Julius Caesar Essay Reflection

Ideas and Content
I think that in my Julius Caesar essay that my body paragraphs stay in keeping with the topic. For example in my first body paragraph,discussing Caesars motivation of power, I discuss money reputation and status as well. This stays in keeping with orginazation of my paragraphs, and prevents the readers from being confused. My writing could greatly be improved though, if I had taken more time to read over my essay I could have made my ideas more understandable by correcting sentences that do not make sense. For example when I discuss Caesar ignoring his wifes fears, the sentence in not fully understandable and takes away from the overall idea of the paragraph.

Organization
In my essay Julius Caesar, one of the main points to be critiqued was the organization of the paragraphs. I believe that my paragraphs were well organized with a clear topic sentence (Eg. His main motivation, which is what allows him to be so power-hungry is his ambition). This is a good example of one of the topic sentences in my essay. It shows theme and clearly states what is to be discussed in the paragraph. The quotes are embedded correctly into the paragraphs (Eg. For he simply states "I am as constant as the Northern Star" [Pg. 108 Line 60]). Every topic ends well and the introduction was fairly well written though it was difficult to isolate the thesis statement. The conclusion was also not as well written as the rest of the essay. It had a few confusing sentences and did not fully reestablish all the points discussed in the essay. If I had taken more time to work on my introduction and conclusion I am sure I would've had a much stronger essay. In the beginning of my essay, I also had difficulty in sequencing which I believe overall effected my grade.

Personal Growth
Comparing this essay to some of the others essays I have written in the past I am proud of it. I believe that this is one of the most well organized essays I have written comparing it to some of the essays written while I was in TASIS. I believe that I was able to take what I have learned in TASIS and what I have learned from my humanities teachers here, and was able to apply it to this essay. Though I still struggle with grammar in my essay, I believe my ideas and points are clear, and I am proud of my essay. It was an intresting topic and I enjoyed learning about Julius Caesar.

SLR Reflection
I believe that this essay is a good example of the SLR think creativley. In order to complete this essay we had to learn to embed quotes and express our ideals. It taught us organization and challenged us to write creativley while maintaining the essay format. It also is a good example of reason critically since we had to explain our ideas, and prove that the motivating factors for our characters were correct.

Sacrificial Friend

William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is a classic work, that realistically shows how passions and motives can drive people to drastic measures. For when in the case of Julius Cesar himself “when he once attains the upmost round, He then unto the ladder turns his back, Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees By which he did ascend. So Caesar may”(Pg.64 Line24-27). These simple lines show the sterotipical characterization of Caesar, as ambitious and power-hungry. Using any tactic to reach the highest rank he can go, only to turn away from the people who helped him achieve his goals. Caesar aquired ambition and power through good intentions for the roman republic, though this only leads to his assasination.

When one thinks of power, Money and a high social rank often are the first images on people’s minds. This is the same for Caesar. Caesar’s wish is for control of the Roman rebuplic, and with his reputation of a great military leader does not have anyone publicly opposing him. Though Caesar already has a large amount of power as a famous military leader, and one of the main incomes of Rome, his goal is to be crowned king. Though he starts with intentions only to imporve Rome, power often comes hand in hand with arrogance. For he simply states “I am as constant as the Northern star” (Pg. 108 Line 60) which shows how high he places himself in society, and what power he controls if he wishes to compare himself to a heavenly being. In this simple statment Caesar is making the bold claim of being unchangeble, trying to exert his power and prove himself a strong leader worthy of the crown. Though he is not always arrogant. In his will he writes “To every Roman citizen he gives, To every several man, seventy-five drachmas” (Pg. 144 Line 239-240).Only men with such power Could have this much Money as to give a portion to every man in Rome. With this one last gestare, it increases sympathy with the Romans, and exerts his power for the last time. Ceasars power was based around status. And though he did not achieve his final goal, many Roman’s claim he was a great Caesar.

His main motivation, which is what allows him to be so power-hungry is his amibiton. Caesar had never been resisted by a friend or loved one, so he never thought he was doing wrong as his ambition grew, “but as he was ambitious, I slew him.” (Pg 130 Line 24-25). With his ambition ever growing Caesar began to become arrogant. This led to him making many enemy’s in the senate, who quietly began to Plot against him. Caesar is so ambitous to achieve his goal and be crowned king, that he goes to the senate the day his wife has begged him not to. This disrespectuful action towards his wife is because Decius has told him that “The senate have concluded to give this day a crown to mighty Caesar.” (Pg. 94 Line 93-94). Simply because Decius has told him that the senate is going to crown him he ignores his wife and her worries, and the warning of the soothsayer to “Beware the ides of March” (Pg. 26 Line 18). Caesar will do anything to achieve his goal, and trusts Decius as a friend. He is oblivious to the Plot and does not think his friends will kill him. Though sympathy should not all be on Caesar’s side, for the two tribunes Marullus and Flavius had been saying “These growing feathers pluck’d from Caesars wing will make him fly an ordinary pitch” (Pg.24 line 73-73). Though these two were just trying to protect the Roman republic by disrobing Caesar’s statues, that had been decorated by the plebians, they were put to death since they were speaking out against Caesar, and were in the way of Caesar being crowned. With ambition by his side, and his yearning to become leader Caesar instead of becoming closer to the crown, pushes himself farther away by making many powerful enemys.

With a mix of Caesar’s power and ambition he ends up making many senators his enemys, and ends up assasinated. Including the fact that he was never stood up to in the younger years of leadership, his power and ambition started to grow so much that in his older years he has become arrogant. Caesar was not only killed but never achieved his goal of being crowned king of Rome. Caesar was a known figure throughout Rome and with his ever increasing power, he became a threat to the other senators, which led to his assasination. Out of patriotism for one but selfish reasons, to protect their own power for others. Either way Caesars goal was not a noble one, since in order to achieve it he would have to destroy all the hard work his ancestors, and the ancestors of the other Romans did, to make Italy a republic. If he had been crowned king it would have been disrepectful to Rome, and put many of the senators in danger.

Collage reflection

Think Creatively!
One of the specific elements in my collage, created to draw the readers attention is in the middle left hand side of the collage. If you look closely you will notice the Sudanese flag on fire. I added this image in because I think it is a good symbolization to represent how Sudan is falling apart. Their flag is being burned and seperated. Another of the specific images is the picture towards the middle top of the collage. Two hands, one white and one black, hold the earth in its palms. I used this image to represent that this is our world,and it doesnt matter what skin color you have, we need to join together to take care of it. The last image I would like to point out is towards the far right of the collage. The image of the child being fed out of the cap of a bottle shows how desperate this situation is in Sudan, and evokes people to act.


Reason Critically!
In my collage,all the images taken from refugee camps or sudanese events show every day life or signifigant events. I tried to refrain from making factial statments, and instead relied on trying to make the viewers come to their own conclusion of the situation in Sudan. I tried to highlight some pictures that subtly showed crisis, and used a lot of symbolization. I think that in order to fully understand my collage, the viewer must be capable of making connections and exploring deeper insights.

Communicate Effectively!
My collage is meant to evoke an emotional response from the viewers. I tried not to use strong words, as to not evoke hatred and rage. But, subtle images of desperation to cause sadness greif and compassion in the viewers. My collage is not meant to provoke hatred, but merely awareness.

Live Ethically!
I believe that when viewers see my collage, and understand the images, such as the girl behind a chain, and the yound boy smelling the flower, that they will have empath when they understand the everyday life of these children and people. I think that my images show the desperation and lost hope of the people of Sudan. And that that will case viewers to wish to restore that lost hope by means of donatation or volunteering to help.

Sudan

The conflicts and civil wars that took part in Sudan can be narrowed down to religious persecution and political disagreements. Islamic men had taken the main positions of power in the capital city , Khartoum , which is located in the north. This sparked a civil war between the Islamic north and the Christian/Animistic south. When the British explorers had discovered Sudan , they drew up the boundaries to enclose all three religious groups in the same country. Murahliliin gunmen would constantly attack villages in the south , killing men and women and carrying off young girls to be slaves. When these attacks took place young boys would run away from the villages to save their lives. 20000 young boys joined together in crossing from Sudan to Kenyan refugee camps. These boys would later become known as the lost boys since they were found without their parents. The boys encountered many problems on the way such as lack of supplies , many deaths , and the skin wearing off their feet from the long walk. The Sudanesse army and Ethiopian army would also shoot at them as they made their journey.
In the case of Peter of Santino they were both from the Dinka village. When the attacks started getting closer to their village they had been told to run away if they were ever attacked. They started across the desert to seek help. Many fell down and died because of thirst and hunger , and being shot at by bandits. A group of boys tried to seek shelter in Ethiopia, but the Ethiopian government did not want to get involved with the Sudanese conflicts and turned them away. To get to the Kenyan refugee camps the boys had to cross the Gilo River. They were shot at by both sides, the Ethiopians and Sudanese, and some fell into the river and were eaten by crocodiles. After reaching the Kenya refugee camps they lived there for 11 years before going to America to start a new life along with 4000 other boys. This was the American government's way of helping with the Sudanese conflicts. When Peter and Santino reached America, they encountered many conflicts. Finding good jobs were hard, and the boys had little chance of going to school. This provoked Peter to drive to Kansas City. To try to make a better life for himself then he had in Houston. In America it was the first time the boys had ever encountered Racism. Santino was made to work in the sun since the boss’s argument was “since you're from Africa you should the sun since you're use to the heat”. The boys had also been targeted by robbers and did not expect that life was going to be busy. Santino’s roommate started complaining that the American government had sent them here and then left them. The boys had a hard time adjusting to American culture. Though now Peter is at a college in Vermont with a full scholarship. And Santino has passed his drivers test and is still living in Houston.