I wrote three essays for my english class as an extra curricular mark and was hoping to get some editing done to it. There are no conclusion paragraphs.
Essay 1: How decisions can affect and change completely an outcome ( there is alot of fluff in the first paragraph, please help me with that)
The lifestyle one lives today is simply a result of a decision made yesterday. It is the art of choice, having the ability to change a possible outcome to a complete opposite perspective. Every individual walking along the mysterious path of life will be presented with cross roads and in most cases; the decision one makes affects the resulting aftermath. Nowhere is the impact of decision on outcome more evident than in the three literary pieces, The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, Macbeth by Shakespeare, and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Robert Frost exemplifies the importance of decision by centering the narrator on regret. The narrator is undergoing a process in which he contemplates what would have happened if he were to pick the other road. In addition, Macbeth made the great decision of pursuing king which eventually led to his fall. Macbeth had the decision of living humbly but instead made a choice that destroyed him. Conclusively, although knowing the consequences of defending a black man, Atticus chose to do it because he knew the great difference in outcome that would have occurred if he had not. It is therefore clearly evident that decision has a great emphasis on outcome.
To make a successful decision, one has to be able to balance out the pros and cons of a road compared to the other. The process of decision in The Road Not Taken is very special in its own right. Robert Frost does not specifically explain on what the decisions were, but describes it as just two roads. Although the roads appear very simple, these two roads can change the whole world for one. Robert Frost is able to execute this to perfection by using a fork in the road. The audience is able to observe the bare naked process of decision making and the aftermath that follows. This allows for a better understanding on the nature of choice. The narrator judges the two roads simply stating that one road was "less travelled by" and that it "wanted wear". As a result, the outcome of this decision placed the narrator in a contemplative position. This decision made the narrator prophesize what his life would have been like if he had travelled the other road. It is clear that the narrator feels a sense of confusion for he says that he will "be telling this with a sigh". Now, nowhere does it say if this sigh will be of happiness or regret but the fact that he "sighs" proves to show that he clearly wanted the benefits of both decisions. However, if the narrator had made a better careful decision, it is possible that the narrator would not be telling the past with a sigh. Robert frost simply displays the art of decision and what possibly could happen if decisions are made without thought. One cannot win both benefits and there will always be a lingering piece of regret that one feels. It is possible however, to limit the amount of regret by valuing the importance of each decision.
Decisions are clearly influenced by many factors. Greed and jealousy play a major impact on decision making. Shakespeare clearly makes this evident in Macbeth. In the play, Macbeth, noble kinsmen, is unable to overcome his emotion of greed and decides to pursue the crown of Scotland. The decision Macbeth made changed his whole life and how he had to live. If Macbeth had not believed the prophecies from the witches, he would have lived out a career filled with respect and nobility. This is evident when the king says, "find a quote on something king says". However, the outcome is completely changed because of his decision to kill the king. Macbeth turned into a tyrant and an uncontrollable fiend because of one simple choice. The fact that Macbeth's life turned around completely acts as glaring evidence how decisions affect the outcome. In addition, Lady Macbeth also made a decision that changed the whole plot of the play. She initially had the ability to stop Macbeth's decision and the outcome that Macbeth experienced. This is evident when Lady Macbeth said "something where lady Macbeth says something about regret". This shows that Lady Macbeth too, got her morality conquered by greed. Once again, the complete devastation of Macbeth and his wife would have not occurred if Lady Macbeth had weighed out the outcomes of pursuing the king. The effect of decision to completely change a life from what it could have been proves to be evidence of how choice depicts outcome. However, the affect decision has on outcome is not limited in Macbeth but is also widely present in To Kill a Mockingbird.
A moral decision is a decision that is correct but in most cases, it is difficult to make. A choice of this caliber might attract negative attention and discrimination from others. Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird exemplifies making a moral, yet difficult decision to make. He chooses to defend a black man, something that was not accepted by society. This is evident by the numerous times Atticus was called a "Nigger Lover". However, it was the decision that Atticus made that allowed everyone to understand that racism was wrong. If Atticus had not made this decision and decided not to defend the black man, the racism from society would stand and Atticus would not be able to teach his kids what is right and wrong. The impact one decision has on an outcome is enormous and is clearly evident when Miss Maudie says, "quote about hard jobs". This proves that without Atticus, no one would be able to change society in Maycomb. Atticus ultimately made a decision that allowed him to teach morals to society. In addition, there are many occurrences of small decision making that played to be an impact in the aftermath. The decision judge Taylor made to pick Atticus for the court case turned out to be significant for the story. It is clear that Atticus is the only one who would try to protect a black man. If it was a different lawyer, it is highly probable that the lawyer would have given up on the case. This would have been a major change to the whole theme of the story. The choice one makes is clearly shown to have a great impact on the outcome and the ability it has to change a whole story is clearly evident.
Essay 2: How is fighting the "unwinnable fight" the underlying theme in TKAM Macbeth and Robert Frost Poetry.
The greatest of accomplishments are not achieved by doing something that is paltry, but instead by accomplishing that which is unachievable. There are three works of literature that truly exemplify this idea of an unwinnable fight. These works include Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the poems Mending Wall and Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost, and especially the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The play Macbeth shows a great struggle of a man who must fight the consequences of his own tyrannical deeds. Poems by Robert Frost are also examples of struggle, of narrators who are confronted by daunting prospects, and they themselves are hardly able to act. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird is the greatest example of an unwinnable fight. The father of our protagonist, Atticus Finch, is in the fight of his life, defending a black man in the extremely racist society of the southern United States. The theme of an unwinnable fight is extremely prevalent in all three of these literary pieces.
The play Macbeth showed a great deal of evidence that supports the idea of an unwinnable fight. Macbeth's choice to kill the king and obtain the throne had caused his life to spiral down a path that he would later find out he cannot reverse. His position late in the play was clear, he was going to be taken down very soon by the English army. However, he realized that, "I cannot fly, but bearlike I must fight the course." This revelation showed that Macbeth was indeed trapped in an unwinnable fight, unable to flee or commit suicide. The tyrannical king was soon to be overthrown, but even if it meant his death, he would go down swinging. This showed an unwinnable fight, between Macbeth against his former colleagues, his old friends, and even the citizens on Scotland. Another person in this play involved in an unwinnable fight would be Lady Macbeth. In contrast, though, Lady Macbeth's conflict was against herself. Lady Macbeth unwinnable fight started when she had decided to be unsexed so that she could carry out the murder of Duncan in her pursuit of the Crown. However, her inability to cope with her actions was against her, torrents of regret, grief and remorse that rendered her to a broken woman. Her greed had cause this fight to start, but her weakness gave her no assistance when she had to overlook and forget what had been done and move on with her life. Lady Macbeth's unwinnable fight was lost, her life lost to emotions, in her battle against her consciousness that was futile to begin with. The Macbeth's were prime examples of warriors who had to fight an unwinnable fight.
Another few examples that showed a sense of futility are the poems Mending Wall and Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost. In these poems, the narrators are up against opponents who seem impossible to subdue. In the poem Mending Wall, the narrator has a wall that borders his property and his neighbour, and although seemingly pointless, the neighbour stresses heavily the importance of erecting the wall every year. Symbolically, the wall represents the rules and morals of society, and like the wall has its useful and not so useful aspects. The narrator is questioning this system of rules and morals, and points this out to his neighbour. His neighbour, on the other hand, answers quite abstractedly, saying that "good neighbours make good walls." This alludes to the fact that even pointless, society is something that is quite difficult to go against, and the narrator accepts this, although quite reluctant to do so. The other poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost also has hints of an unwinnable fight. This this poem, the point of view is a stream of consciousness, where the feelings and thoughts of the narrator are revealed to us. The man stops and is immediately questioned by his horse. Similar to Mending Wall, the horse may also be another symbol of society, and is very apprehensive on the man stopping. The man however, resolves to keep going as he has promises to keep. The man is clearly in an unwinnable fight, of his own life and pleasure versus the expectations of society. The man just wanted to stay, and soak in the beauty of nature; however, society is looking at him almost condescendingly, as if his actions were alien to them. Robert Frost poetry are well written and portray the presence of an unwinnable fight in each one very well.
The last and most prominent example of an unwinnable fight would be found in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. The most important character that gave a good effort in an unwinnable fight was none other than Atticus Finch. In an extremely racist time in the southern United States, affiliating one's self with a Negro was taboo. Atticus Finch, however, defended a black man in a court case for his client's life, and even the life of himself and his children. Atticus reasoning was that, "That boy may go to the chair, but he's not going till the truth's told," showing that Atticus is a better man, willing to risk his life, career and dignity in order to save the life of a black man. Through Atticus' children as well, we could feel the gravity of the situation at hand. Jem and Scout were ostracized and insulted because of what their father did, and not only did Atticus must suffer the ordeal, but his children as well. Scout especially had to go through an unwinnable fight, while at the same time seeing the ugliness of the world and maturing. Scout's fight was against reality, because she had to grow up and realize that life just wasn't fair. Scout may have wished to stay young forever, to stay away from all the hatred and anger that although almost invisible in Maycomb, suddenly became very prominent when Atticus had accepted Tom's case.
Essay 3: Explain the role of innocence in TKAM Macbeth and Robert Frost Poetry (Innocence is bliss) ( just made some points for these)
Often times, one loses touch with the blissfulness of their innocence. As one grows old, they tend to neglect the purity that will later on be greatly missed. This gradual change has been portrayed in pieces of literature such as To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Macbeth by William Shakespeare and in Robert Frost's poetry. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the major theme revolves around the symbolic 'mockingbird', which is an example of people who are innocent. Scout Finch narrates this story through the eyes of an innocent child, allowing the audience to feel naďve about the conflicts. In the play Macbeth, Macbeth realizes that if he continues to act upon his quick judgments, he may continue to stay pure and untainted. However he continues to commit a horrible crime and knows that he can no longer reach true peace. Finally, there is the poem Birches by Robert Frost. This poem shows the reader the inner workings of a man whose life and thoughts, for the moment, are centered on an idea of going back and regaining his innocence. The theme of innocence is bliss plays a major role in these three stories.
Paragraph one: In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout is comparable to an innocent, harmless mockingbird because of her youthfulness.
1) Scout's innocence allows her to make naďve decisions. For example, when Dill asked Scout to marry him because she was one of the only girls he knew at the time and because he loved her, she said yes. They are too young and innocent to understand what marriage means or why people marry, so they just pretend as a way of feeling grown up.
2) Scout is blissfully ignorant to the concepts of racism, hate, and discrimination. She is unaware of the racial tendencies that are existent in her time. Her happiness and unawareness are tested as she's exposed to racial discrimination between a white vs. black case that involves her father. For example, when Scout hears people saying terrible things about Atticus, she doesn't understand why. However, Atticus explains to her that it's just the way some people see it. Scout is too young to understand prejudice and injustice. But Atticus tries to preserve this innocence by raising her to believe that there is nothing wrong with defending a black man.
3) Scout is starting to recognize the hypocrisy her teacher displays in hating Hitler for his prejudice against Jews, yet she hates blacks just as much. The inconsistency bothers Scout and her realization of this double standard among people is the beginning of her awakening to the hypocrisy of most people.
Macbeth: In the life of Macbeth, an event removes the shield of the safety of innocence. The hero's innocence made him vulnerable for those who are comfortable with the realm of disintegration. Eventually, Macbeth is worn down enough to be pushed into this dark and evil abyss by his wife, Lady Macbeth.
1) The robbery of his innocence begins with allowing the witches to brainwash him with their predictions and forcing him to step closer into sin. However, his own wife has also tried to convince him to reconsider his intentions by dishonoring the role of a loyal servant. But, Macbeth attempts one last time to respond with an innocent 'We will speak further'.
2) Macbeth is an example of a man from whom innocence was stolen. He was a courageous warrior, a trusted friend, a respected leader and, in general, a good man. External forces, the witches and their supernatural soliciting, his wife and his uncontrollable passion for royalty pushed Macbeth over the edge where he found the courage to kill King Duncan and hundreds of other innocent people.
Robert Frost: Robert Frost portrays the yearning of youth and innocence in his poem Birches.
1) The speaker of Birches never sees a boy or comes across one. He only imagines one, and the boy that he does imagine may represent himself at a younger age. These boys have their own rules and wisdom. They are ready for adventures in nature and represent the wild, untamed state of man that reminds good and moral even though no one is there to govern him.
2) The birch trees could be representative of human lives. When we are young, we are tall, strong, and unbent, but as the years and storms go by, we become bent and tired by experience. Once we are bent, like the birch trees, we can't go back to where we used to be. We must bear the knowledge and experience gained in our lives- there's no turning back.
Im sorry and i know its alot but please help out, thanks!
