What's In the Bag?

I believe that I am in control of some of the decisions I make. However, I do believe that some choices we make are not left up to us. It is a hard concept to grasp, but it is possible. I make many little decisions such as: choosing to brush my teeth, choosing what outfit to wear everyday, what to eat, etc. I also make big decisions such as: choosing who I want to date, what career I want to go into, etc. However, there are some decisions that I can not make. Examples of those are: when I am going to get sick, when I am going to be in the hospital, when I am going to die. It is not like I can plan all of those things out. I believe that God has the power and control in that situation. Some decisions are taken out of our hands and put into God's hands. That is not necessarily a bad thing though. I believe that he takes those few choices that we can not make out of our hands simply because he knows that we could not handle making them. For the most part though, I believe that we do have the free will to make whatever decisions we would like to. However, if we make bad decisions, we should be ready to face the consequences that could follow.

Free Fallin'

Page 970 line 163. Oedipus states," Wealth, power, craft of statesmanship! Kingly position, everywhere admired! What savage envy is stored up against these, If Creon, whom I trusted, Chreon my friend, for this great office which the city once put in my hands-unsought-if for this power Creon desires in secret to destroy me! He has brought this decrepit fortune-teller, this collector of dirty pennies, this prophet fraud- why, he is no more clairvoyant than I am!"
Fate and free will have a great impact on the play, Oedipus Rex. Oedipus has a sense of free will at the beginning of the play. He has chosen to kill the king, not knowing that he was his father. He had a choice to kill him; therefore, he had free wil. However, from this passage, one can tell that Oedipus is heading down fate's path now. Like I stated earlier, he had free will to kill his father, but as a result of the bad decision, fate is taking over his life. Page 981, line 310, Oedipus says, " Indeed, I fear no other hope is left me." This statement proves that even Oedipus knows that he is gradually being overtaken by fate. Page 999, line 287-291. 'Come now, and leave your children." "No! Do not take them from me!" "Think no longer that you are in comand here, but rather think how, when you were, you served your own destruction." These few lines prove the point that fate now has control over Oedipus' life. He is no longer in control of his life or anyone elses.

importance of MLK

Martin Luther King Jr. is known world-wide as a very famous political leader. He was a strong willed man. Anything he put his mind to, he accomplished beautifully. I would have to say that the biggest accomplishment he made was helping die down the racial issues between the black and white people. He made his speech, "I Have a Dream." In this speech, he stated his wish for a world where everyone got along, regardless of gender, age, race, etc. He also wanted everyone to be free. In this speech he said, " Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring — when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children — black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics - will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" As one can tell from this quote, Martin Luther King Jr. was a very brave man to stand before all of these civil right supporters and speak in this manner and tone. Wow!! However, he is known and respected worldwide for many things, but this speech is the greatest of all of his accomplishments I believe. This one speech helped all of the world to come together as one. We still have our noticeable differences, but we are learning to cope with them and work together despite of them. Without Martin Luther King, I have no idea where we as a nation would be today.

Oedipus Q's And A's

Part Two

1. Find two passages that you think best describe Oedipus and list in your journal or notebook. In Journal!!
2. Write a description of the external conflict which is evoking pathos for Oedipus and from the audience. The audience knows that Oedipus is the man who killed the king. However, he did not know that his father, who he killed, is or was this king. The audience begins to feel sorry for Oedipus because he is the very man everyone is trying to hunt down and kill.
3. While reading this part of the play, the audience feels like they are somewhat there during this action just watching all of it. We want to reach out and touch Oedipus and tell him that he is the murder who he is looking for.
4. 1-everyone continues to praise Oedipus in some way or fashion.
2-Oedipus continues to try and help the people in any way possible
3-All of the people turn to Oedipus for help, advice, and guidance
4- Everyone; including Oedipus, is puzzled and frusturated as they try to solve the"mystery".
5. They are asking for God to destroy their enemy and make him die.

Part Three

1. page 9688, line 81 & p. 968. lines 84-99. internal conflict-p.969, line 101&p.969, line 105
2. The external conflict is that Teriesias has been brought in to tell everyone who the murderer is. However, he refuses to tell anyone. Oedipus gets very upset. Finally, Teriesias tells Oedipus that he is the murderer whom he seeks.
3. 1- p.970, line 156-157; he says no one can hurt him
2- p.970, line 180-181; he says that he did everything on his own and basically knows everything.
4. 1-We, the audience, knew Oedipus was the murderer all along, but he didn't know until just now.
2- Oedipus didn't know who his parents were but the audience did.
3- The audience knows that Teiresias is correct, but everyone else believes that he is crazy for even thinking that.
5. 1-Teiresias says, "If later you find error in what I have said, you may say that I have no skill in prophecy." p.972, line 244-245
6. How Oedipus killed his father. They seem sad that he has been found as the murderer. Make me believe that they really like Oedipus.

Part Four

1. Oedipus believes that Creon is out to get his throne. Oedipus thinks he is out to kill him, so that he can take over.
2. He is seemingly uncertain of what is going on. he is paranoyed about loosing his throne, power, and reputation.
3. Jocasta is Creon's sister and Oedipus' wife. She is trying her best to resolve everything. She believes her brother is right and tries to get Oedipus to believe him too.
4.
5. Oedipus plans to settle all of this confusion. I believe he plans to go with Jocasta out of the palace.