Undergraduate / TRAVEL TO THINK AS AN INTELLECT AND ADVENTURE AS AN EXPLORER - World you come from [4]

So i'm not exactly a good writer. my grammar sucks and this is only the first draft. feel free to dissect this essay. thanks!!! also, suggestions for titles would be nice too:)

UC1: Describe the world you come from - for example, your family, community or school - and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.

Traveling has shaped me to think as an intellect, appreciate diversity as a cultured individual, and explore as an adventurer. The Smithsonian Museums humored my intellectual capabilities, prompting me to validate the facts against my own understandings. Backpacking across the Hoh River and eating stinky tofu both required a willingness to explore by trying new things and taking risks. As opposite as they seem, drinking high tea and milking cows cultured me to respect diversity. Altogether, my parents raised me to travel with an educated eye in order to gain a wider perspective of life which inadvertently nurtured my interest in history.

The tour guide at the Hearst Castle approached me and told me young girls hand-wove the rug I was admiring. I knew Mr. Hearst utilized child labor in his newspaper business leading me to wonder which factors would prevent him from doing the same for the rugs. In that moment, I was tempted to assume he exploited child labor in this incident but instead remained open minded, giving him the benefit of the doubt. Considering the impeccable craftsmanship of the tapestry, I intellectually deduced those little girls probably worked their entire lives and experienced childhoods different from mine. Each artifact around me cradled a unique story hidden behind its immediate attraction and I wanted to unravel them all. Perhaps these rugs were imported and woven by children of other countries. Not knowing bothered me. My strong desire to seek out the rug's history triggered my decision to study history in college.

My trip to Taiwan's National Palace Museum inspired me to venture beyond my comfort zone of studying American history. In contrast to the Smithsonian Art Museum I had visited years ago, the Taipei museum boasted 4 stories of raw oriental artwork, a symbol of the continent's profound and rich history. Even though I couldn't understand the words, my cultured eyes still appreciated the presence and grandeur of the museum itself. I entered the museum with no foreknowledge of Eastern history but exited with a newfound appreciation for other country's history.

Although I possess a penchant for American history, traveling to another country has broadened my horizons to see that US history is only a small fraction of world history, offering me a global perspective of history. For this reason, I aspire to adventure beyond my comfort zone of US history to find a meaningful historical emphasis, maybe Eastern history, and hopefully study abroad in Europe.

Undergraduate / Growing up with eczema has restricted me; UC 2 [4]

i dont know how i managed to write one essay for three different prompts but i did. hahahha. feel free to dissect it, rip it apart, and take any necessary means to improve this essay. thanks!!

UC 2: Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?

UW B1: The University of Washington seeks to create a community of students richly diverse in cultural backgrounds, experiences, and viewpoints. How would you contribute to this community?

Common app: Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

Growing up with eczema has restricted me but I found a way out of those restrictions every time. When I couldn't play soccer under the sun in kindergarten, I begged my mom to enroll me in gymnastics and she did. When my health conditions forced me to quit gymnastics, leave public school and enroll in home school in 8th grade, I did so with pride. Eczema, a genetic curse preventing me from continuing my passions, ultimately blessed me with unique opportunities to discover new interests.

Ironically, the absence of a teacher freed me to grow both as a student and person. With the power to craft my own schedule, I could spend more time reading Howard Zinn's A People's History of America instead of traditional history textbooks. In the past, I only received exposure to state-prescribed textbooks that overly eulogized Columbus for discovering the 3-dimensional New World. Zinn's liberal lens exposed me to evidence proving Columbus committed genocide, a heinous war crime, on the indigenous. Authors of textbooks strayed away from controversy, censoring vital information, and I was naive to accept without doubting. By pursuing this passion, I not only learned to challenge the widely accepted notions of society before forming my own opinions but also developed a penchant for historical literature. I may have been restricted by eczema but ultimately forged my own path to happiness, finding meaning in an activity in spite of those denied to me.

I experienced the meaning of perspective firsthand while attending weekly Thursday sessions with other homeschoolers to discuss current events. Our different backgrounds, individualized interests and ambitions fostered a plethora of contrasting views. Discipline, a necessary evil I argued, justified the 2009 execution of Muhammad (he killed 10 civilians in a 2002 shooting). It bothered me that others, knowing right from wrong, still argued against capital punishment. I never saw the complexities of the subject, never associating executions with faces, until a girl moved me with a story of her uncle awaiting a verdict for death penalty. There was no clear-cut answer. I saw the immorality of killing a possibly-innocent person and learned to remain open-minded, to listen to other perspectives, even to question and challenge my own belief systems.

As an open-minded individual, I live for the thrill of controversy and change. These combined homeschool experiences taught me to both challenge and respect opposing views, accepting others in spite of differences while balancing my identity with a willingness to change. I aspire to enter college taking pride in my current views heavily shaped by my Christian and conservative upbringing but graduate with my own views influenced by the diverse university community. My identity as an open-minded skeptic, fearless of vocalizing controversial stances, will ultimately enrich the college experience of self-exploration for both myself and my peers.

Book Reports / Victims of Patriarchy:The Tragedy of Prince Hamlet [2]

there's no prompt...my english teacher gave us the freedom to write about anything from the play as long as we prove a valid argument. just a word of warning...this is my first draft. hence, it is quite rough and needs lots of work. don't hesitate to rip it apart. THANKS!!!

Victims of Patriarchy: Hamlet
Shakespeare crafts character foils to establish the evident gender inequality between men and women in his tragedy, Hamlet. The young and pure Ophelia, and Gertrude, an aged victim of corruption, represent females as second-class citizens. Conversely, Hamlet, a prince with a promising future, and the unjust King Claudius both play dominant roles, accentuating the value of patriarchy in society. However, the focus of foiling characters is not only to highlight misogyny in Renaissance society but also mainly to further expose mankind as morally weak, vulnerable to corruption. The juxtaposition of Ophelia to Hamlet in Shakespeare's Hamlet argues ambition corrupts men and women to overlook the value of morality to thrive in a patriarchal society.

Ambition to survive in a patriarchal society ultimately corrupts women into selling their souls and futures to men. Shakespeare intentionally depicts Ophelia as a virgin who lacks an individual voice and heeds all authority, robotically acquiescing to Polonius forbidding her relationship with Hamlet. At the heart of this scene, Ophelia is forced to choose between two patriarchs: her father Polonius or love interest Hamlet. Because she realizes Hamlet's "will is not his own" (I.iii.20), that pursuing a future together with Hamlet is a risk not worth selling her purity to, Ophelia ultimately chooses Polonius over Hamlet for stability. This entire thought process, driven by her ambition to find stability and survive in this patriarchal structure, illustrates that "her will is not her own". She is bound by the shackles of patriarchy to forsake her individuality and succumb to a man, to depend on her stable father. While the father and daughter duo speak concerning her future, Ophelia's succinct response lacking personality, "I shall obey, my Lord" (I.iii.145), preceding Polonius' wordy speech, evidences Ophelia's defeated tone. This line clearly indicates Ophelia has chosen Polonius, sold her future to Polonius, and sacrificed a meaningful relationship with Hamlet, simply to secure her father's support and approval. The formal phrase "my Lord" lacks the bond of intimacy between a father and daughter, characterizing their relationship as strictly business-based. Polonius, in attempt to uncover the source of Hamlet's madness, drags his faithful and innocent daughter into corruption along with him by "losing [his] daughter to him" (II.ii.177). Consequently, "the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd" (III.i.121), corrupting the innocent Ophelia into a deceitful woman. She willingly spies on Hamlet, at the request of Polonius, and never objects. By rendering unlimited support to her undoubtedly corrupted father, Ophelia becomes morally corrupt, a deceitful spy, and instrument of her father's evil schemes. Ultimately, her descent into madness is not to mourn the death of a beloved father; she laments the loss of a business partner, one she depends on. Her ambition to survive in a patriarchal society unfortunately not only deprives her of individuality and a say in her future but also turns her against morality.

Ambition, a byproduct of the patriarchal structure, corrupts men to forsake morality to gain self-satisfaction. This tragedy, on the most basic level, outlines Hamlet's internal struggles of finding motivation and ambition to carry through with his plan to save his father's soul from suffering by murdering Claudius. Desperate for answers and comfort, Hamlet voluntarily risks his life and follows after the ghost, bellowing "I'll call thee, 'Hamlet', 'King', 'Father, 'Royal Dane'" (I.iv.50). These terms of endearment reflect Prince Hamlet's affection and devotion for his father. Furthermore, Hamlet speaks in a revering tone, characterizing King Hamlet as an accomplished individual, undeserving of purgatory. As a son, Hamlet is determined to save his father out of love; however, as a human, Hamlet struggles to forsake his morality and become a "bloody bawdy villain" (II.ii.607). Instead, he insults himself as "a dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak like a John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause" (II.ii.595) because he is forced to choose from one of two options: honor his father one last time by freeing his soul or obey his moral compass. Nonetheless, Hamlet's encounters with existentialism in Act 4 drive him over the edge, culminating in his decision to forsake his morality to honor his beloved father. Since Hamlet reasons that murdering Polonius is "almost as bad as killing a king and marrying with his brother", Shakespeare illustrates Hamlet's sense of morality as black and white. By exaggerating the immorality of incest, Hamlet inadvertently displays his undervaluing life. To Hamlet, life is a fragile "eggshell" (IV.iv.56), vulnerable to cracking unpredictably, a reflection of existentialist ideals. Killing Claudius and talking with the Captain of Norway tip Hamlet over the edge to vow that his "thought be bloody or be nothing worth" (IV.iv.69), marking his decision to honor his father by forsaking his moral compass. Ultimately, Hamlet successfully murders Claudius, killing many other innocent lives in the process. His final line after killing Claudius, "the rest is silence" (V.ii.395), illustrates peace of mind knowing King Hamlet has been freed from purgatory. This final line characterizes Hamlet as a selfish individual who sought revenge to simply find closure and self-satisfaction, as a son who heroically and ambitiously saves his father, at the cost of others' lives.

Every character in Shakespeare's tragedy, Hamlet, is a victim of patriarchy and corruption: Hamlet's ambition to save his beloved father results in innocent deaths, Ophelia becomes a deceitful spy to please her father, Gertrude commits incest to maintain royalty, and Claudius murders his brother to gain glory and become the ultimate patriarch of Denmark. Even though patriarchy supposedly favors men over women, it ironically leads men into moral corruption. Shakespeare, without a doubt argues women are victims of patriarchy, but further expounds on the idea that men, like women, are vulnerable to corruption because mankind is naturally ambitious. Escaping moral corruption, caused by ambition in a patriarchal society, may have seemed impossible during the Renaissance era but has progressed for the better since then.