgar Allan Poe Reflection

"The Raven" is one of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous poems and is a perfect example of the Dark Romanticism style of writing during the Romanticism period. "The Raven" shows many characteristic of the Dark Romanticism period including the element of the evil, which it one of the big parts of Dark Romanticism. The Dark Romanticism was a branch off of the Romanticism with means that it needs to be descriptive and have elements of nature but with the dark side they added mystery and tragedy to the story (Whiteman). The way Poe describes the raven as the bird of ill omen brings in a dark and mystical element to the raven. The ill omen of a raven comes with tragedy which is believed by many that the raven and the crow symbolize death and tragedy. "Poe's bird is at once a literal and a symbolic presence, a visitor from the dark external world and an emblem of the darkness of grief within the speaker's soul." (Bloom) In the final stanza the reader see that this connection by the mention of the speaker in these lines, " And the lamp light o'ver him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;/ And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor/ Shall be lifted -- nevermore!" ( Poe 71). He sees himself as the raven and that dark creature on the inside that is dark and tragic. Poe reflects a lot on the inner conflict and psychological state of his main character and what they feel inside and how that pain, usually affects them (Whiteman). The detailed descriptions used by Edgar Allan Poe is a common theme throughout all of the Romanticism writing and Poe using a darker description than most Romanticism writers would have which is another way to distinguish between the two Romantic styles of writing. " Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,/ Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore" ( Poe 68). In this example of the dark description it is a dreary midnight and if this was a more traditional Romanticism poem it would have more likely taken place in the day and on a sunny day. The darkness of the unknown with this opening statement draws in the readers attention and people are very curious about the unknown because of the that reason they do not know. The speaker lost his love Lenore which is a very common occurrence in Dark Romanticism writing and just like all the others he has lost his love and the raven being a sort of symbol for the devil and what is to come in the afterlife (Poe). The raven replies to him every time the answer nevermore. The man has gotten so scared that he makes a deal with the raven to leave but at the cost of the man's life. "Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!" (Poe 71). This is the climactic end to the man life and we will never know what he is found for did he truly meet the devil in the form of a raven or did he simply scary himself to death in his dark and lonely room on that dreary midnight while he sat pondering.

Poe, Edgar A. The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. New York, NY: Barnes & Noble, 2006. Print.

Bloom, Harold, ed. "'The Raven'." Edgar Allan Poe, Bloom's Major Poets. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 1999. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= BMPEAP19&SingleRecord=True (accessed January 17, 2012).

Whiteman, Terra. "Dark Romanticism in Literary Fiction: A Historical Look on the Concept of the Infamous ‘Love Curse’." 6 Nov. 2011. Web.

journal 23

I love scary movies and today is Friday the thirteenth so I will be watching scary movies tonight and it is going to be a lot of fun. I love the Scream movies because they have a lot of suspense and you do not know who the killer is and when he is going to kill someone. The second and third Scream movies are just as awesome because again the whole mystery of the who is the new killer and who will die. The one kid who analyzed the scary movies is my favorite he was watching the scary movie in the house and the Scream guy was behind him and you keep yelling at him to turn around but the Scream guy does not attack him and you do not know why but you think he is going to die. The Nightmare on Elm Streets are also very good movies the whole thing about Freddy coming in your dreams is super freaking and the whole movie is just really jumpy and it the music that leads you to think something is going to happen but then nothing does is what gets me really scared. I think one of the scariest movies I have ever seen was Pet Cementry which is freaking creepy the little boy coming back to life which was messed up to the extreme. He was a weird little demon when he came back and looked all creepy and cut his dad's tendon. The Invasion of the Body Snatchers is another really great movie that is super weird. The people becoming aliens and throwing out the skins of the real people and you are living with a complete stranger and they start bringing in people to have the aliens invade and kill them basically and take over the world. Scary movies rock and I love them now and can't wait for tonight so I watch so more like The Omen and Scream four I am so excited.

Journal 22

With my little blue mittens and sled

I went in search to find a hill

I felt my ears get cold and turn red

while I was still in search for the hill

It began to snow and ice

but still I searched for the perfect hill

My sled was red and was very nice

I went over the little hills

Calling out was mom in search of me

but all I could think was where was he

I looked all over and wonder where he could be

and pass the trees I finally found he

With excitement I ran to the top

I threw down my sled in a hurry

And I jumped aboard with a pop

I grasped the rope and held on for the journey

The rush of the wind hitting my face

I loved the feeling of the cold winter snow

I ended my run in a familiar place

And stood up and brushed off the snow

I picked up myself and headed home

My mom was waiting at the door

with a cup of cocoa with foam

and watch the snow fall for some more

Journal 21

The white winter snow covers the trees with their bare branches with ice hanging down instead of the warm colorful leaves that come with the spring. The dear step lightly through the snow in search of food. The winter snow shines brighter with the the sun reflecting on it and the tiny bunny hops back to his burrow for a long winter nap. The forest is empty and quiet for most of the animals have fallen asleep for winter or like the birds who have gone South for the winter. The creek flows quietly and the soft sound of water flowing down over the rocks. There is a tiny cabin tucked away behind the pine trees with smoke arising from the stone chimney. If you peered through the window you would see a small family huddled by the fire drinking hot cocoa and telling stories. The children were wearing cute little hats with animals on them. They had chocolate mustaches that covered their upper lips and burnt their tongues from the steam coming off the mug. The window begins to fog from the warmth of the house. As the sun begins to fade behind the bear trees and the forest because quiet and almost dead except for the whistling wind that blows throughout with a steady fall of fresh winter snow. The lights in the house slowing go out and the people go to bed but the owl is just waking up and he watches over the forest. The new snow falls quietly each new snowflake unique in its own way dusts over the trees and the fallen branches. The branches start breaking and the loud crack is heard throughout the quiet forest for the weight of the snow was to much for its limbs. The fallen branches become home for smaller animals and they carry them away to make a bed for themselves. The peacefulness of winter is calm and simple and time tends to slow down and the world seem a little better.