Disillusionment
I chose disillusionment because I’ve always been interested in what people really think and not what they try to display on the outside. I think it makes a great character in a book when you know what he’s feeling on the inside. When the main characters narrating the story and you can hear his thoughts it makes it a great piece of literature. What’s going in someone’s head is something only they know, so it’s a great way to get something modern and real when you read what a character is thinking.
Soldiers Home
I enjoyed this story. It was simple and true. If disillusionment tells the truth and shows what people truly feel about things then this was a good example. It’s about a soldier who comes home finds out he really isn’t all that happy. He starts to lie just to have something to talk about, and to have someone to talk to. I think one reason this story works well is because you get inside the character’s head. You know what he is really feeling and not what he wants everyone to think he’s feeling.
It’s really kind of a sad story. This guy just seems so depressed and miserable. "Your father is worried, too," his mother went on. "He thinks you have lost your ambition, that you haven't got a definite aim in life. Charley Simmons, who is just your age, has a good job and is going to be married. The boys are all settling down; they're all determined to get somewhere; you can see that boys like Charley Simmons are on their way to being really a credit to the community." His mom tells him everything everyone else has done and he’s just not even interested in trying to have that.
He doesn’t want try or work hard at anything really. He doesn’t want to talk about the war, he doesn’t want to find a girl. Well he wants a girl he just doesn’t want to have to woo her or put any effort into it. This guy is still just a kid pretty much and the war has left him with no ambitions or goals. Going to war changed this guy forever.
He even tells his mom he doesn’t love her anymore. "Is that all?" Krebs said.
"Yes. Don't you love your mother dear boy?"
"No," Krebs said.
His mother looked at him across the table. Her eyes were shiny. She started crying.
"I don't love anybody," Krebs said.
Its not that he doesn’t love her I don’t think, I believe the war just drained him of all feelings. I know there’s some kind of disorder for soldiers and I can’t think of it off the top of my head, but I think that’s what it is. That’s what happened to a lot of people over there. You hear stories of courage and heroes, and I’m sure that back then they didn’t really hear a whole lot of stories about soldiers who came back badly depressed. This story shows the truth and takes away the illusion that a lot of authors before this probably wrote about the war.
Richard Corey
This poem pretty much says these people who have to work really hard for their money, envy this guy named Richard Corey. They think he has it all and that he’s happy and that’s what they want. Then one night Richard Corey went home and killed himself. This poem brings a whole to meaning to the "Grass is always greener on the other side" phrase. I guess what makes this poem modernism is the fact that sometimes theirs more to something than meets the eye. These people saw this guy as something great and they wanted to be him, but it turns out they were happier than he was all along.
Mending Wall
This poem is about two guys with a wall in between their houses. Then every time something happens to the wall they fix it as soon as possible. It’s hard to tell but I think they never actually see each other, other than when they are fixing the wall. I think there is more to it than that. Maybe the wall is a symbol for segregation or racism. I think it means that we can never all get along or live as one unless the wall of racism is brought down.
A Dream Deferred
This poem is about what happens to a dream once its gone. I guess this is modernism in the way that it gets inside the mind. It’s a psychoanalyst piece of writing. He is asking what all is going on inside of your mind. Where do your dreams come from, what are they, and where do they go. It’s a pretty interesting piece of writing, it’s simple.
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
This is a poem about a black man who comparing himself and relating himself to ancient rivers. He describes how he is old like the rivers and his soul has grown deep like the rivers. This would have to be modernism by relation to the Harlem renaissance. Its talks about this black man and how he is lived life and experienced just as good, of not better, than any white man.
Incident
This poem is about a black guy, who visited Baltimore along time ago when he was eight. It’s been some odd years and the only thing he remembers is a man calling him by a racist slur. This is definitely disillusionment. It shows how powerful and hateful that word is and will always be. This can give people a real idea of how terrible that word is, and why its something you shouldn’t call another human being.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Persuasive Writing
Ever since I was a kid I remember people telling me that abortion is wrong. Some people would say that if your taught or told something your entire life you’re going to agree with it because that’s all you know. That may be partly true, but I like to think that I’m old enough and know enough to have my own opinions. I’ve read the facts and I believe that in almost every situation abortion is wrong. People who are religious normally disagree with abortion the most. Well there are a lot of people who don’t believe in god or any religion that think abortion is wrong too.
People say that it isn’t taking a life because a baby isn’t a person until it’s born. Studies show that eighteen days after conception the human fetus has a heart, and at twenty-one days that heart begins to beat. Many people’s response to that fact would be that there’s more to being a human that having a heart. It may be true that there is more to life than having a heart but there isn’t a person who can live without one either. The truth is there are many scientific facts people can look at to show that abortion is a terrible thing. So scientifically when does a life end? Today, the definitive and final measure of the end of human life is brain death. This happens when there is irreversible cessation of total brain function. The final scientific measurement of this is the permanent ending of brain waves. Brain function, as measured on the Electroencephalogram, "appears to be reliably present in the fetus at about eight weeks gestation," or six weeks after conception.
In my opinion abortion is only okay in two situations. If a woman is raped and gets pregnant, for nine months that woman is going to have a constant reminder of that horrible event. In that situation I think abortion can be understandable. The other reason is if a woman’s life is in danger due to the pregnancy. If you get an abortion to save your own life then that can be understood. Other than that I don’t believe it can be okay. Most people who have an abortion do it because they got pregnant by accident and don’t want a baby. Well if you engage in sex you are taking that risks that you or that other person may get pregnant. If you are willing to take that risk then you need to be ready to take that responsibility.
In my opinion abortion is only okay in two situations. If a woman is raped and gets pregnant, for nine months that woman is going to have a constant reminder of that horrible event. In that situation I think abortion can be understandable. The other reason is if a woman’s life is in danger due to the pregnancy. If you get an abortion to save your own life then that can be understood. Other than that I don’t believe it can be okay. Most people who have an abortion do it because they got pregnant by accident and don’t want a baby. Well if you engage in sex you are taking that risks that you or that other person may get pregnant. If you are willing to take that risk then you need to be ready to take that responsibility.
Now saying everything that I’ve said I’ve never been in a situation where I had to make that choice. I’m sure that getting an abortion is a hard choice to make. I know that every year thousands of women have to make that difficult choice and I have nothing against the women that choose abortion. I’m sure that’s one of the hardest decisions a person can make and I feel for everyone who has to make it. At the end of the day though I guess I just see it like this, no matter what scientist or doctors say there’s no way I can be sure of when life begins. What I do know though is when it ends, and a human life is the most valuable thing there is, and its never okay to take that away from someone.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Realism
The Story of an Hour
This story does a really good job of showing you exactly what the characters are feeling, and gives you a good since of the environment around them. "She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky." This describes the character probably the best that it could. It’s not necessarily written in a way that people can relate to it but more in a sense that you can understand exactly what she is going through.
The Social issue here is how woman were treated back then. After rereading this story and learning to understand it a little better I found that when Louise (Mrs. Mallard) finds out her husband is dead, she is relieved. Its interesting that her name is only said once in the story and ever other time she is called Mrs. Mallard or she. This shows that she wasn't respected as an individual but only as her husbands wife.
The Battle with Mr. Covey
The writer displays the setting really well in this story. You can tell this takes place on a plantation, back when slaves were still around. This best description was when he described how being Mr. Covey’s slave had changed him. "I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!" I can’t imagine how much it must have sucked to be slave, but this gives a pretty good example.
The social issue is about racism and how bad slavery was back then. This shows you just how bad people had it back then. This guy was treated terrible, which all slaves were. "I told him as well as I could, for I scarce had strength to speak. He then gave me a savage kick in the side, and told me to get up. I tried to do so, but fell back in the attempt. He gave me another kick, and again told me to rise." This passage shows the cruelty that was shown to black people. In today’s time, even though a lot of us think we know what it was like for slaves, we really don’t. This story not only shows you how badly they were treated, but what happened when one man stood up for himself.
It’s easy to see the purpose of this story is to show people the struggle slaves went through. Even though slavery is no longer a part of our culture, it effected so many lives back then, and people need to know that. One of the darkest parts of our countries history isn’t something that should be forgotten. Forgetting about slavery would be like Jewish people forgetting about the holocaust. Even though its something terrible that happened, it happened, so we should never forget. I think the author wrote this to remind people how bad things were back then, so we can see how far we’ve come as a nation.
"The Catcher in the Rye"
One of my favorite books is "The Catcher in the Rye" and I think it’s a good example of modern realism. It’s about a teenage boy with teenage angst. The whole book is just him trying to make it through day after day. It shows relationships really well, and it is really easy to relate to. We all are teenagers at on point and it’s not always the best part of our lives.
One of my favorite quotes in the book is in chapter 10 when he is meeting an old girlfriend." I was half in love with her by the time we sat down. That's the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty, even if they're not much to look at, or even if they're sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are. Girls. Jesus Christ. They can drive you crazy. They really can." The reason that is great is because it’s true and real. We’ve all been with a girl, and even if we barely know them, when were a teenage boy, we might think we love them. It’s realism because we’ve all been there, and when we read it, we can relate to it.
This story does a really good job of showing you exactly what the characters are feeling, and gives you a good since of the environment around them. "She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky." This describes the character probably the best that it could. It’s not necessarily written in a way that people can relate to it but more in a sense that you can understand exactly what she is going through.
The Social issue here is how woman were treated back then. After rereading this story and learning to understand it a little better I found that when Louise (Mrs. Mallard) finds out her husband is dead, she is relieved. Its interesting that her name is only said once in the story and ever other time she is called Mrs. Mallard or she. This shows that she wasn't respected as an individual but only as her husbands wife.
The Battle with Mr. Covey
The writer displays the setting really well in this story. You can tell this takes place on a plantation, back when slaves were still around. This best description was when he described how being Mr. Covey’s slave had changed him. "I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!" I can’t imagine how much it must have sucked to be slave, but this gives a pretty good example.
The social issue is about racism and how bad slavery was back then. This shows you just how bad people had it back then. This guy was treated terrible, which all slaves were. "I told him as well as I could, for I scarce had strength to speak. He then gave me a savage kick in the side, and told me to get up. I tried to do so, but fell back in the attempt. He gave me another kick, and again told me to rise." This passage shows the cruelty that was shown to black people. In today’s time, even though a lot of us think we know what it was like for slaves, we really don’t. This story not only shows you how badly they were treated, but what happened when one man stood up for himself.
It’s easy to see the purpose of this story is to show people the struggle slaves went through. Even though slavery is no longer a part of our culture, it effected so many lives back then, and people need to know that. One of the darkest parts of our countries history isn’t something that should be forgotten. Forgetting about slavery would be like Jewish people forgetting about the holocaust. Even though its something terrible that happened, it happened, so we should never forget. I think the author wrote this to remind people how bad things were back then, so we can see how far we’ve come as a nation.
"The Catcher in the Rye"
One of my favorite books is "The Catcher in the Rye" and I think it’s a good example of modern realism. It’s about a teenage boy with teenage angst. The whole book is just him trying to make it through day after day. It shows relationships really well, and it is really easy to relate to. We all are teenagers at on point and it’s not always the best part of our lives.
One of my favorite quotes in the book is in chapter 10 when he is meeting an old girlfriend." I was half in love with her by the time we sat down. That's the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty, even if they're not much to look at, or even if they're sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are. Girls. Jesus Christ. They can drive you crazy. They really can." The reason that is great is because it’s true and real. We’ve all been with a girl, and even if we barely know them, when were a teenage boy, we might think we love them. It’s realism because we’ve all been there, and when we read it, we can relate to it.
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