Masterpiece: Connections

Everything on planet Earth is connected to one another, and although us humans like to separate everything into categories, like subjects, cultures, et cetera, the world does not do this.  For instance, there are many things in Earth's many cultures that are very similar to aspects of other cultures.  I question why these similarities arose, and try to find where they come form.

The Firebird Myths: firebirds are found in many cultures, and are often though to signify the sun, and    rebirth, due to the sun's "birth" and "death" each day.  The sun is also thought to be the basis of all rebirth ideologies and myths, from the Hindi caste system, to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Greek Phoenix 

The Slavic Firebird

The Witches:

Lloyd Alexander's
"The Black Cauldron"
which depicts the three witch
myth in the Celtic regions of Europe.

There is a common myth about witches in groups of three throughout the different indo-european cultures, I wrote about them here.

Shakespeare used this common
mythical form in his play "Macbeth"

A painting of a clock modeled after the
Baba Yaga's house.  This painting was
painted by Viktor Hartmann, and served as the
inspiration for the ninth movement of
Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition
Suite, The Hut on Fowl's Legs (Baba-Yagá).

The Krampus: A christianized tradition.

Thousands of years ago in pre-christian Europe, there was a germanic goddess who is known as the germanic equivalent to Greek Hera.  In northern regions, she was known as Frigg, in central Europe, she was known as Holda, and in the southern, alpine area of the germanic peoples' land, she was known as Perchta.  Perchta had a very important task at the Yuletime celebration- to scare away the evil spirits that roamed Earth in the "darker half" of the year.  The germanic people of the alpine regions would celebrate this in Yule celebrations by doing what Perchta did: dressing as a mutilated goat and scaring the spirits away.  When the christians came and converted the germans to christianity, they forced them to give up their old beliefs, but some lived on- Yule as Christmas, Samhain as All Saints Day, and Perchta traditions as Krampus, St. Nick's companion, and punisher of naughty children.  This also connects to the witches, as Baba Yaga myths first appeared in slavic areas in the alpine regions.  Was the slavic fear of the germanic tradition of perchta what caused the Baba Yaga myths?

Other than Mythology:

There is far more to these cross cultural connections than in just mythology.  Almost every aspect of our culture is mirrored in other cultures, and there are far more connections between the people of earth than just culture, such as mathematical concepts, science, art, and simply how we think.  I feel that it is due to human nature.

One fun example of similarity is the Sandwich! If you think, most cultures have a meat that is wrapped in bread, and they did this without communication: tacos, sandwiches, gyros, falafels, dumplings, and many many more...

Macbeth Character Map

Normally I do not use Cliff Notes, but this map was a very good representation of what I needed:

THE CROSSROADS BETWEEN SHOULD AND MUST

I am really not sure about this crossroads concept.  I am a major planner, and I plan things years in advance so that I will not ever have to be caught off guard with a big decision.  My mind is generally mad up in advance.  I already know what my "must" is, and I follow it.  If I did not, I would not be at all be as driven with my work.  I tend not to do things that I do not consider musts, I just push them aside and out of my radar.  They have nothing to do with what I want to do.  This way, I truly only do what I want to do.  I study out of school because I want to.  I research because I want to.  I take AP courses because I want to.  Do you see me partying? No, because I do not want to.  I am lucky to like what society wants me to do, so most people's shoulds are my musts.

10 Commandments of AP Literature & Composition

Hey, guys! I found this resource on the internet that someone was not showing us!  I think it would be very helpful for all of you to read it!
http://drprestonsrhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com/2012/02/10-commandments-of-ap-literature.html
Thank you for this resource, Dr. Preston!

AP Questions for Macbeth

1) Pick a novel in which friends become enemies.  Explain how the author uses characterization and the plot to make this happen.

2) In great literature, no scene of violence exists for its own sake.  Choose a work of literary merit that confronts the reader or audience with a scene(s) of violence.  In a well-organized essay, explain how the scene or scenes contribute to the meaning of the complete work.  Avoid plot summary. (actual prompt from 1982 that I felt would work well)

3) Pick a novel in which a character's actions make him commit similar actions in the future.  Explain how this makes us sympathize the character, while at the same time making us disagree with them.

What about my masterpiece?

    I have been struggling with the whole masterpiece thing, as Dr. Preston wants us to do something, and I am just trying to learn a lot, not thinking that I have the skill set to do what I want to do yet, as I really want to learn about the world and research at a university and be a professor, while the people around me want to go into music and cooking and other things like that.  I was trying to get by by studying the world, but I do not think that that will work as a masterpiece.
    Recently, a friend who has a rare and largely unknown disease that doctors are trying to learn about using this person as a test subject, as this person is the only one to have it.  This person was wondering what the medications that helped their disease had in common, so I was given the list of medications, and am going to look at the structure and function of these medications to see what is actually helping or hindering this person's disease.

Meet Macbeth

    In the opening of the play, Macbeth is introduced through indirect characterization by a soldier talking to his king.  In how Macbeth was introduced, Shakespeare drew from the medieval germanic/norse epics in order to incite the time period in which the play takes place, and the culture it comes from.  In this introduction, the audience learns about how brave a warrior Macbeth was, and how he slay the rebel leader, ending the Scots rebellion.  Even though the audience is told of his great deeds, they are meant to be unsure about it, as the witches warned that things that might seem good would be bad.  This meant that the witches also characterized Macbeth just as much as the wounded soldier at the beginning, but their lyrical way of talking gave their version of characterization a very nebulous tone, which meant that Shakespeare could tell what was going to happen, but be so roundabout about it that the audience only got a taste of what was to come.  This characterization also tells the audience how Shakespeare felt about his character:  he is initially good, but his deeds and remorse blur this line and make him spiral into insanity.  Macbeth is shown as a valiant soldier and a ruthless killer, and these will stay with him until his death.

YOU'RE ALWAYS A WOMAN TO ME

Macbeth sees his wife as a person who is looking out for his best interests, and to be more exact their best interests as a couple.  He sees her as a person who is trying to encourage him to do things that will better himself, and that will help him grow as a person.  In actuality, though, Lady Macbeth is just a power hungry, back stabbing hag who wants to rule Scotland, and she does not really care about people, only her wants.