Response 10: Persuasion

      The film, "Exit Through The Gift Shop", directed by famed street artist Banksy, was in my opinion, a good film. Though there were only a couple of instances in which he used pathos, a technique that appeals to a lot of teenagers, and used a lot more of the other techniques, I still enjoyed the movie. I enjoy all forms of rhetoric appeals, so this movie was good. Its explanation of the process of street artists caught me good, and its story was an interesting story.
       I believe that street art is not vandalism, in certain cases. If the art does not make a big impact on the viewer, does not move the viewer in any way, is unoriginal, it is vandalism. Say, a lazy drawing of a face on a wall. That is vandalism. Art is a very broad term, and I believe that vandalism is still art, though art that is not good. Street art, like Banksy, is good art.

Response 13: Argument

      Hate-monger and outspoken racist Donald Trump. Many people, including me, are against the actions and the intentions of this monster. But, there are some people that have gotten as far as seriously considering leaving the country if he becomes commander in chief. I believe that they should not leave because there are better ways to protest Trump.
      One important way one can protest Trump's actions is to, well, protest. Leaving the situation will not get anything done, it'll make things worse. Instead of being indifferent about the situation, one can help bring down the situation. Fight Trump directly (though not literally) and make him not do what he wants.
      Another way to protest Trump is to perform civil disobedience, that is, disobeying Trump's demands. This form of protest has worked in many situations, including Rosa Parks' bus incident, the following boycotts, etc.. Boycotting Trump can make him frustrated and give up.
      One more way one can defeat Trump is to expose him. Inform other people about his actions, inform the world. Make the world aware of him. This way, people from other countries can help us in the fight against Trump.
      Trump can and will be defeated. The ways that we can defeat include directly going against him, civil disobedience, and exposing him. These forms of protest can be applied to different things, and if another dictator-like candidate wants to rule, these ways can be used again.

Response 12: Argument

 I'm a "murderer". I'm a "rapist". Apparently these are things that I am, according to people outside of Lincoln High School. These things are not what I actually am, though. What they say are only generalizations of our school and its students based on bad things that rarely ever happen. I am a 4.00 GPA student, and I recently won four prizes from an engineering competition. In light of the recent incident at Lincoln, us Lincoln students want to say that that's not what we are; of course we make some mistakes, but those mistakes should not be glorified for them. 

To prevent the glorification of the bad things that happen at Lincoln High School, we should do several important things. One crucial thing, perhaps the most important thing, we have to do is spread the word of positive things happening at our school to the point where they outshine the bad. This way, people outside of Lincoln can accept our failures, and accept the idea that everybody makes mistakes, everybody has their failures. If we can continue this streak of positivity, we can make the bad reputation a thing of the past. 

I understand that we do make mistakes, some bad and some okay, but we should not be generalized because of them. We are not all rapists. We are not all murderers. 

Response 11: Argument

       Sojourner Truth, using what she says, proves that she is a woman. In my eyes all these are all things that Truth says, are things women are able to do. Women embody a different spirit than men do, women embody a better spirit. Women are pivotal in society. Sojourner Truth embodies just that and proves that by saying "I have borne thirteen chilern," something men cannot do. Women also have pride, and this is evidenced by "dese women togedder ought to be able to turn it back," meaning women have the courage, women have the ability.

Response 9: Motif Analysis

       Egdar Allan Poe uses motifs extensively in his works. One motif that is in all works that we've read by him is the night. In The Raven, the story is taking place at midnight. In The Tell-Tale Heart, the narrator kills the old man at night. All settings in Poe's poem The Bells take place at night. This shows that nighttime is a recurring topic in Poe's works.

       Nighttime is a symbolism for many things. At night, obviously, the sky is black as pitch. The color black is associated with death and the occult, as in black metal. The night is also associated with obscurity, since in the dark, you cannot see anything and anything terrible could be lurking in the obscurity. This implies that Poe uses this motif to show that he has a negative outlook on life, that life is like the dark and there could be anything terrible in it.

Response 8: Tone vs. Mood

     Tone and mood, in literature, are two completely different things. In The Black Cat, Edgar Allan Poe uses tone to convey the point of the story. Based on the tone (the author's feelings in the story) that The Black Cat has, which is , we know that Poe is writing about a dark topic. In The Black Cat's case, he is saying that all of us have a beast or "fiend intemperance" inside of us. One example of a line that establishes the tone is ". . . perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart". 

Response 7: Revenge

       Revenge, in my opinion, is a natural human instinct. When somebody commits something bad on you, you feel the need to get back to them so you feel like they paid the price. I believe that revenge also does NOT have to be direct, such as an instance in which someone says something degrading to you and you build yourself up to be better than what they called you while not hurting them directly.
       The ideas of revenge can be brought about by many events. One widely discussed event that causes revenge is when somebody bullies you. You feel degraded by them, or in some cases, are physically hurt by the bully. Immediately feeling anger, you may begin having thoughts of verbally degrading them back or hurting them back to raise your self-esteem and to feel better.
       This type of vengeance can hurt both sides equally, even though it feels good to have gotten somebody back. If the person that you performed your revenge on decides not to mess with you anymore, you feel good but leave the other party feeling bad. If the bully performs another revenge for your revenge, you might perform a revenge for their revenge. It's like a cycle if that happens; the revenges might go back and forth, hurting each other more.