Revision: Open Prompt #1

2008, Form B. In some works of literature, childhood and adolescence are portrayed as times graced by innocence and a sense of wonder; in other works, they are depicted as times of tribulation and terror. Focusing on a single novel or play, explain how its representation of childhood or adolescence shapes the meaning of the work as a whole.
      
           In the series of Harry Potter, many characters' childhoods affected who they became and the decisions they made. Harry Potter, Severus Snape, and Tom Riddle all had troubled pasts, but each of them chose a different path to take in their later lives. 
            Although Harry was raised by his rude aunt and uncle and was buillied by his cousin, he didn't let them affect him. In his childhood, he chose to ignore his family and stayed out of the way by spending his time in his room under the stairs. Later on, he relied on his friends to help him reach his destiny of defeating Lord Voldemort. He pushed his sad past away from his mind and focused on his goals.
             Severus Snape also had a broken family. His mom and muggle dad constantly fought, but like Harry, he chose to avoid them. His parents arguments led him to hate muggles and join the Death Eaters. But, his choice of joining the Order of Pheonix to spy on the Death Eaters helped Harry win the war against Lord Voldemort.
           Although Tom Riddle had a sad childhood (he lived in an orphanage) like Harry and Snape, he chose a different path than them. He spent his childhood bullying other orphans and leading them into dangerous situations. He continued to gain followers as he grew older and used dark magic to obtain his goal: to avoid death. Unlike Harry and Snape, Riddle showed how a troubled childhood can lead to a even more troubled life.
            JK Rowling's representation of these unfortunate childhoods enforces her theme of the importance of choices. Like the wise words of Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, "You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be,"  it does not matter if one doesn't have a happy childhood, but rather how he lets that affect him and his choices (Rowling 708). Rowling uses this theme to not only teach readers about growing up and making good decisions, but also to develop her charcters and create her storyline. As a whole, the different choices of different characters shape the story of this series by creating a hero, villian, and a helpful spy.

Summary/Analysis: R&G

Author:
Tom Stoppard is a famous Czech-British playwright of the National Theatre. He has translated some plays into English and co-wrote the screenplay of Shakespeare in Love. He also wrote Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead which is based off of the play, Hamlet.

Setting: 
This book takes place in the middle of nowhere, in Hamlet's court, and on a boat.

Significant Characters:
Rosencrantz-He is Guildenstern's best friend and Hamlet's childhood friend. He is more carefree and easygoing than Guildenstern. He is a very simple man and doesn't delve into meanings or solutions in depth. He is usually pretty positive and always tries to cheer up Guildenstern.
Guildenstern-
He is Rosencrantz's best friend and Hamlet's childhood friend. He is more practical and reasonable than Rosencrantz, and always tries to see the implications, consequences, and meanings of actions and events. He often gets angry and frustrated with Rosencrantz, but nonetheless is a loyal and good friend.
The Player-
He leads the Tragedians in performing plays. The Player understands more than others think. He is very witty, confident, and mysterious. He isn't just an actor, acting is his life.
Hamlet-
He is the childhood friend of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. He is the Prince of Denmark, the Queen's son, and nephew of King Claudius. He misses his father and is unhappy with his mother, his uncle, and the society he lives in.

Narrative Voice:
N/A because it is a play.

Plot:
R&G are flipping coins when the tragedians approach them. The player asks them to participate in their play, but Guildenstern makes a bet with the player. The player loses the bet and because he cannot pay, he has to perform his play for R&G. Later, Claudius tells R&G that he wants them to spy on Hamlet, so R&G play a question-answer game to practice finding out why Hamlet has gone mad. After the play is performed, R&G escort Hamlet to England on a boat. R&G can't decide what to do with the letter that Claudius gave them, so when they are sleeping, Hamlet rewrites the letter ordering R&G's execution instead of his. Guildenstern reads the letter and tells Rosencrantz that they are going to die. Guildenstern stabs the player with the player's knife, but it turns out that it was a fake knife and the player faked his death. The scene shifts to where all of the dead bodies are lying on the floor back in Elsinore.

Quotes:
"'I'm talking about death - and you've never experienced that. And you cannot act it,'" (Stoppard 123).
This quote refers to Shakespeare's theme of a play with in a play. The player and the tradegians think that they are in a constant play and they are continuously acting. But, Guildenstern said that as much as they can try to act out death, they can never truly and accurately act it out because they have never experienced it. This sets up the next event where Guildenstern tries to kill the player with the fake knife.

"'Now for a handful of guilders I happen to have a private and uncut performance of The Rape of the Sabine Women - or rather woman, or rather Alfred-'" (Stoppard 26).
This quote shows that there are no women characters in this story (besides the Queen, but that is because she is a character in Hamlet). This may mean that women weren't cast as actors in that time period, so they had to have males play female roles. It may also show indicate that women had little respect, authority, or identity as they are barely represented in R&G.

Style:
Stoppard uses imagery, detail, symbolism, tone, and diction in this play. There is no point of view since it is a play and there is no narrator. Imagery and detail frequently used in this play, especially in the stage directions, to show what R&G are doing, "Guil takes another coin, spins it, catches it, turns it over on to his other hand, looks at it, and throws it to Ros, who puts it in his bag," (Stoppard 15). Stoppard uses tone to show how the characters are feeling. For example, "Guil (explodes): 'Don't be stupid,'" indicates that Guildenstern is feeling frustrated with Rosencrantz. Symbolism is also used in this play, like how the coins represent the opposite sides of the personalities of R&G. For example, Rosencrantz is optimistic and happy, while Guildenstern is pessimistic and concerned. Diction like "moroseness", "convulses", and "gleaned" add to the description of characters and events in the play.

Theme:
One of the major themes is the inability to make decisions. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are always lost and cannot decide which direction they want to go or why they are there. One decision that they have the opportunity to decide is what to do with the letter. Unfortunately, they can't decide on anything and this leads to their death, as Hamlet sneakily changes what the letter says to order their death.

Response to Course Material #7

           So far this month, we have finished reading Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. After class discussions and explanations from Ms. Holmes, I realized that R&G actually had more depth and meaning to it than I had originally thought. I liked how this play was not only comical, but also had great themes in it, like death. After annotating, I could definitely see how R&G related closely to Hamlet.
           We have also done some closed essay prompt practice. I think with each practice we have done, I have gotten better at pointing out claims and evidence within the text, but the analyzing and explaining is the hardest part. The prompts are quite tricky as well, since Ms. Holme's has pointed out that there could be more than one meaning behind a prompt and that you have to talk about both meanings to recieve a decent score. This scares me a bit because I am great at finding the obvious meaning, but it takes me a while to find the second and deeper meaning to the text.
            Finally, we have just started reading Ceremony. I like how Ms. Holmes taught us history about the culture of the tribe. It definitely cleared some of my confusion about this story. I think this book is one of the harder texts we have read this year and I am looking forward to finishing the book, as it is quite interesting to read!