Hits and Misses

Hit 1:

Human Nature is composed of building things up and breaking them down. We create buildings, then we bulldoze them down. We build relationships amongst ourselves, then we tear them apart. We construct rules just to break them. Humans can accomplish anything they want to if they work together. Anything can be built when we work agree, however anything can be destroyed when we only think about ourselves. If humans could all work together for the greater good, nothing would have to be destroyed. Instead of pointing out our differences, we could celebrate them.
We divide ourselves into countries, and we further divide ourselves into categories within it. Instead of dividing ourselves we should focus on unification. Yet over and over humans simply cannot understand how to work together. Most of the suffering that exists in our world is due to our own jealousy and arguing. If we could focus on building each other up, rather than tearing ourselves down, we would live in a better place.

This blog is a hit because it has good coherence and uses examples to prove a point. I am able to describe my idea to the reader is an understandable way.

Hit 2:
As a frequent user of social media, I have my own opinions on how it affects the human brain. Apps such as Instagram are addicting and seem like a great way to share your experiences with friends and family. As you start off you might have a smaller number of followers, but you will still get some likes or comments. The first time you get some likes or a comment, your brain gets shot with a chemical called dopamine that makes you feel happy and like you are having a social interaction with a person even though you are not.

This is where a problem arises. Once you feel the thrill of getting some likes or comments on a post, it somewhat replaces the need for you interact with people outside of the internet. We are a social species that needs face to face interaction to maintain good health. However, these apps take advantage of every person’s wanting to feel accepted and be given attention and make people feel as though they are having these needs met. There are so many teens who have thousands of Instagram followers but have trouble interacting in real life with actual people.

This blog is a hit because I am carefully describing my view on an issue that I have both experience and knowledge on. It is truly helpful because this blog applies to most of the people who read it.

Hit 3:
            President Trump recently suggested that between 2000-4000 National Guard troops be stationed at the US-Mexico border in order to stop the "lawlessness that continues" in this place. This request was placed under federal law Title 32, which allows state governors control over troops of their state. The article describes multiple states responses to this request from President Trump. Arizona's republican governor, Doug Ducey, decided to send 338 Guards in the name of public safety and stated that these Guards will provide air support, assist with building the border, and keep close watch of it. Democratic governor of California, Jerry Brown, has not replied to this request.

            Susana Martinez, republican governor of New Mexico, responded and sent 80 troops but says 250 will eventually serve at the border. Lastly, Texas' republican governor, Greg Abbott, agreed to send 1000 troops to the border over time to end illegal immigration. Whatever viewpoint one has on this matter, they cannot deny that it is happening. Highly skilled troops are being sent to the US-Mexico border and security will be tighter than ever. I stumbled upon this topic when I realized how many of my friends' parents were Immigrants, and I found an article from Fox News and knew it would have factual information for me to use. Immigration is an extremely controversial subject that I want to better understand, so that one day in the future I might be able implement humane laws that insure the public safety of the United States.

This blog was a hit because I used a reliable source to answer a question in an arguable format with decent success.

Miss 1:
            The song "When I Was Your Man" from Bruno Mars describes a person's views and regrets of a past relationship. Throughout the song it has a slow beat the emphasizes how the speaker was upset with how a relationship turned out after they treated their partner wrongly. The song uses many techniques to support the dreadful feeling the song portrays.
            In the middle of the song, Bruno adds in some slant rhyme to make the song be slightly more catchy be uses good word choice to make sure the point gets across. He uses personification whenever describing how the emotions he felt were "Tearing" him apart. These techniques helped emphasize just how powerful and painful the emotions were for the speaker, and they truly help individuals better understand the point Bruno Mars was trying to get across.

This blog was a miss simply because of the lack of analyzation of the song. I stated that the song used multiple techniques, but I only talked about two techniques used when I should have described more.

 Miss 2:
               In Lord of the Flies, William Golding describes the turbulent story of young boys who find themselves alone on an island after their plane is shot down and crashes. He introduces a relationship between two boys that cause the story to turn out the way it does. Golding portrays an inconsistent rivalry between two brotherly characters, Ralph and Jack, in which the two boys both love and hate each other. This relationship leads to dangerous situations which cause the story to unfold brutally.
Jack and his fellow choir hunters let a fire die down, promoting tension between Ralph and Jack. The fire’s purpose is to create an abundance of smoke to catch the attention of a ship so the boys might be rescued from the island. After Jack and his choir drop their responsibilities to go hunting, the fire dies out, causing a ship to pass by the island without seeing any smoke. Ralph is furious at Jack when the boys miss the opportunity to be saved from the island saying, “You didn’t ought to have let that fire out. You said you’d keep the smoke going” (71). Jack behaves irresponsibly in this situation by going hunting thus neglecting the highest priority the boys set for themselves. Ralph and Jack show their conflicting personalities in this scene. Ralph wants to keep order and escape the island, while Jack would prefer to hunt and have fun. This initial confrontation will eventually lead to more serious and violent ones. However, what sets apart the relationship of Jack and Ralph from the rest of the boys, is the intense emotions each of the boys have one another.
               The odd part of Jack and Ralph’s relationship is how the two still manage to love each other deep down even after having multiple quarrels and disputes. In one scene, the two friends are found engaging in conversation. They have a bitter-sweet argument about whether it is too late to hunt, and they decide it would be better if they head in their own, separate paths. Golding states, “They looked at each other, baffled, in love and hate” (55). Jack and Ralph have a very tumultuous relationship throughout the novel. One day they will be on good terms, and the next day they will challenge one each other’s roles on the island. Though they are friends, they often have difficulty containing their jealousy. Since the boys certainly love each other, it becomes even more difficult not to act impulsively when they are angry at one another. What is the cause of this erratic behavior of these boys? It is certain that both are prominent and influential people on the island. Jack and Ralph’s strong personalities breed rivalry and even battles to see who should be the most popular among all the boys. These repeated struggles between the two boys provoke strife, and this strife leads to tragedy.
Jack feels as though Ralph is superior to him due to Ralph’s increasing popularity with the boys.  Jack becomes tired of Ralph’s decisions he makes with his power. Never in the story has Jack so frankly opposed Ralph in this following scene. In Jack’s jealousy of Ralph’s  position as chief, Jack asks his fellow boys if they think he should be chief, instead of Ralph, for his group of boys. Jack believes Ralph is all talk and is not fit for being chief in the society, after all, Ralph has not killed a pig yet. For the first time, Jack directly challenges Ralph’s role as chief and states, “I’m going off by myself. He can catch his own pigs. Anyone who wants to hunt when I do can come too” (127). The comical part of this scene is that no boys decide to join him at first, causing Jack to cry like an infant and run away in embarrassment. At first glance, this may just seem like an offended child who is mad that no one wants to join his group of hunters, but it symbolizes much more. All Jack had previously done was moderately argue with Jack, he never directly challenged Ralph’s role before to this degree. Here, jack hides nothing and states for every boy to hear that he believes Ralph shouldn’t be the leader. At first, Jack’s plan to become chief of his own hunters seems to completely fail, but later in the story, boys slowly leave Ralphs’s leadership and join Jack. This event not only further enrages the rivalry between Ralph and Jack, but also separates the boys under the influence different leaders. This causes the boys to hate one another as well. All the brutal actions occur between the boys are due to this point in the novel where Jack severs his ties to his old group.       
As the two factions of boys take shape and as more people leave Ralph to join Jack, the hate between the two boys is strong as ever. Jack’s alliance is set in stone and surpasses Ralph’s group in almost every aspect at this point. Jack is no longer lower than Ralph because he has pig meat and then more popularity among the boys. Jack is also ready to do anything in his power to widen the gap between the success of his faction and the success of Ralph’s. Ralph’s group only had one thing that Jack’s did not, a source of fire. Jack begins his path of brutality when he humiliates and violates Piggy and Ralph to steal Piggy’s specs to make a fire. This is the beginning of an onslaught of violent actions against Ralph and his small alliance. Jack was through with being considered below Ralph in any circumstance. With that, Jack did the only thing he could do to feel superior. Jack stole the source of fire from them. However, instead of simply taking Piggy’s specs, he feels as though he must assert his dominance by engaging in direct combat with Ralph and Piggy. The narrator describes the scene like this, “Ralph hit out; then he and what seemed like a dozen others were rolling over and over, hitting, biting, scratching” (167). This attack is no little spar; this attack is fought with pure rage and bare hands. Jack is so far from sane that he can no longer interact with Ralph’s group without physically hurting them. Jack and Ralph’s unstable relationship has dire consequences.
All the violent events in the novel Lord of the Flies can be traced back to the erratic interactions between Ralph and Jack. Their relationship troubles start with opposing opinions and small arguments. At first, the disagreements are forgiven after they spend time together, and renew their friendship. The rivalry escalates, and the two boys begin insulting one another even challenging each other’s leadership positions. Later as their relationship problems worsen, the two engage in outright battle. The boy’s love and hate for each other evolves into jealousy and paranoia that forces the story to end in catastrophe.

While not a failure, this paper is a miss because of the inconsistent coherence and the jumps from topic to topic.

            When people talk about Utopia, they usually think of some perfect society where everything is stress free and everything is done for you. In my opinion, this form of society would simply not function. In this “Utopia” people would just live blissfully with nothing at all to worry about, and that would be a huge problem. There would be no purpose to anyone’s life, and people would begin to question why they existed.
            For me personally, I believe that everyone needs something to do with their life to know that they are helping the world function. Instead of a Utopia without responsibilities, I imagine one that requires individuals to work. However, in this Utopia all conflicts would be resolved, such as all diseases have cures. However, it’s is 100 percent necessary that individuals know they are contributing to this society, and they are busy but happy.

I feel that this blog is my biggest miss due to it sounding as though it was written by a toddler. It just falls short and doesn’t really include much detail or any real reason to read it.









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