Second Semester Portfolio

Hello Parentals!,

This is my Second Semester Portfolio that I created. It is a website containing my best works which display the six GLO's that we've been talking about in class. Please take a look at my portfolio and respond back to the following question. Thank You for taking your time out to read this!

“What did you learn about your child’s achievements and experiences in MeneMAC this past year?"


http://eq2k14.weebly.com

Merchant of Venice (Character Analysis) DRAFT

Merchant of Venice

Selfish, prideful, cruel, and unmerciful. All the meanest and rude words you can think of, probably describe Shylock. Shylock is a moneylender in Venice and generally speaking doesn’t have the best reputation there. He is a jew, asked to lend money to a rich merchant named Antonio, a christian. Antonio originally asks for money on behalf of his good friend Bassanio. Although, why does Antonio ask Shylock for money instead of Bassanio and why does Bassanio need these three thousand ducats? Well, Antonio has a good reputation in the economical world and Bassanio, well he wants the money simply for love. He needs money to go and visit Portia, the girl of his dreams. It’s all about love, religion, money and culture. Shylock is one of the most unique characters because when things don’t go according to his ways, he turns into worse of a person than he already is. There’s so much to learn from his actions and thoughts. Shylock in this play is a prime example of a crook and one who exemplifies cruelty.

In the beginning of the play, when the bond is made, you already can see the tension between the three men. “Three thousand ducats for three months; and / Antonio bound.” (Merchant of Venice, 1.3.9-10) Antonio becomes the guarantor because of his wealthiness and reliability to pay Shylock back the money. Trust is already established and the men are set on an agreement to lend and borrow money. Shortly after, the tension rises and conflict already takes place. “Yes, to smell pork; to eat of the habitation which / your prophet the Nazarite conjured the evil into! I will buy / with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so /  following: but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor / pray with you(...)” (Merchant of Venice, 1.3.29-33) Shylock being the Jew already shows his stubbornness and immaturity of rejecting the invitation to dinner with Antonio and Bassanio. They simply ask him to join for dinner and talk to him more about the agreement but he turns them down because of their differences in religion. In continuation, he is very mean and cruel. He starts to ask and wonder what would happen if somehow they wouldn’t be able to pay him back in time. “If he should break his day, what should I gain / By the exaction of the forfeiture? / A pound of man’s flesh, taken from a man, / Is not so estimable, profitable neither, / As flesh of muttons, beefs, or goats(...)” (Merchant of Venice, 1.3.160-164) Shylock exposes his cruelty through this action of consequence, his actions show how he really is on the inside, very tough and mean. His decision of consequence display the hate and cockyness that he has for these two men Antonio and Bassanio. Many people who witnessed the storyline of the play agreed upon the dislike of this character. In the beginning actions of shylock you can already identify the kind of selfish person he is.

The pridefulness of Shylock gets in the way of many things and stops him from doing the nobel actions in this play. After talking about not going to the dinner, he makes up his mind and decides to go. Although, he is very resistant in the fact of going. He says, “(...) Hear you me, Jessica - / Lock up my doors, and when you hear the drum / And the vile squealing of the wry-necked fife, / Clamber up not you up to the casements then, / Nor thrust your head to the public street / To gaze on Christian fools with varnished faces: / But stop my house’s ears, I mean my casements / Let not the sound of shallow fopp’ry enter / My sober house. (...)” (Merchant of Venice, 2.5.29-35) The way that Shylock reacts towards christians shows his immaturity to be humble and civil even with people who are different from him. Shylock shows that he has no forgiveness and is a cold hearted man with many grudges held against people.

Shylock has a daughter named Jessica. She isn’t very pleased with her father's actions and the man he has become. In fact, she dislikes him with as much respect possible and doesn’t agree with being a Jew. After Shylock came back from the dinner with Antonio and Bassanio, he came across very devastating news that even a good man wouldn’t want to experience. “(...) You knew, none so well, none so well as you, of my / - of my daughter’s flight.” (Merchant of Venice, 3.1.20-21) His daughter had left the home and so called ran away with no notice or goodbye. This left Shylock feeling betrayed and abandoned by his own “blood and flesh” Shortly after, he was hit with another piece of shocking news. “(...) But tell us, do you hear / whether Antonio have had any loss at sea or no?” (Merchant of Venice, 3.1.34-35) Shylock answers back in a stressed but delighted tone. First his daughter leaves him and now he comes to find out that Antonios merchant ships have been lost at seas. The fact that the ships are lost becomes a big deal because the ships also contain Antonios money that he would use to payback the money. Shylock becomes excited and happy because this meant that he was closer to the fact of taking a pound of flesh if the men didn’t pay him back in time. As selfish and cruel of a man he is, this secures the ideas and opinions that we as readers assumed of him. This officially shows that he is a no-good man.

After seeing and witnessing the character traits and personality of Shylock, you think he’s a very shady guy. At the end of the play, you see the worst sides of this man. After finding out that Antonio's ships got lost at sea and he won't make it in time to pay the money that was lended, Shylock is full of joy. “I am very glad of it, I’ll plague him, I’ll torture him, I / am glad of it! (Merchant of Venice, 3.1.96-97) This shows the most raw personality and ultimate cruelty of Shylock and his unmerciful self. We can now say with no doubt that he is a crook and a man of no nobelity. While at the court, Portia, disguised as the “Doctor of Law”, found a loophole in the bond and said, “Tarry a little: there is something else. / This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood - / The words expressly are ‘a pound of flesh’; / Take then thy bond, take then thy pound of flesh, / But in the cutting it, if thou dost shed / One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods / Are by the laws of Venice confiscate / Unto the state of Venice. (Merchant of Venice, 4.1.302-309) When portia finally finds the loophole, she proposes her discovery to Shylock. This meant that Shylock could not perform his task of taking one pound of flesh. Shylock became very furious and frustrated because he was so close to getting his pleasure of torturing one of the men. His plan was ruined and there was nothing he could do or say to back himself up. Agreements and adjustments are made and in the most broken tone of voice, he says, “Nay, take my life and all, pardon not that. / You take my house, when you take the prop / That doth sustain my house: you take my life, / When you do take the means whereby I live. (Merchant of Venice, 4.1.370-373) In this moment, the ending of the book, you can say that your assumptions of Shylock being a shady man is true. You can gain the whole world but lose yourself and thats exactly what happened to Shylock. He was one of Venice richest men and he had nothing but wealth although he used it with the wrong heart and now we see that he’s torn. We as readers see all sides of shylock, even when hes broken at this lowest point. It shows us who he really is when all the materialistic things in his life are taken from him. These last moments of Shylock in the book shows us all sides of his personality and his character by now is definitely portrayed and we no longer assume, but know how he truly is.

After reading this entire book, we can conclude that shylock is a guy with many flaws. His conniving ways make us second guess every move that he takes, it keeps us readers on our toes and curious to how he will react to the next situation. Although Shylock may have an ounce of a good man's heart, we can more say with confidence that Shylock in this play is a prime example of a crook and one who exemplifies cruelty.

Merchant of Venice (w/ Malina)

INDIVIDUAL WORK

1. I agree with this statement because I've judged people by their outward appearances. Most of the time, my assumptions weren't correct about the person. Like they always say, "don't judge a book by it's cover" and that saying can be used in many different situations for all categories of places, people & things. 

2. ** DONT UNDERSTAND

3. I really agree with this statement becuase it can connect to bestfriends. Bestfriends share secrets, tell each other the deep things, open up to one another, stay by each other's sides and so forth. A relationship between a man and a women is very much similar. Both types of relationships hang out together and have the same qualities. Therefore, if the relationship between two brothers was to it's full extent, their relationship would be just as strong as a relationship between a man and women if true relationship was to the full extent as well. 

4. I agree with this statement because I believe that it's possible. I've witnessed people do it and I myself have been in this situation. Although I don't believe it's the right thing to do, it is a bad thing to commit to but I agree that you could break a promise with a good excuse. 

5. Love is blind, yes. I recognize my friends being blinded by so called "love". I, as a true friend to them, try to show them the things that they may not notice. Whether it be good or bad. Love does shut your eyes out from seeing what you normally would. If a partner is treating the other bad, and they're blinded by love, they wouldn't notice anything and they'd only see the good. 

6. Yes I agree with this statement. Even though it's kind of mean and brutal, especially on how our world sees racism. Majority stereo types can predict pretty well on how a group of people would be. 

7. No, I don't agree with this statement. Even though someone may have done you wrong, I don't think it's right for you to repay them for what they did to you. You should be the bigger person in any situation. If you decide to hold resentment and grudges, you'll be the one the suffer and it will only dig yourself a bigger hole. 

PARTNER WORK 

1. Usually when I'm sad I never really understood why. Such as when I'm trying to sleep late at night I feel really depressed and usually overthink. But then I think, there's nothing in my life that's actually making me feel like that. I basically just put myself down about being sad about nothing. My sadness aren't usually " strange " because I get sad very fast and when I get sad I overthink which makes the issue worse. But sometimes my sadness are strange because I get sad and I also feel sad during random times.

2.  I feel like this hasn't change. People take money really serious and money is important to them. Without money in this society you won't be able to provide for you're family or be successful. Money is also very hard to gain, you have to work very hard for it. You can't just lend money to people because what if they don't pay you back? You are loosing money in you're pocket.

3. I think this is right because if they are really poor I would lend them large amounts to help them get back on their feet. Sometimes when you do things you do it for the thought of it and you never do consider getting payed back because you did it from you're heart. The other person that recieves the money has to be reasonable and can't always count on you to pay them.

4. In society these days we already have conflict between love and religion. Even in our governments we have controversial arguments about what is right and what is wrong. So in this play it would make sense to clash.

Of Mice and Men movie poster - Madison, Tyler, Nainoa & Elizabeth

Mental Retardation

Madison & Elizabeth

Mental Retardation

        Mental retardation is an intellectual disability for everyday living. According to Psychology Today, “Mental retardation (MR) is a condition diagnosed before age 18, usually in infancy or prior to birth, that includes below-average general intellectual function, and a lack of the skills necessary for daily living.” Having mental retardation causes the person to think and react slower. With this disability it makes it hard to function without help. According to WebMD “Intellectual disability is thought to affect about 1% of the population. Of those affected, 85% have mild intellectual disability.” This shows that only a small part of the population has a chance in getting this disability. Although most of us have a chance in getting a mild intellectual disability that still creates problems in our everyday life. Mental retardation creates problem for anyone who has this disability.

             Mental retardation is usually when a person have late reactions to most things.  According to WebMD, “ one of the most common signs of intellectual disability are rolling over, sitting up, crawling, or walking late, talking late or having trouble with talking, slow to master things like potty training, dressing, and feeding himself or herself, and difficulty remembering things.” Having this disability makes it hard for someone to take of their selves on their own. Most people with this disability needs a person their whole life to watch them. According to Psychology Today, “decreased learning ability, inability to meet educational demands of school.” This is a struggle for the person diagnosed with this inability and it demands for them to think more and try harder in their studies, even when it’s already hard for them. People with mental retardation get extra help and guidance but luckily, some of them can be independent with a little attention called for.

         

Of Mice and Men - Madison and Elizabeth

“ ‘Awright,’ she said contemptuously.” (Page 78)

Contemptuously - expressing extreme hatred or disapproval; contempt

The girl contemptuously gave her parents attitude because they wouldn't let her go to a unsupervised high school party.

"... "Curley gon'ta want get 'im lynched. Curley'll get 'im killed."" (Page 94)

Lynched - an illegal fatal consequence of a crime

The man was lynched after murdering someone in a dark alley. 

Mystery Graphic Card