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Friday, April 26, 2013

"A Clean, Well Lighted Place" Response


“A Clean, Well Lighted Place” is a short story rich in symbolism. It focused mainly on the differences in emotions, which are affected by light and dark. Dark is a disturbing time, when depression and thoughts or attempts of suicide happen. Light, however, is an escape from the anxiety, depression, and self-consciousness. This and a few other details are very important and needed to be portrayed in the film adaptation of the story.

For one, in the story, the old man sits by the window. Although this doesn’t seem incredibly important, the glass acts as a barrier between the light of the cafe and the darkness of the outside world. In the film adaptation, the old man sits a booth, which isn’t even beside the window. Also, some of the dialogue  between the two waiters gives clues to the old man’s life and why the darkness may bother him. In the film adaptation, the two waiters are Irish and incredibly difficult to understand. This causes some of the dialogue to be missed, therefore making the symbolism less clear.

Although there are several other differences, besides these two main points, the director did a fairly good job of portraying the short story. He also captured the essence of the cafe lifestyle very well. I believe that the actors were cast well, and they accurately portrayed the inner feelings of their characters, although they were hard to understand. Overall, there are only a few major differences that affect the story in the film adaptation. 

Thursday, March 28, 2013

The Welcome to a Better Place


Author's Note: This story deals with a lot of inner conflict, yet optimism. A woman dying of cancer gets trapped in a cave but is still hopeful, and not very miserable, because she believes this is better than dying from the cancer. I tried to really portray that part of her character throughout the story. I also tried to use good word choice and syntactic patterns, which I find hard to incorporate into a fictional piece. 

Staring into dark nothingness. Black particles weaving together to create an impossible barrier, which I cannot break with my body, nor my mind. I feel completely blind, my eyes are open, but I cannot see. I only had two months to live, but now, I assumed I only had a day before starvation and dehydration shut me down. Part of me was happy; my biggest fear had been for my husband and kids to see me die. I had already said my goodbyes, for I knew I could die any day. Clearly, God wants me to come see his house, and my tasks on Earth are completed.

***

I was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer just under a year ago. I went through 10 months of chemotherapy before they told me that it wouldn’t work; the cancer continued to multiply. The warning came, and now I had only two months to live. There was only one thing I wanted to do before I died; write and publish one last book. I wanted to write about the incredible wonders of the world, and why we should take time to admire them during our time here. This is why I came to Wyndham Cave, about an hour away from my home in San Francisco.

With my husband, Scott, waiting for me at the bottom of the mountain, I had hiked up to this cave. It took about an hour to reach my destination by foot, but it was well worth it. Thousands of crystal formations clung to the walls and floor. They sparkled and reflected the little rays of sunlight that crept into the cave. No living creatures seemed to be here; this place seemed to be a sort of crystal palace of the animal kingdom.

I crouched to closer examine one of the formations, the complexity yet simplicity of this grouping left me in disbelief. The glistening color and smooth texture contrasted the chaotic patterns of jagged edges. I began to write:

Wonder #1: Wyndham Cave

Crystals glistening, dim light reflecting and dispersing itself to all corners of the cave. To the touch, the smooth surface of crystal formations gives off a feeling of power and purity, so long as you don’t touch one of the jagged edges. T      


 The entire cave began to shake, and my pencil skidded across my lined paper. Finding myself flat on my back, I attempted to get up so I could make my way out of the cave. I felt as though thousands of tons of rock may collapse on top of me at any given moment. Before I could get to the opening, the cave went dark and the shaking ceased. I collapsed onto the floor, partly from fear and partly from exhaustion. Crawling over to where the opening had been, I pushed as hard as I could. Sadly, the rocks covering it were so tightly packed together; there was little chance of a grown man breaking out.

***
This is how I came to be in my current situation. I’ve been trapped for two days now; yesterday was spent desperately trying to contact my husband on my phone, but there was no signal. Today was much more productive though. I was able to clear a section of rocks and crystals so that I had a bed of hard soil. Though my small supply of trail mix is long gone, I’m actually quite satisfied with how I’m going to die. No more painful goodbyes with my husband and kids, and an equal amount of suffering as there would be if my disease were to take my life.

Over the last two days, I have also been doing a lot of writing. Since I only had four senses that could explain the true beauty of this place, and I obviously wouldn’t get to see anymore wonders, I decided to take a different path in my book. It is now titled, How to See the True Beauty in Life. Considering that I only had two days to write it, it turned out to be more of a short story or article. I spent all of today writing this book in between naps. When I was finally finished, I allowed myself to drift off into a deep sleep; my body needed it to make up for the lack of food and water.

I awake slowly, a weird sensation spreading through my body. My heart was beating hard, but very slow, and it seemed to be getting slower. I knew this was the moment. One by one, I could feel my organs closing their doors to the blood that wanted to flow through them. I felt my lungs close off the air that wanted to flood their chambers, and lastly I felt my heart stop beating. My soul was peeling out of my body, and I could no longer control any part of me. I floated up, now seeing my corpse, which looked like me, simply sleeping. I floated higher and higher, feeling unreal until finally arriving to a place I seemed to know very well. Though I had never been here before, it felt familiar and welcoming.

A very tall man, who seemed to be radiating power, and who was surrounded by sparkling, beautiful women wearing a different kind of crown welcomed me with pleasure. Although we had never officially met, they were thrilled of my arrival. They led me to a huge golden room with rays of sunlight shining in, and led me to the window. There, I looked out to see a scene on the mountain where I had died. I saw my husband, walking along the mountain path with two policemen. All three looked exhausted, I could tell that they had been looking for me for days. One of the policemen stops right at the entrance of my cave and cocks his head sideways. Carefully removing one rock at a time, he eventually kicks down the wall and sees my corpse. He yells and motions for the other police officer and my husband. My husband comes running, and with a look of great sadness, kneels by my corpse. I see his shoulders begin to sag, and bounce up and down as he sobs. He stops a moment, realizing that I’m in a better place now. As the parties and festivities begin behind me, he looks up towards the sky, right at me and blows me one last kiss. 

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Where is the love?

Author's Note: This is a response to Fahrenheit 451, our assigned book for Language Arts Class. I found the quote so far that I've found most meaningful and am going to explain it's significance. 

"Millie, does --" He licked his lips. "Does your 'family' love you, love you very much, love you with all their heart and soul, Millie?"

In Fahrenheit 451, the government has taken books away for one main reason, books make people feel things; they make people feel emotion. If people feel emotion, then maybe they'll disagree and rebel against the government, and even disagree with each other. The government doesn't want to take any chances, so their solution is to get rid of everything that provokes emotion. At this point in the book, after reading his stolen books  for almost the entire day, Montag is beginning to realize what love is, and that he doesn't feel it. In these books, he's reading about people with emotion, with feelings, and with opinions. He's realized that the government and even his boss are trying to deprive people of their emotions. I think this may be the climax in the story, because Montag may start trying to change the government, instead of living with regret.

Friday, March 1, 2013

Word Choice and Context Analysis


Author's Note: I wrote a creative piece and then analyzed how the imagery used added to the mood of the story. I tried to incorporate as much imagery as possible in the story to show my knowledge of their use. 

I’m swimming, swimming in a magical world of blue. Rays of sunlight dance ahead, showing me the way to go. Tiny bubbles float upwards, tiny bubbles twirl and spin, tiny bubbles weave between each other. This underwater palace was like Atlantis, towering from the bottom of the ocean. Hundreds of little tiny fish swam with their schools in the crystal clear water. Dolphins jump out of the water so they are even with the rooftops of Miami. Sharks swim slowly and confidently like kings walking in their own country. Staying here forever would be lovely, an escape from the real world, but it is time to return. Dolphins swarm below and lift me to the surface, where I am left to swim back to the land of reality.

***

In this piece, I used symbolism and imagery to create a mood of pureness and life beneath the surface of the ocean. I tried to write with a tone of a magical place where there were no worries, fears, or setbacks. I used the symbolism of water to create the mood of a clear and pure world where a new life was born. These techniques are often used in poetry and short stories to enhance the setting and the mood or goal of the characters. I used imagery so that the reader could see a vivid picture of what it would be like to be swimming in this magical world. When I said, “rays of sunlight dance ahead,” I was using personification to help the reader see those glistening rays sparkling and shining light into the clear water. When I said “this underwater palace was like Atlantis,” I was giving the reader a chance to use real world text or art to visualize even more. All these techniques helped enhance the mood of the story and helped the reader to truly interpret the story in the way intended by the author.

Anorexia Research

Author's Note: This is my research paper about Anorexia and how society affects it. I properly formatted it so that I could meet my goal of getting a 10 on format in a research paper.

A 13 year-old girl stands in front of the bathroom mirror, turning sideways to look at a profile view of what she sees as fat. Everyone else around her saw a fit, athletic girl who was a healthy weight, but she saw it differently. She put herself on a 40-day water fast to lose weight, but refuses to tell anyone that she's lost almost 15 pounds. She's 5'4" and only weighs 80 pounds, which is dangerously underweight for her height and age. She refuses to admit that she has a perilous, unsafe eating disorder -- anorexia.

Anorexia is a adolescent disease that typically occurs in 13-24 year olds (South Carolina Department of Mental Health). Although it normally occurs in girls with obsessive or narcissistic personalities, it can happen to anyone with low self-esteem (University of Maryland Medical Center). People with anorexia have a fear of gaining weight, even if they are already underweight, and refuse to remain at a height or weight that is considered normal for their height and age (Medline Plus). Anorexics also have a very distorted body image and refuse to confess or reveal their weight loss (Medline Plus). Most anorexics will also deny they have an eating disorder, and instead consider themselves to be precautious and dedicated to their health and weight (Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia).

Just as anorexia affects your mental state, it also affects your health and overall wellbeing. People with anorexia may get dry, blotchy, or yellow skin that is covered with fine hair (Medline Plus). They will experience confused or slow thinking with poor judgment skills and possibly dry mouth, depression, sensitivity to cold, loss of bone strength, or lack of muscle or body fat (Medline Plus). Anorexia may also slow or stop growth and body development (Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia). Lastly, anorexia causes low potassium, leading to heart problems, increased risks of infections from lack of white blood cells, severe dehydration and malnutrition, seizures from loss of fluid or sodium, thyroid problems, and tooth decay (Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia).

People all over America experience these symptoms and more; over 8 million Americans have an eating disorder (Mirasol Eating Disorder Recovery Centers). The severity of this disease is unknown to many, but 5-10% of anorexics die within 10 years of acquiring the disease, 18-20% die within 20 years, and only 30-40% ever fully recover (South Carolina Department of Mental Health). Half of all anorexic deaths are from suicide, which is attempted by 20% of anorexics (University of Maryland Medical Center). Thoughts of weight and body image begin far before most people acquire anorexia; 50% of 11-13 year olds see themselves as overweight, and 80% of 13 year olds have attempted to lose weight sometime in their life (South Carolina Department of Mental Health). Anorexia clearly affects people of all ages and weights.

This disease debilitates your body and your brain, yet society causes more and more young people to be affected by it. With modern technology, magazine pictures, billboards, and most social media is able to be edited and photo shopped. Models are airbrushed and made to look skinnier in most pictures, but young girls wouldn’t know that, so they make it their ultimate goal to look just like that person. Everywhere around them, there is images of what they wish to look like; store mannequins, reality shows, and even Barbie dolls torture them every day. Studies show that the number of people with an eating disorder has majorly increased in the last fifty years simply because of the increased amount of social media and beauty suggestions (Katzman and Morris).

This young girl, like many of her age, has been influenced by society to become seriously anorexic. She suffers from heart disease and serious depression. Each and every morning she wakes up, not wanting to get out of bed, not wanting to talk to anyone, and not wanting to eat, despite being starving. Hidden behind her closet door, she has a collage of posters out of magazines, of all the people she wants to look like. Models and celebrities whose pictures have been severely edited, causing young girls like this one to starve themselves -- sometimes to death. So tell me society, is it really worth it?

Bibliography

Katzman, Debra K and Anne M Morris. The impact of the media on eating disorders in children and adolescents. May-June 2003. 28 2 2013.

Medline Plus. Anorexia nervosa: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. 13 2 2012. 11 2 2013.

Mirasol Eating Disorder Recovery Centers. The Learning Center: Eating Disorder Statistics. n.d. 11 2 2013.

South Carolina Department of Mental Health. Eating Disorder Statistics. 1 1 2006. 13 2 2013.

University of Maryland Medical Center. Patient Education: Eating disorders - Complications of Anorexia. 22 1 2009. 21 2 2013.

Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia. Anorexia nervosa - Wikipedia. 1 2 2013. 11 2 2013.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

The Thoughts of Her Terrible Brain!

Author's Note: This piece was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell Tale Heart". I attempted to write it in the style of his voice, and tried to use a similar plot with a twist. I tried to sound as insane as physically possible. 

The young woman's brain,
was too much for me.
Her thoughts always intruded,
this, that, what.
It so ever took a toll,
and nearly drove me mad.
An ever so faint,
buzzing, buzzing.
In the back of my head,
it was always there.

If only there was a way,
to make it disappear.
Snap, it's gone… Haha!
Wouldn't that be nice.
But at once, all the levers,
all the knick knacks, in my brain.
They began to turn,
there is a way--
a way that will be sweet,
I will savor it, forever!

Kill the brain, chop it,
destroy every thought --
every thought that ever,
traveled that path.
Would be gone!
Like a flash of lightning,
one second, it's there,
the next it's long gone.

But how? How would I,
accomplish this task;
clearly built for someone
of much more expertise.
What would I use,
when would I strike?

The night, the night,
would be dark,
concealing.
She wouldn't see it coming,
not in a million years.

Every detail of the plan,
must be executed perfectly.
Perfectly, I tell you,
or I would be caught and doomed.
So I begin the next night,
setting up the machine.
Attached to her bed frame,
it would eject the brain.
And the brain,
the brain, would be mine!

And so it began,
I helped the young lady to bed.
Prepared her bath,
laid out her silken nightgown,
and turned out her lights.
Little did she know,
at midnight, her brain,
would be snatched,
right out of her little fingers.

As I enter her chambers,
at 5 minutes to midnight,
I hear her soft breathing,
and her gentle movements.
She seems at peace,
so there I wait, I wait,
for the machine to activate.

Suddenly, her thoughts,
they get louder, and louder,
and faster, and faster,
until they are spinning,
much to fast and loud ,
to understand.

She awakes with a start,
but I still hear!
The noise, the noise,
is getting too much to bear!
Now, out of her bed,
she heads toward me,
closer and closer she comes,
until I can feel her presence.

"STOP!" "THE THOUGHTS,
THE THOUGHTS, IT IS I,"
"TRYING TO KILL YOUR,
TERRIBLE BRAIN!" 

Monday, January 28, 2013

Point of View


Author’s Note: In this piece, I critically analyze the point of view of To Kill a Mockingbird and to show how the reader might interpret it differently if the book or a chapter was written from “Boo” Radley’s point of view. This is only based on the first 75 pages of the book, because that’s as far as I’ve gotten. I also don't have an introduction and conclusion because I'm only grading this on the reading rubric. 

In the American classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, a young girl named Scout tells a story about growing up in Maycomb County, Alabama. Part 1 of the book is mostly about Scout starting school, and about her, her brother Jem, and her friend Dill going on summer expeditions. They have a mysterious neighbor whom they call “Boo” Radley; he seems to never come out of his house. Curiosity begins to take them over and they begin plotting schemes to try to find out who he is.

The story is told from Scout’s point of view because it’s easier to tell of their adventures so that the reader can understand them. For example, it says:

Jem attached the note to the end of the fishing pole, let the pole out across the yard and pushed toward the window he had selected. The pole lacked several inches of being long enough, and Jem leaned over as far as he could. I watched him making jabbing motions for so long, I abandoned my post and went to him.

If these scene in particular was told from “Boo” Radley or Atticus’ point of view, we wouldn’t comprehend it well and we wouldn’t know the motive for the note. We also may not have known how much planning the kids put into the “mission.” For this reason I believe the point of view was good for most chapters.

Although Scout’s point of view makes sense and helps us as reader’s understand the text, I think it would’ve been cool to include some chapter’s from “Boo” Radley’s point of view. By doing this, it might add some comedy to the story, knowing that the kids may or may not be doing all of this for nothing. Here’s what I think it would be like if they added a few chapter’s in “Boo” Radley’s point of view:

… I reckoned when she found the blanket later she would be mighty surprised. It was the coldest day in Alabama since as long as I can remember, and the poor kid was hardly noticin’ herself shiverin’. I wasn’t ‘bout to let her freeze and get no frostbite. Next,  I walked right on over to Ms. Maudie’s place ‘n dragged furniture out the door. It was surprisin’ that I still had some strength left in me, after all them years of sittin’ on my wicker chair. After being there in that fire, I knew the place was gone. The stairs were givin’ in ‘n I could hear the roof a cracklin’. Them d*** fire trucks got their axels frozen right on em’ and the wheels weren’t even turnin’. When they finally got there, we all knew it was too late.

I think this would’ve been kind of cool to add a paragraph so we could tell what he thinks about the children spying on him. It would’ve given the readers almost an advantage on the characters because they know more than the characters.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Anxiety

Author's note: This is a poem I wrote about the feeling of anxiety when you step out onto the stage/field (whatever you think of). 

My heart pounds,
my head aches,
my heart sighs.
I wonder,
why?

My body quivers,
my legs bounce,
my heart sighs.
I know,
why.

My head's confused,
I'm excited, I'm nervous,
my heart sighs.
I cry,
why?

I was once free,
I had no stress but now,
my heart sighs.
I know,
why.

The dread is unbearable,
my life seems over,
my heart sighs.
I panic,
why?

Anxiety takes over,
but soon it will be done,
my heart sighs.
I step out, for I know,
why.

My life has been spent,
preparing, preparing,
my heart sighs.
For I realize,
why.

Comfort sets in as I do what I do,
my practice pays off, but yet,
my heart sighs.
It's over and I think,
why?

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Theme Analysis


What if you were forced to choose between staying with your parents, but following their faction's rules, or going away and rarely seeing them? What if you had to decide whether to kill your boyfriend or killing yourself? What if you could either run away from all you ever knew, or let the government choose how you spend the rest of your life? Imagine, being practically brainwashed from an evil political figure that you made an idol. Many novels and real life situations involve the government taking over and creating a chaotic incident.

In the book, Divergent, by Veronica Ross, the population is split into five different factions. The faction centered around intelligence is rebelling against the selfless faction, who runs the government, but the intelligence faction doesn't have any fighting power. They turn to the daring faction and meet with some of the leaders to devise a plan. Against the will of any of the young people in the daring faction, they inject a tracker into them, saying that it was simply a tracking device, a precaution in case they got lost. This injection turns out to be able to control what each young person does. Literally, they all wake up in the middle of the night and their legs and arms are moving for them. They are forced to go kill as many government figures as they can, which includes some of their own parents. No one except for the leaders of the two factions was involved in this decision to go kill so many innocent people.

Another example of the theme of Government Control is the book, Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. In this book, 24 people are literally put in an arena and forced to fight until only one is left alive. This is another example of a government putting teenagers and young kids in really difficult situations. In the book, the two main characters don't want to kill each other so they try to commit suicide and go against the government. You can tell just how controlling this government is just because of the situation they put these kids in, and because of how angry they get after the two main characters try to stand up to them. In this novel, the government is actually putting their own people in danger as well.

The Giver, by Lois Lowry is another example of complete Government Control. In this book, the government controls every aspect of your life; who you will marry, what your career will be, how many kids you have, and even what you can say. Babies are snatched away from whoever had them, and put into a Nurturing House until they are one. Then, they are literally assigned a family, not the one that had them, just so that each family can have one boy and one girl. Then, once they turn twelve, their career is chosen for them, and they begin training for it. Later in life, they choose who you marry by matching characteristics and then eventually assign you a child. It's really difficult to imagine not being able to choose anything in your life.  The government in this book wants everything the same, so that no one feels different and so no one stands out.

These three books all include people who are living an entirely tragic life. The government is controlling much of their life. A similarity between all three books is that no one has a say in the government. The few people in charge make harsh decisions about how all of the people need to be, and what decisions they are allowed to make.  In my opinion, a big part of life is being allowed to have a say in your government. It's important for us to be our own people and have our own opinions. It allows us to have a personality, to choose our own paths in life, and to choose who we want to spend it with. In America, we are able to vote for who we want to lead us, and for what we want to do. If a leader makes a poor decision, he can be removed from office in the next election, and the law can be repealed. We are so lucky to be living in a society like this where we are able to have a say -- we need to keep it that way.