Anthony Samuel
25 Atlantic Street, SE
Washington, D.C. 20032
June 16, 2018
Thurgood Marshall Academy
2427 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20020
Dear Panelists:
Thank you for taking the time to be the panelist for my Portfolio Presentation. My name
is Anthony Samuel, and I am a 10th grade student at Thurgood Marshall Academy Public
Charter High School. My first year here at TMA has me put through some very rough challenges
to face and I would like to share my successes and challenges during my sophomore year here,at
TMA with you.
This year the 10th graders were asked to write an essay for our English 10 (H) Portfolio
Project. The Title of the Project was called “Tragic Hero-Macbeth/Things Fall Apart”. In this
essay we had to both compare the two stories, Macbeth by William Shakespeare and Things Fall
Apart by Chinua Achebe by answering the essential question, “Who is more of a tragic hero?”
and explain why or why not. We read both stories During class. In the Tragic story of Macbeth,
Macbeth is a brave and loyal Thane to King Duncan in the beginning. After hearing a prophecy
that he will become king himself, Macbeth is overcome by ambition and greed. Bolstered by the
prophecy and his wife’s encouragement, he kills King Duncan and takes the throne. Afterwards,
Macbeth’s guilt, fear, and paranoia lead him to commit even more murders to secure his power.
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His confidence in the prophecies eventually leads to his downfall and he is overthrown and killed
by those he has wronged. in the story of Things Fall Apart a young man by the name of
Okonkwo starts out with nothing and eventually gains wealth and respect from the people of his
hometown Umuofia. Okonkwo gets a little too privileged and gets banished from Umuofia.
When he returns he sees that Umuofia has been colonized and he has also lost the respect of his
people. Eventually, when Okonkwo realizes he has lost everything he loved, including his
family, It leads to his demise. Both Macbeth and Okonkwo have a reversal of misfortune. A
reversal of misfortune is an adverse change of fortune; a misfortune, check, or defeat. I stated in
my essay that Okonkwo was more of a Tragic Hero because unlike Macbeth, Okonkwo
illustrates a tragic flaw which makes him better fit for the archetype of a tragic hero. From
reading these two amazing stories, I learned how to get things the right way and not force
peoples way to the top because there could be serious consequences. I received an B on this
project. I received an B because I met most of the requirements but I had some grammatical
errors and a lack of evidence to support my thesis . To improve the next time I write an essay, I
will reread my paper more thoroughly and make sure I find evidence ahead of time.
My Geometry project was about using different shapes construct a bridge that will hold
over 25 pounds and was titled, “Geometry Popsicle Bridge Portfolio Project.” In the assignment
we had to complete a series of questi...
