Six Word Memior

*I know that this wasn't one of my six-word memiors from the summer assighnment. My project was saved on a different computer and it wasn't in my sent e-mails. Instead, I made a new one and analyzed it. I think it still describes me as a student.

Tone Words:

1. pathetic
2. stressful
3. overwhelmed

Mood Words:

1. amused
2. sympathetic
3. gloomy

Subject:  stress

Theme: The simplist of duties for which one is resposible often become overwhelming and seem to consume our lives and overtake our thoughts.

My Bucket List: An Independent Reading List

Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini:

I first heard about this book through Mrs. Barnett in English. She mentioned that it was a really good read. I looked up the book description on Amazon and knew imediatly that it was a book that I would enjoy. It combines an interesting story with the history of Afganistan over the last thirty years. I enjoy reading novels that have historical accuacy in them. I get to learn along with enjoying an interesting story.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath:

In this american classic Sylvia Plath tells the story of a woman that has a dramatic breakdown. I haven't read many classics for anyting other than school assignments. It is for that reason that I havn't liked many of the them. But once I read this book description I felt like I could really get into a novel that has a little bit of horror in it.

Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger:

This book was written in 1951 and was included on Time's 2003 list of the 100 best Enlish language novels written since 1923. After starting out as an adult book it was popular with teens. It portreys themes that reach out to teenagers including teenage confusion, angst, and rebellion. I think it would be interesting to read about teen rebellion in the 50s.

Looking for Alaska by John Green:

This book has a theme that is reoccuring in todays society. It follows the story of a girl that commits suicide and the morning of her friends. This is a modern classic that I feel that could help to enrich my modern cultural knowledge that pertains to teen difficulties.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen:

This is a book that I have already read but I enjoied it so much that I could read it over and over agian. It is set in the early years of the depression, an era that has always facinated me. It also has an intense love story. I'm a sucker for a good love story.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon:

This is another book that Mrs. Barnett told us about in class. Mark Haddon tells the story through the point of view of a fifteen year old autistic boy. He writes about how he tries to find the killer of his neighbor's dog. I have already started reading. It's not a challenging read but the narrator does tend to rail off. I guess time will tell when I get further in.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak:

This novel is set during the second World War in Germany. I know alot of the books I have picked have historical context. I just really love hisorical fiction. I like to have an idea of what people went through considering I have family that lived through these tough times.

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris:

I havn't heard anything about this one but I read the back cover and it follow how the decisions of one generation effects the lives of the next two.  It is a modern classic that can just add to an impressive reading list.

Silas Marner by George Eliot:

A ninteenth century classic about betrayal, gold and love. I wanted to read a good classic because I need to read something a little bit more in depth than a Sarah Dessen novel. Not that they are bad. Plus Mrs. Barnett recomended it, so it has to be a good read.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden:

I picked this book because I feel like it could broaden by hoizon as far as knowing about other cultures and their costoms. It follows the life of a girl who is inducted into Geisha training at the age of nine. It gives and intimate look into sacred practices in the lives of Japanese girls during the early 1900s.

Film Review of "Rebel Without a Cause"

     The 1955 film “Rebel Without a Cause,” was filmed in a time of the transition of ideas about young people. Like many movies, it was based on the 1944 book by Robert Lindner. Stewart Stern (screenplay), Irving Shulman (adaptation) and, Nicholas Ray (director/story) bring this influential book to life to reveal the changing times. The main roll of Jim Start, played by James Dean, opens doors to a new perception of the way young men should behave. Because this movie was released in 1955, I had a hard time appriciating it. Quality of film making and acting has improved and I though it was unnecesarilly dramatic.

     Shortly after moving to Los Angeles with his parents, 17-year-old Jim Stark (James Dean) is brought into the police station for public drunkenness. When his mother, father and grandmother arrive at the police station to retrieve him, conflicts in Jim's family situation are introduced. His weak-willed father (Jim Backus) often tries to defend Jim, but Jim's self absorbed, overbearing mother always wins the arguments because his father has little backbone. Jim feels betrayed both by this fighting and his father's weakness, causing feelings of confusion about what is to be a man. This shows up later in the film when he repeatedly asks his father, "What do you do when you have to be a man?"

      When Jim starts at his new high school he becomes involved in a dispute with a local bully named Buzz Gunderson (Corey Allen). While Jim tries to deal with Buzz, he becomes friends with a shy boy, John, who is nicknamed Plato (Sal Mineo), who was also at the police station the night of the opening scene for shooting and killing puppies. Jim shows Plato kindness while others ridicule him. Because of his lack of parental figures, Plato comes to view Jim as a father-figure. Though it might not have been realized in 1955, it was clear to myself and my classmates that Plato is gay and has a crush on Jim.

      Jim meets Judy (Natalie Wood), whom he also recognizes from the police station the previous night, where she was brought in for being out alone after dark. Unfortunately Judy is Buzz‘s girlfriend. Judy like Jim and Plato has a troubled home life. She struggles with her distant, sexist father who refuses to show affection towards his daughter. The level of appropriate intimacy shown in 1955 is clear in the scene in which Judy comes home and her parents are preparing to go to sleep in separate beds.

      On a field trip with his science class to the Griffith Observatory, Jim and Buzz get into a Fight in which Buzz and his group of friends label him a “chicken” and challenge him to a “Chickie Run,” a race in which two people speed towards a cliff to see who will jump out of their car first. Jim reluctantly agrees not realizing what this game initialed. The race turns in to a spectacle for many of the students bud ends in tragedy for Buzz when a strap on the sleeve of his leather jacket becomes looped over a handle on the car door, preventing him from jumping out before the car goes over the cliff.

      Jim runs home and tries to tell his parents what happened, but quickly becomes frustrated by their failure to understand him and storms out of the house. After trying to get advise from his parents about what he should do, they fight and Jim goes to the police to find the sergeant, Ray Fremick (Edward Platt), who took his statement the previous night to tell him about the accident. But Jim is seen leaving the station by three of Buzz's friends. Mistakenly thinking that Jim told the police about the "Chickie Run", they decide to hunt Jim down to "silence him."

      Jim meets up with Judy and they go to an abandoned mansion to hide out. Plato finds them there. Their similar difficult home situration lead them to roll play a  "fantasy family" that they wish they had, with Jim as father, Judy as mother and Plato as child. Buzz’s friends soon discover them and terrorize Plato who finally brandishes his mother's hand gun that he took from the house, shooting them and a police officer.

     Plato runs and hides in the observatory, which is soon surrounded by the police. Jim and Judy follow him inside, and Jim convinces Plato to lend him the gun, from which he removes the round of bullets, and come outside to turn himself in. When Plato steps out of the observatory, he becomes agitated again at the sight of the police and attempts to run, exposing his gun. He is fatally shot by the police. Jim, devastated by this loss, is comforted by his father who promises to be stronger for his son.

     To my knowledge this melodramatic film has no central theme or lesson. It touches on many problems faced by normal families and teens of the era without focusing on a particular one. It’s name fits. Just like Jim this movie challenges the norm.

Our Right Pusue the Ridiculous: An Analysis of “The right to bear clubs”

           Everyday we turn on our televisions and are bombarded with commercials that advertise the greatest new invention that will make our lives exponentially easier.  In his column, “The right to bear clubs,” Dave Barry regales his readers of a new invention that will revolutionize the way we play golf. Following in the same pattern of his other columns, Barry utilizes hyperbole and satire in order to make the column enjoyable for his readers and keep them engaged. He appeals to pathos by sharing his personal golfing experiences and referring to influential names in history. Barry’s satirical fortitude acknowledges that while some causes are incredibly outrageous and useless to pursue, we as Americans have the precious right to proceed if we so choose.

            Barry appeals to pathos in order to build his credibility and gain the seriousness of the topic he is discussing. He can relate to the need for the “Ballistic Driver” because he “[loves] to [drive] the golf cart, saying the word ‘bogey’, and [stand] around the course, but hates to actually “[swing] the club at the stupid ball.” He relates himself to the topic by understanding the rationale for the production of this outrageous object. He understands the average American’s need to participate in the fight for a cause because he can relate to them. Barry suggests that we, just as the soldiers of the “Revolutionary War” and “the Minutepersons” of “Lexington,” must continue to revolutionize the country to fight for our rights and keep their legacy alive. By providing two historically significant battles Barry gives credible justification for American pride. Barry drive’s his main purpose for writing this column by presenting a case for the support of pretentious causes, as a right that we as Americans must protect. Pathos gives Barry credibility not only for himself but also for his main point.

            Barry’s use of hyperbole exaggerates the flagrancy of the Ballistic Driver and addresses its dangers. Barry predicts that “street gangs” could convert the clubs to “Fully Automatic mode” and terrorize “rival golf courses” in their “low-riding golf carts” and drive “hundreds of balls per minute in vicious ‘drive-by’ tee-offs.” Barry compares the issues between street gangs to that of politics between rivaling businesses and a fully automatic gun to a golf club. He expresses that our American citizenship reserves our rights to pursue an outlandish spectacle. Barry also creates the scenario that one morning we could “turn on the TV news [and] see Saddam Hussein wearing lime-green pants, standing next to a golf club the size of the Washington Monument” as he is about “to hit a massive chemical and/or biological Golf Ball Of Doom” onto the “fairway of middle America.” By mentioning that Saddam Hussein could be in the country and ready to blow it up with a golf ball, Barry creates an unrealistic scenario. Through the inflation of the implications of this powerful new golf club Barry expresses his view that the implications some political rights are exaggerated to an unbelievable extent.  By drastically amplifying the dangers of the Ballistic Driver, Barry expresses some political causes and reforms are unnecessary.

            Barry uses his classic satire to add sarcasm and make his serious boring topics more enjoyable for his readers and give them a good laugh. Barry asks his readers to agree with him that this “breakthrough” in new “technology” is a “great idea.” He rhetorically asks his audience to compliment the Ballistic Driver with boastful praise. Sarcasm and views on the importance that some Americans feel about causes are expressed through this rhetorical question. Barry explains that the Ballistic Driver could result in “‘drive-by’ tee offs.” His play on words compares the driving of a golf ball to a drive-by shooting. Barry achieves satire by using a humorous pun to tie in society. Sarcasm is a signature Barry has claimed to engage his audience and add flare to his writing.

            Barry recognizes that our rights as Americans are very precious and we will fight to the ends of the Earth to protect them. He writes about problems we face in America in order to relate to his readers. He asserts his views in the typical Dave Barry fashion through the use of humor and sarcasm. “The right to bear clubs” is an example of asserting our freedoms as Americans through speech.

Kill 'Em! Crush 'Em! Eat 'Em Raw! Questions

1. John McMurtry's essay begins with a personal anecdote about the results of playing sports especially football-since childhood. When he can no longer ignore his physical condittion he seeks treatment and is hospitilized. How does th anecdote lend credubility to his argument?
Answer: By opening with his own personal experiences, McMurty not only introduces his topic but confirms that he has authority to speak on the subject. This personal anecdote gains McMurtry credibility by making himself a part of the evidence that supports his argument. This story shows that, through his experiences, he knows the cause and effect of football related injuries.

2. Paragraphs 5-7 compare and contrast football and war. Is this comparison convincing? How does this comparison appeal to logos?
Answer: This comparison is convincing because McMurty gives many examples in different areas such as slang, history, principles, and practices in which they are similar. He supports this part of his argument well by prestenting integrated slang and metaphores. This comparision appeals to logos in that McMurty gives many very specific examples. Thus creating concreat evidence for his claim.

3. In paragraph 9 the tone shifts. How is the shift achieved? Explain how the shift mirrors a transition in McMurtry's argument.
Answer: McMurty shifts the tone by explaining how, as he made his way through organized footaball, "the game had been ruined" by the enforcement of rules and the overal goal. It was no longer about playing "in a spirit of reckless abandon and laughter" but a battle to see who could harm the other more. This mirrors in the transition of his argument in that at this point he starts to refute the game of football rather than praise it.

4. Who is McMurty's audience? Is it necessary for th ereader to understand or care about football in order to understand what McMurty is saying about society? Explain.
Answer: McMurty's does not have a particular audience. He is speaking to the general public. Though it would be helpful to know a bit about football in order understant the slang McMurty uses in the opening of his argument and the physical pain players endure it is not necessary to undersand his connection to society because he is talking about the brutality of the sport rather than specific rules.