Beowulf

Although reading Beowulf seemed extremely confusing at first, it turned out to be an exciting story where the courageous Beowulf fights with beasts and dragons to secure kingdoms’ peace.

To begin with, I just have to say that the writer of this had to be insane. More than three-quarter of the characters’ names begin with the letter “H”. Because I got confused after seeing every single name in the novel (apart from Beowulf, that was very different from others), I had to keep flipping back to the last page in order to figure out who the character was. These issues with names made me stop so often I couldn’t read the story as smoothly as I wanted to.

I really liked the plot. Even though the story was a bit repetitive as Beowulf fought with Grendel, his mother, and the dragon, I thought the battles nicely conveyed Beowulf’s strong pride as a warrior. In the beginning I thought Beowulf was over-conceited, but the way he died to defend his own kingdom was very impressing. The sacrifice he made in the last battle proved that he was a “hero” instead of being one of the “historical figures”.

Overall, the book was very thoroughly detailed as if I was actually there to witness Beowulf’s great deeds. Even though I personally do not like reading poems, I enjoyed reading how Beowulf rose from a common fighter to a savior of two nations.

Wuthering Heights

First thing to say about Wuthering Heights is that it is a good book. Romantic novels resemble a lot to each other; two characters meet, and no matter what happens, they somehow end up together.  Yet Emily Bronte succeeds to break away from the trends of this genre by applying complex and mysterious touch to it. Rather, the book is not about Heathcliff and Catherine’s unrequited love. She portrays how their love injures ones around them. Edgar Linton is probably the best example, for he loves his wife faithfully until the very end, however, his love is never returned.

Although there are many unforgettable scenes in the novel, the passionate argument that Heathcliff and Catherine has in chapter fifteen is by far the most memorable. It almost feels as if I could see them crying, hand in hand. The main reason to why this section is very shocking is because Heathcliff, who appears to be unemotional and atrocious character, shows his true feelings. How broken he is inside from losing Catherine to Edgar, and his insane love towards her is shown through that one chapter. It definitely moves its readers by showing how strong their devotion for each other is, and portrays how love is boundless.

In some way, Wuthering Heights is very similar to Sense and Sensibility. Characters in both characters are naïve; they are weak and as a reader, I said “no way” to myself more than twenty times as watched how the figures reacted to each conflicts. Heathcliff was definitely one of the characters inside the novel who forced me to think this way, for he cannot get over Catherine, no matter what. Even worse, he does not stay quiet about it; he tries to get revenge on them. However, I cannot lie that he is also the character whom I can relate to the most. As Ms. Howard says, “he is one of the best antihero of all times”.

Overall, Wuthering Heights was a great novel, and was definitely worth reading. Emily Bronte contributed to the society by introducing a masterpiece to the world of literature.

Micro- Story

The Guilt

          After we reflected on the game we had that day, we were dismissed from the meeting. Most of the kids walked off together to hang out. Instead I dragged my legs to the locker room alone. The door to the boys’ locker room seemed heavier than usual, and a complete darkness welcomed me as I entered the small room. There were soccer uniform thrown everywhere with our school names. It was a cool blue sport t-shirt with “Lake Mary Prep” on the back. I picked one up. I stared at it for a moment then put it back down. I walked over to my own grey colored locker. There were stickers everywhere; one of them was the school mascot, the Griffin. The blue eyes of the Griffin stared at me. I looked away, almost instantly.

            It was not my fault we lost the game. My coach knew that. My teammates knew that. I knew that. But if I had not gotten the red card in the second half, we held a very high chance of winning the match.  We could have held the golden Champions Cup in our hands. But it could not be helped. That was the only way we could have stopped that kid from scoring a goal. It was not my fault we lost the game.

            I sat down on the bench that was closest to me. Something hit my leg. I crouch down to find a beaten up soccer ball. I stared at it for a few minutes. The ball bore many scratches and lines on its surface. It almost looked pathetic. I threw the ball into the basket and turned back to my locker. I opened it and got my water bottle out.

            Slowly I walked out of the school entrance. It was raining and it seemed as if it was not going to be a light shower. I didn’t hesitate to walk into the rain. The droplets hit my face. Then it started soaking my clothes. I was really wet. But I did not run. Nothing could be fixed.

I walked steadily back to my house as the rain poured all over me. I met no one on the way back home, which was a delight. Suddenly, I saw a glimpse of light at far. It shone like a star on a dark, black night. I sped up my pace, but not too fast so that the puddles didn’t splash on my legs. As I closed up, I discovered that the source of the bright light was from my house. I felt more drops on my face the closer I got to the door. By the time I had put my hand on the door knob, I was soaked head to toe.