Hey, it’s Spidey here, I just wanted to say how flattering it is to see all these new me fanatics 😉
I hope you all enjoyed the new film Spiderman Homecoming!
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I understand San Diego recently had Comic Con come to town
and although there were many mini-mes I recognized many of my mini avenger buddies!
Maybe you haven’t heard but I will be in one of the biggest fights of my life along side The Avengers, The Guardians of The Galaxy, Dr. Strange and some stragglers soon. Comic Con covered it all and released a play by play!
Image: Marvel/Ryan Meinerding: Avengers: Infinity War
“Cut to Queens and the hairs on the arm of a young Peter Parker stand up on end.”
I guess some could say I’m nervous…
ANYWAYS!
It’s absolutely wild to see how much of a mark I’ve made, yet again.
Heres what the New York Times have to say about all this Spidey mania:
“Here, Spidey is eager to do a billionaire’s bidding, partly because he’s being readied to join the Avengers. The question is when Spidey really grows up, who will he fight for and why?”
Good question NYTs, guess we’ll just have to see am I right? And I’m not there to do his bidding! Just around to save the world and help my Avenger friends.
Keep checking in guys! Oh and don’t forget to find me on social media!
Instagram: @official_spiderman
Facebook: Spider Man
Work Cited
Dargis, Manohla. “Review: Spider-Man (Again) and All That Sticky Kid Stuff.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 29 June 2017. Web. 25 July 2017.
Lussier, Germain. “The First Footage From Avengers: Infinity War Blows Away Even Your Wildest Expectations.” Io9. Io9.gizmodo.com, 15 July 2017. Web. 25 July 2017.
Note: I Emily McLean own none of these images nor do I have any ownership over Spiderman. This blog is being published for strictly educational purposes only and it is a parody.
Before the multimedia aspect of this blog, I would like to mention a brief summary of my novel “The Professor and The Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, And The Making Of The Oxford English Dictionary” written by Simon Winchester.
As I mentioned in my previous blog, there are two protagonists, and each individual has their own plot line. The first character I was introduced to was Dr. W. C. Minor an American whose family often traveled, Minor himself was later sent to live with his extended family in the United Kingdom. At a young age, he was very well-educated in multiple subjects and happened to be proficient in writing and speaking several languages. When he grew to be a bit older he joined the military as a surgeon, over time he saw many things and performed acts he was not comfortable with; due to the emotionally straining field, Dr.Minor was in, he eventually found himself having night terrors. Thus he was in and out of an asylum until his night terrors caused him to kill an innocent man. Dr. Minor then spent the rest of his life in an insane asylum, until he received a calling to help with the Oxford English Dictionary.
The second protagonist in this novel is none other than Dr. James Murray. He was also proficient in several languages and he taught himself many of the subjects we learn in school; sadly his family could not afford higher education for the young man but he did fine all on his own. As he grew up his intelligence began to be recognized and in no time was James Murray apart of the Philological Society (among those who extremely appreciate literature). After a long period of time, standing by seeing many failed attempts to make a dictionary, the Philological Society decided to begin the best one yet; The Oxford English Dictionary. Murray eventually became head of the project and his life was devoted to what he loved. He sent out many slips of requests for volunteers to help with the dictionary and that is just how our two protagonists came to meet. Sadly Murray did not live to see the completed project but he was none the less important to it all
“BibleGateway.” Genesis 1:27 – – Bible Gateway. New International Version, n.d. Web. 21 July 2017.
Smith, Kelly.”Historical Brief-Lives of Women in the Early 1800s.” Lives of Women in the Early 1800s. N.p., Dec. 2002. Web. 21 July 2017.
Winchester, Simon. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary. New York: Harper Perennial, 2016. Print.
Between reading the text The Professor and the Madman written by Simon Winchester and cross referencing my ideas with two other secondary sources, I’m frankly not impressed with the outcome. Both secondary sources were well written and in a fine format also accompanied by plenty of references to the text although, each source solely focused on the heroic quest when applying archetypal criticism. Regardless, using the focus point of the hero’s quest each secondary source failed to acknowledge that our novel, in fact, had two protagonists, therefore, two quests. The first half of chapter two was literally dedicated to explaining why and why not there can be two protagonists and merely finishing with ” Which happens to be just as well, considering – and to reiterate the point- the existence of two protagonists in this story. The first one, as is already clear, is Dr. William Chester Minor, the admitted and insane American murderer. The other is a man whose lifetime was more or less coincident with Minor’s, but who was different in almost all its other respects: He was named James Augustus Henry Murray.” ( Winchester 31).
The novel I’m reading
Hero’s Quest
Be that as it may, I still have more to say about the quest of the protagonists. On the contrary to what Atwood’s Blog has to say about Dr. Minor’s previous life to being put in an insane asylum being dull, I found it much more than that. Dr. Minor was an American citizen who was also a Surgical Captain in the military. Dr. Minor also suffered from an illness which often caused him to lash out wildly (which I will further elaborate on). Overall, this specific protagonist’s story is anything but dull. One thing Atwood’s Blog was not wrong about was the fact that Dr. Minor’s life picks up when called to help with the Oxford English Dictionary, “His life is quite dull before he receives the call to assist in working on the dictionary.” (Atwood’s Blog).
Furthermore, the second protagonist, James Murray, was a very talented child. A born philological, he was mostly self-taught after graduating school at the age of 14. Later in life, he pursued the field of being a headmaster for a school where he met his wife who died shortly after giving birth to their child who also passed. Murray moved on and recruited friends who quickly helped him join the exclusive Philological Society which launched him in the wonderful direction of literary projects which led him to the Oxford English Journal. Murray’s quest is nowhere near as difficult as Dr. Minors yet both paths still crossed.
Neither path follows a typical hero’s journey, yet the outcome is still extravagant and the problems each protagonist faced were all very real. My other secondary source thought otherwise ” at first glance, does not appear to have much in common with an archetypal hero’s journey. This is likely because the book is nonfiction and is written in a rather unique and creative format.” (Archetypal analysis of The Professor and The Madman). They believed they found a parallel in the story that I did not agree with, “The hero’s journey traditionally begins in the ordinary world, where there is a call to adventure, an initial refusal of the call, then the crossing of the threshold into the special world after a meeting with a mentor.” (Archetypal analysis of The Professor and The Madman).
Some volumes of the Oxford English Dictionary
Dr. Minor’s Illness
Dr. Minor’s illness is a prime example of a Jungian Archetype. Due to unsettling dreams of Irish correspondents attacking him while unconscious causes him to lash out when awake. “On the night in question, he awoke with a start, certain that a man was standing in the shadows at the foot of his bed. He reached under the pillow for his gun; the man saw him and took to his heels…” (Winchester 19). This dream causes him to run outside and shoot an innocent man he suspected was the one in his room, which made him a murderer. I believe this illness may represent something else such as post traumatic stress disorder or even schizophrenia. The book hasn’t mentioned anything otherwise.
The Asylum Dr. Minor resided
Bricks
There’s a lot of mention of bricks in the first chapter of the novel and they appear to symbolize confinement. The novel gave a very lengthy description of the village of Lambeth of blocky and big building everywhere made of brick and the road was made of cobblestone bricks and the tone of the narration was all very sad, like all the citizens of the village were trapped.
Lambeth Village, London, England
“Knowledge is power” ( Winchester 32).
Young James Murray was very smart and outside of school, he sought more and more materials to learn. Murray had “a working knowledge by the time he was fifteen of French, Italian, German, and Greek, he, like all educated children then knew Latin… He taught himself about the local geology and botany; he found a globe from which he could learn geography and foster a love for maps; he unearthed scores of textbooks from which he could take on the enormous burden of history…” ( Winchester 32-33). By his 20’s he was an extraordinary man and he baffled his family with all the information he retained over the years. Like a body builder working on muscle mass, Murray was just doing that intellectually, both instances resulting in power just differently.
Works Cited
Atwoodcohoon, Author. “Archetypal Analysis of The Profesor and the Madman.” Atwood’s Blog. N.p., 30 Apr. 2017. Web. 12 July 2017.
“Archetypal Analysis of The Professor and The Madman.” English. N.p., 18 Nov. 2016. Web. 12 July 2017.
Winchester, Simon. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary. New York: Harper Perennial, 2016. Print.
In order to get into University what are some of the precautions that need to be taken?
– Adequate grades in all required courses.
– Meeting exterior requirements.
– Often enough unique and well written entry essays.
So what makes one think that grade 12 english should not be a requirement when it really should be?
In order to be taken seriously by many universities that often have competative placements in their courses, having an above average mark in english would make the selection of candidates just slightly easier.
The quality of a well written essay would also play in the candidates favour and those who may not have had the chance to be in a grade 12 university level english may struggle to receive acceptance from the school of their choice.
The fundemental skills that a grade 12 university level english teaches you is applicable to many aspects in life. Of course the basics reside in communication such as speaking and expressing one’s self as well as writting. Yet this academic class also teaches skills in note taking for other classes and a sence of independence in yourself since you often need to indicate what information is most important for your notes and futur studying.
Grade 12 english is where you are groomed for the futur and it is understandable why it remains a requirement for so many universities. But who’s to say that these rules may change? What do those who read this blog have to say of the matter?
Emily McLean's Blog 