Robert Frost's Fork in the Road

Upon Mrs.Shabana's request (you can rest at ease now :P), I'm posting my literary interpretation essay :)

     Through his poem "The Road Not Taken", Robert Frost portrays the choices one faces in life by comparing life to a walk in the woods. On the surface, the poem describes a road that divided into two roads and the speaker's frustration at not being able to take both. The speaker then, after observing both roads, chooses the road 'less traveled by'. On a deeper note, though, we see more insight on life by Robert Frost.

     'Two roads diverged'; Frost promptly opens his poem with the conflict: the speaker is faced with two roads, one of which he must choose, and will probably never be able to change. These roads just as easily represent the choices one faces in life. Whether in education, marriage, or simply social relations, the choices one makes are usually always irreversible. The setting of a forest also emphasizes the maze-like characteristic of choices. As Frost aptly puts it, 'way leads on to way', creating a web of choices. This makes it even more crucial to make the right choice at the beginning.

     But how did the speaker make his decision? At first, Frost leads us to believe that both roads seem equally appealing and 'just as fair', but then he goes on to say the second road might have 'the better claim, because it was grassy and wanted wear'. After walking down the second road, though, the speaker again reevaluates his choice and comes to the conclusion that both roads 'that morning lay, in leaves no step had trodden black', but he had only realized that both roads seemed equally trodden after he had made his choice. These identical paths symbolize a combination of free will and fate; one is free to choose, but doesn't truly know beforehand what one is choosing between. It takes both choice and chance to determine one's route in life. Thus, the focus of the poem is not the roads themselves, but what they will lead to in the future.

     'And that has made all the difference'. the difference mentioned could be one of two: either the speaker will experience a nostalgic relief by taking the second road, or regret for the same reason. The speaker himself still doesn't know which it will be since he hasn't lived the difference yet; his evaluation of the difference his choice will make is still in the future. All the speaker is sure of is that his choice will make 'all the difference'.

     Robert Frost's message by "The Road Not Taken" is twofold; first, he tells us to be careful of our choices, since, once made, are irreversible. One's decisions will open up yet more choices, and one can get lost trying to find the right ones. And second, Frost highlights a common dilemma in life; no matter how carefully we make our choices, the outcome still relies partially on chance. The outcome of the speaker's choice is yet to be determined; all we can be sure of, though, is that it 'has made all the difference'.

Why you should feel LUCKY *in a nutshell*

ESPECIALLY WRITTEN FOR NOUR AL-QARRA
Midterms are coming up…










...And to get through them with our sanities intact, we need to focus on the half of the cup that’s FULL .
So here are three things to remind you of what you might have forgotten:


1) 5 projects = variety of skills, one of which (the most crucial one) is TIME-MANAGEMENT !! I’m sure that in our college and future career years, we’ll be GLAD this school is loading us… so that we won’t be crippled under the weight and exhaustion of the responsibilities yet to come.


2) Going back to common sense, colleges will want to accept you even more BECAUSE of what we’re doing !! they’ll see that we’re students who have endured (and hopefully survived :P) a LOT of pressure, which is REALLY saying something...
    so, looking at it this way:
low grades + LOTS of successful and CHALLENGING activities = college acceptance  *insha2alla*
                          keep in mind that colleges want active students, not only brainiacs


3) Have you forgotten WHY we’re learning with projects?? because it’s more MIND-CAPTIVATING which means learning more . We want to learn this way because it STICKS the information in our heads; it’s like a “Guarantee to LEARN the Interesting Way” :)


I only provided you with three scholastic examples; I’m sure if you take a good look, you’ll find lots of other stuff to feel lucky about..


So in the end  I, TOO  feel lucky. AL7MDULILAH :)

Lost Angel 2

AND hello there :)

here is what I've brought to you from Lost Angel Chp 4-10 !!! I'll give you guys more time to answer this time ;) :

-Mabel moved to Clapham, an area as so far untouched by bombs

-they found the farm a relieving change from the bombing in London, though Hilda saw the isolation as oppressive

-though Gertie was happy as a recluse and avoided unnecessary contact with people, Hilda immediately formed connections with the villagers

- Gertie home-schooled Ellen and Ellen's love for nature fueled her eagerness to learn about the different plants and animals

-Doug, Hilda's husband, visited; he was concerned about Gertie's preference to women. but after being assured that Gertie felt only sisterly love for Hilda, he supported Hilda's decision to move and hoped to live in the countryside when the war was over

-Doug’s concern about Gertie made Hilda feel doubtful herself, especially after Doug left

-Gertie, contrary to common belief, had more than sisterly feelings for Hilda; before Doug came, she tried to believe Hilda might feel the same. after Doug's visit disillusioned her, Gertie was glad to see the back of him

-a year and a half after Doug's visit, Ellen reached puberty. instead of enlightening her daughter, though, Hilda left her daughter confused and naively vulnerable

-on Ellen's birthday, Hilda, in a moment of privacy, felt a presence; her initial response of disbelief begins to take on a different form

-with Doug's second visit, Doug and Hilda's suspicions about Gertie's preferences intensify and Gertie's jealousy is rekindled; this time, Hilda is convinced enough to make preparations to move back to London

-Hilda's plan was delayed by Ellen and Gertie's sicknesses; after a week of straining herself to heal them, Hilda found that the cost of their recovery was her own illness

- luckily when Hilda fell ill, a concerned villager came to check up on the family; Hilda was taken to hospital immediately

-Ellen and Gertie were kindly helped by the villagers and Gertie was surprised that their interests were genuine; she found herself confused whether or not she actually wanted to leave her recluse, but humbled by the villagers' concerns despite Gertie's former coldness

Questions: What do you think Hilda will eventually believe about the 'presence' she felt? How will this affect her other beliefs, especially those regarding her crucifix?

What repercussions might come from Hilda’s overprotection of Ellen?

Lost Angel 1

I'm sure you all read the book already and are sick and tired of the summaries; that's why I took it upon myself to do things a little differently. I'm going to post the points in the story that are important or have changed, etc etc.., you'll get the the drift when you start reading the points (hopefully)... so here goes:

- Hilda and her daughter Ellen lost their home to the bombs in London. Hilda's parents died because the bombs.
- Hilda wears her mother's chain and crucifix though neither she nor her mother was religious. Though her mother had worn the necklace because she felt it had protected her, Hilda believed in no such thing.
- Mabel, Hilda's friend, let's Hilda and Ellen stay with her until they leave to go to Gertie's farm. Mabel doesn't trust or approve of Gertie.
- As they settled down at the small farm, Ellen realizes a fascination for animals, and, because of that, Hilda believes she has made the right decision.
- Gertie and Hilda share a childhood together, where Hilda's mom was housekeeping for Gertie's father.
- Something about Gertie made the community as a whole deject her. Even her father, a religious man, saw her as an abomination in God's eyes. Nevertheless, Hilda didn't judge Gertie and still trusted her.

Question: Why was Hilda so set against believing in God or her mom's necklace? And since she didn't, why did Hilda still wear the crucifix?
:)

Daughter of the Empire 5

Without further preamble, I write to you the last, but never least, episode of 'Daughter of the Empire'. Enjoy the twists of the next trickery ;)

In such a celebration, blood feuds were supposed to be outwardly put on hold. On entrance to Minwanabi estates, Mara was given the Lord of the Minwanabi's (Lord Jingu's) honor to the safety of his 'guests' (so that if Mara or anyone under her was harmed by anyone Mineanabi, Jingu would have to kill himself to restore his house's honor).  But the Lord's promise said nothing of accidents.
Stationed in a chamber out of the way of the rest of the house, Mara, her First Advisor, and a Strike Leader were asleep when the first attack came. A warrior took the Strike Leader by surprise and managed to give a fatal blow to the latter, but not before receiving an equal blow in return. Quickly, the First Advisor started a fire and began calling for help (that way, no one could ignore their pleas for help). When again in the safety of the public, Mara was nettled to realize that Jingu blamed the attack to that of a random thief. Without any evidence, she was forced to accept this.
Then Mara, with her Spy Master acting as her new Strike Leader, discretely sent a letter to Teani (the mistress who swore to kill Mara) to come meet her at night, when all was asleep. Teani came, bringing with her a warrior for protection. Mara claimed to have documents that proved Teani was an Anasati spy (which she was). So Teani, provoked by anger, struck at Mara. The warrior Teani brought with her was honor bound to protect Mara; he killed Teani. Then, when he realized that Mara had no documents to prove of Teani's real loyalties, and that Lord Jingu would be forced to kill himself, the warrior decided to kill Mara and claim to everyone in the morning that Mara had attacked first. While he aimed an attack at Mara, Mara's Spy Master hit him from behind, hard enough to make him unconscious.
By now, all the guests had awoken from the noise of the fight. When Mara accused Jingu, he denied again, saying she had no proof; but this time the Warlord intervened. He asked a Magician to prove who lied and who told the truth. Against all odds, Mara had defeated Jingu... but not the Minwanabi. Jingu's son, the new Lord, looked at Mara with murderous eyes only.

As another attempt to better her conditions, Mara suggested to the Warlord to complete his birthday celebrations on Acoma lands. After struggling for the needs of survival, Mara of the Acoma had finally restored her clan and empowered it.

Now that I have finally told all of the book, I am sorry to say that I will not be able to tell you what more will become of Mara of the Acoma, since the sequels of this book I cannot find.
But if anyone chances to find them their titles are:

Servants of the Empire
Mistress of the Empire

If you do find them, buy them, read them, but above all tell me at once where they are so I can get my own copies :)
TTFN - Tigger style :P

Daughter of the Empire 4

i'm baaaaaaack ! :D

With the new circumstances, the Anasati was made a reluctant ally; Mara's son was the Anasati Lord's grandson, and though he would much rather kill Mara, Tecuma (the Anasati Lord), cared for his grandson.
The spy network informed Mara that her late husband's mistress was a Minwanabi spy. Without letting the spy know she was discovered, Mara dispensed the former mistress in the pretense of a jealous wife. As it turned out though, the spy, Teani, was actually an Anasati spy playing the role as a Minwanabi spy for the Acoma (What happened was, as an Anasati spy, she went to the Minwanabi; then the Minwanabi used her to spy on the Acoma... ;P). Teani had unexpectedly loved Mara's late husband; so now she vowed to kill Mara when the chance arrived. After being dispensed, she left again for the Minwanabi house.
As soon as the traditional mourning period was over, Mara received a multitude of marriage petitions. One of those petitions came from a Minwanabi's ally. Not wanting to seem weak, Mara accepted the petition (not the marriage), but since there would probably be an assassin among the visiting retinue, she decided to fight back. Using her charms she led the suitor to be smitten with her, and he vainly conceded by using up already declining wealth to impress Mara. Though the suitor withdrew his proposal, Mara benefitted by tricking the suitor into owing her a favor should he become ruling lord after his father.
With that advantage in mind, Mara then faced the next hardship: she had been invited by her enemy the Minwanabi to the annual celebration held at the Minwanabi house in honor of the Warlod's birthday. Finally, the time had come for Mara to confront her sworn enemy.

NEXT POST: How can Mara act to once again change the odds in favor of the Acoma house? Find out in the next, and final post 'Daughter of the Empire 5'...

:S

Does anyone know how to send an email through the gmail?? Why is everything so backward??