STEP 2+3:
A: I'm one of the engineering students in this course and in high school the last time I did something 'creative' in the conventional sense was in Year 8 when we had compulsory visual arts. I was going to post this piece of creative writing that I wrote when I was in year 9 but after comparison, it was less creative than the piece I will post below.
This is my year 11 2U Prelim essay and despite it being an essay, it's more 'creative' (i.e. I bullshited my way through english) than the short story I was going to post.
...
The Human Condition is determined by what comes from within an individual more than from external forces.
The human condition of the protagonists in the play “the Glass Menagerie”, the comic “The Sandman: Season of Mists” and the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” proposes similar points of view regarding the opinion that the human condition is determined by internal forces rather than external forces.
Season of Mists revolve around Dream and his quest for redemption. However, the character of Dream is an amalgam of what the human imagination expects him to be. However, this expectation of what he is supposed to be is not an external force. Its is the essence of what Dream is, and as a result, his only internal force. The events of the comic all resulted due to outside forces. For example, the catalyst of the events in the comic are the Three who appear to Destiny to set the sequence of events into motion. However, Dream’s reactions to the events are what the human imagination expects Morpheus, the lord of Dreams to act like. So despite the fact that the comic was actually driven by external forces, the human condition of Dream is still driven by the internal force of all who believe in him, the basic foundation block of his power, and in turn, his human condition.
Prufrock from the “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” however, is someone who is trying to change his external forces by trying to motivate forces within himself. He was obviously a very passionate man as can be seen from at the beginning of the poem from his allusions to issues he’d wanted to change in society to the changes he wanted to make in his personal life. But his passionate beliefs are all the second handed knowledge of a man who was willing to settle into his niche and let the world pass him by. Though external forces such as society’s scrutiny and the dreary English weather seemed to be the foundation block of Prufrock’s human condition, the real forces that motivates or discourages him comes from within. To Prufrock, though society’s scrutiny and disdain may terrify him, what really caused him to fail in his quest to change society and the world is Prufrock’s own insecurities. So in the end, though Prufrock spent most of the poem agonizing over society’s reaction over his possible action, the only force responsible for his retreat into old age is his internal forces.
Tom in “the Glass Menagerie” knows what he wants. And he knows how to get it. In Tom’s case, his goals are denied him due to external influences consisting of his mother, sister and absent father. Laura and Amanda together shaped Tom into someone who puts filial obedience at the foreground of his life. Though this is done unintentionally on Laura’s part her shyness and social inadequacies instills in Tom the urge to protect her. Amanda living in her dreamy land of the past had also shaped Tom in his need to escape into some reality not his own. Their father, the phantom whose shadow hangs over all of them probably has the most to do in shaping Tom’s human condition. Tom’s father’s absence is the cause of his mother’s escapes into her better, more glorious past. It also created Laura’s dependence on her glass menagerie and her father’s records which in turn creates Tom’s need to protect. In the end, Tom’s personal ambitions, his internal force won against the external force of all those around him which proves that his internal forces shaped his human condition more than his external forces.
In comparing all three protagonists from “the Glass Menagerie”, “The Sandman: Season of Mists” and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, the common thread every text is that the human condition is determined by internal forces rather than external forces. Though this is true in varying degrees as Tom is a young man, Prufrock is someone near the end of his prime and Dream is a shapeless entity who does not age and does not change.
B: For me, the pieces of architecture that I consider most beautiful are the ones that interact with light creatively. Hence the Church of Light (Ibaraki Kasugaoka Kyokai Church) built by Tadao Ando is one of my favourite pieces of architecture.
I love the fact that the space of the chapel is defined by light, by the strong contrast between light and shade. Oh, and that artificial lighting and an altar isn't needed. What was interesting was that the construction of this church ran over budget and for a while the architect considered doing away with the roof. This problem was solved by the construction company donating the cost of the roof.
The human condition of the protagonists in the play “the Glass Menagerie”, the comic “The Sandman: Season of Mists” and the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” proposes similar points of view regarding the opinion that the human condition is determined by internal forces rather than external forces.
Season of Mists revolve around Dream and his quest for redemption. However, the character of Dream is an amalgam of what the human imagination expects him to be. However, this expectation of what he is supposed to be is not an external force. Its is the essence of what Dream is, and as a result, his only internal force. The events of the comic all resulted due to outside forces. For example, the catalyst of the events in the comic are the Three who appear to Destiny to set the sequence of events into motion. However, Dream’s reactions to the events are what the human imagination expects Morpheus, the lord of Dreams to act like. So despite the fact that the comic was actually driven by external forces, the human condition of Dream is still driven by the internal force of all who believe in him, the basic foundation block of his power, and in turn, his human condition.
Prufrock from the “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” however, is someone who is trying to change his external forces by trying to motivate forces within himself. He was obviously a very passionate man as can be seen from at the beginning of the poem from his allusions to issues he’d wanted to change in society to the changes he wanted to make in his personal life. But his passionate beliefs are all the second handed knowledge of a man who was willing to settle into his niche and let the world pass him by. Though external forces such as society’s scrutiny and the dreary English weather seemed to be the foundation block of Prufrock’s human condition, the real forces that motivates or discourages him comes from within. To Prufrock, though society’s scrutiny and disdain may terrify him, what really caused him to fail in his quest to change society and the world is Prufrock’s own insecurities. So in the end, though Prufrock spent most of the poem agonizing over society’s reaction over his possible action, the only force responsible for his retreat into old age is his internal forces.
Tom in “the Glass Menagerie” knows what he wants. And he knows how to get it. In Tom’s case, his goals are denied him due to external influences consisting of his mother, sister and absent father. Laura and Amanda together shaped Tom into someone who puts filial obedience at the foreground of his life. Though this is done unintentionally on Laura’s part her shyness and social inadequacies instills in Tom the urge to protect her. Amanda living in her dreamy land of the past had also shaped Tom in his need to escape into some reality not his own. Their father, the phantom whose shadow hangs over all of them probably has the most to do in shaping Tom’s human condition. Tom’s father’s absence is the cause of his mother’s escapes into her better, more glorious past. It also created Laura’s dependence on her glass menagerie and her father’s records which in turn creates Tom’s need to protect. In the end, Tom’s personal ambitions, his internal force won against the external force of all those around him which proves that his internal forces shaped his human condition more than his external forces.
In comparing all three protagonists from “the Glass Menagerie”, “The Sandman: Season of Mists” and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, the common thread every text is that the human condition is determined by internal forces rather than external forces. Though this is true in varying degrees as Tom is a young man, Prufrock is someone near the end of his prime and Dream is a shapeless entity who does not age and does not change.
B: For me, the pieces of architecture that I consider most beautiful are the ones that interact with light creatively. Hence the Church of Light (Ibaraki Kasugaoka Kyokai Church) built by Tadao Ando is one of my favourite pieces of architecture.
I love the fact that the space of the chapel is defined by light, by the strong contrast between light and shade. Oh, and that artificial lighting and an altar isn't needed. What was interesting was that the construction of this church ran over budget and for a while the architect considered doing away with the roof. This problem was solved by the construction company donating the cost of the roof.
C: Call me a glutton, but I love good food (though doesn't everybody?). Some might say that its rather sad to have a picture of food as my 'something beautiful' but coming from someone who has been working in cafes and catering for some years, a beautifully presented tray of food is really rare and take a lot of effort.
This was taken in QVB's tea room where I went with some friends to have what we thought was high tea. It turns out that 'high tea' is actually what the lower class had in Victorian England as they combine lunch and dinner to make one meal to cut down on costs. What we had was 'afternoon tea' which was a higher class custom as they have a long gap (nearly 10hrs!) between lunch and dinner.
STEP 4:
FIONA HALL
artifice, wilting, vivid.
TRACY MOFFAT 
tragedy, yearning, desperate.
ROSALIE GASCOIGNE
deer, standing, fixed
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