Cassandra and Mary Elizabeth

Cassandra, from the Trojan Horse, is a person who can see the future but no one will listen to her. I am comparing Cassandra to Mary Elizabeth from Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. At first Mary’s hometown revolves around her, but when she moves she has to compete for attention, just like how no one will listen to Cassandra. They both have similar personalities, Cassandra was very intelligent, charming, desirable, elegant, friendly, and gentle. Mary Elizabeth was also charming, desirable, elegant, and friendly, however she was also really confident.

Their lives were very different of course.  Cassandra was an adult who lived a long time ago in Greece.  Mary Elizabeth is a teenager who grew up in New York City, living in the New Jersey suburbs.  She wants to be a Broadway actress.  Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen is more modernized and obviously watched by a teenage audience. Kids can relate a lot better to a modern movie than Greek mythology, but in both stories the outcomes are different.  

My Back Surgery

Review of My Back Surgery

Authors Note: this is review of my personal narrative My Back Surgery. 

In my personal narrative, My Back Surgery I used imagery. This helped my piece in so many ways . The figurative language really helps paint a vivid picture in the readers mind. Without the figurative language it would be hard to picture this and other stories. I believe that all good authors use figurative language in their stories.

One form of imagery I used was tone in this sentence: as we sat at the kitchen table everyone was laughing and talking but I was scared to death for what the next day would bring. I created a tone of fright. If I took out that sentence the frightening tone would not have been there and you would not know I was scared.

The other form would be mood in this sentence: Once I got home there was a lot of ups and downs in the healing process but I made the best of it. Sort of shows empathy and what it would be like to walk in my shoes if I did not add this sentence I believe empathy would still be implied.

The examples that I used are just a small part of imagery when you are using imagery you need to make sure you use it from the beginning to the end otherwise you will lose your readers attention. But I think that the types of figurative language and imagery I used painted a good picture in the readers head.  

The Trojan War reading response

The conflict was that the Trojans did not know what to do with the horse. The conflict got resolved when they found all the people in the Trojan horse. The most sneaky thing about this story was that they were hiding in the horse. Things can still go on like that today because people are still in wars and still fight and yes it could happen at a school or small work place because lots of people are fighting against that a real word situation this reminds me of would be the bombs at the Boston marathon because they hid the bombs just like the Greeks hid in the horse . 

Ribbons Reading Response

The shoes in the story are a symbol of the girls happiness and the grandmothers pain. The grandmothers culture is so different from ours for example the fact that they had to bow when they greeted each other and she did not show much affection towards Stacey when she first got there she also her feet were messed up because her parents binded them when she was little where we shake someone’s hand instead of bowing in their presence and we are more open to affection then they are and binding feet was not a tradition but most people do things that are extreme for beauty for example cosmetic surgeries, cosmetic dental procedures, collagen injections,  etc.  I think in some ways changing yourself with surgery or make up is good and bad its good because it can have a positive physiological impact on you and make you feel better about yourself,  it also unfortunately help with your social life and makes you more professional looking.  It can have a positive impact on your health to. I think its bad to because it could have a negative impact on your health and it could look worse than natural beauty.  I think that the significance of the title is that it’s a big symbol of the story because it represents one thing in the Stacy’s life and the opposite in her grandmothers life   

The Second Time Around Text analysis

Authors Note: I am writing a text analysis piece on this book “The Second Time Around” to find out if Nicholas Spencer crashed, was murdered, or if he did it all on purpose.

   In the book “The Second Time Around”, by Mary Higgins Clark, a man name Nicholas Spencer’s plane “crashed.” Or that’s what they say. Everyone else thinks that he set it up because he was a fraud,  because after taking everybody’s money the charismatic con-man announced his anti cancer vaccine was flawed.  Nicholas Spencer disappeared  because he lied and stole people’s money and he does not want to go to jail.

    “He was driving home from New York to Bedford late at night and the accelerator froze in his car.”

(Vivian Powers  Pg. 112) The first possible cause for Nick Spencer’s disappearance is that he was murdered or was an accident. There could be many people out to get Nick because he stole their money when they barley had any left. Now they are poor so you would think they would have quite a grudge against him. The one thing that nobody is looking at, but everyone says is true, is that it was an accident what if it was just truly. Its not like the first time anybody died in a plane accident due to technical difficulties.    

     “The headline proclaiming Spencer’s disappearance was followed in short order with an announcement from the chairman of the board of Gen-Stone that there had been numerous setbacks in the experiments with the vaccine and that it could not be submitted to the FDA for approval in the foreseeable future.”( Carly Decarlo Pg. 1) The second reason for Nick Spencer’s disappearance would be that he staged the plane crash and ran away to Switzerland to avoid going to jail. I think that it’s a possibility because there is so much evidence of people seeing him in Switzerland and  people calling him that it all just seems sketchy.  

          

   “Anyone who had the chance to be with Nick Spencer regularly  would have been very fond of him.”  The third reason he would disappear is because he was guilty and he is really a nice guy at heart. People said in the story he was charismatic obviously the 2 wives he had loved him and his girlfriend had loved him dearly. He had a son who loved him and the people that worked with him said they were very fond of him he was a very nice loving charismatic guy so maybe he just went away so people thought he was dead and they wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore just go on with their lives.

Nick Spencer is either alive or dead and if he is alive he is either feeling really lucky because he isn’t going to jail or really guilty that he took everyone’s money. And if he is dead was it accident or murder? How will we know its not like he is around to tell you either way. But I believe  Nicholas Spencer disappeared either because he lied and stole people’s money.

      

After You My Dear Alphonse Reading Response

In the story "After You My Dear Alphonse"   Mrs. Wilson made many assumptions about Boyd and his family. even though I didn't think she really meant to she was trying to be to nice to avoid saying something hurtful but in reality she was being pretty racist by the things she was asking him and saying about him. I think it compares to our society because you will still get judged and people will assume things about you just because of where you live or how you dress but people don't really say it like that anymore there are still people that do but people wont really say things about you to you everybody does it behind your back I think Shirley Jackson taught us not to judge a book by its cover and to actually get to know a person before you make assumptions about them because there probably different than you think they are

When Mrs Wilson says "You shouldn't let Johnny make you carry all that wood" she assumes Johnny was making Boyd carry it in.
When Mrs. Wilson says "Boyd will eat anything" she assumes that Boyd is starving because he is poor
When Mrs. Wilson says "Boyd wants to grow up and become a big strong man so he can work" she assumes that Boyd will have to work when he is older she uses    

A Clean Well Lighted Place Reading Response

 Write a brief analysis of the two waiters.  What do they represent about life? What does the café symbolize?

The older waiter kind of seems like he likes to go late and stay at cafes and is reluctant to go home at night so he understands. He tries to explain to the young waiter that he stays up because he likes it but the younger waiter doesn’t listen and just says that he is lonely. I think the old man and the old waiter are lonely

The younger waiter is mean and insensitive and is very self-centered he states that he is not lonely and has a wife waiting for him. He doesn’t care that other people don’t have what he has and doesn’t recognize that the café is a refuge for people that are lonely

The café represents the opposite of nothingness the cleanliness and good lighting make me think of order and clarity nothingness is chaotic confusing and dark the café is so different fro nothing the older waiter kind of describes it as a natural refuge for people in despair   

How does Hemingway use light and dark as symbols? How do the shadows fit in?

Well the darkness and shadows kind of symbolize fear and the light is kind of a distraction from the dark

I think that they did a pretty good job making the short film like the story but I think one thing they didn't mention that he was deaf.and that he wasnt outsided like he was in the story. I thought those were kind of important parts that they didn't put in the movie that they should have put in. I thought the actors the director chose were perfect because that's really what you picture in the story obviously because the young, middle age, and old I maybe expected the middle age guy to be a little older but I think after watching it I thought that they did a really good job. The setting I thought was different from the story because like I said the Old guy was outside in the story and he was inside in the  film which kind of confused me. I thought the lighting was perfect for the story because it was well-lighted in the cafe in the bar so it showed that they were both good places to go. I thought the music was really good to because it was sort of eerie and created mystery which was a good choice for the film.

Hilly's Point Of View

In the book The Help it is told from the perspective of Abilene, Minny and Skeeter. But no one ever listened to Hilly Holbrook maybe that would explain why she is so mean. There might be something everyone else reading the book does not understand. I mean imagine living in a world where your queen bee can you really speak your mind. There could be a better explanation to why she needs a different bathroom from her maid. I think we should get to know Hilly.

Hilly wants every white home to have a separate bathroom for the help and she notified the surgeon general to endorse the idea. Some people thought it was a good idea and some thought it was bad, for example Lie Elizabeth said "You will get disease from those toilets"  but did we ever really hear why Hilly wanted it. Facts could have told her that there help could spread disease and she was looking out for her children. Hilly maybe did not even notice that she was legalizing discriminatory practices and reinforcing racist opinions. Hilly raises her voice 3 octaves higher when she is talking to her maids or someone else’s why is that? Well she probably thinks that they have less intelligence and that is apparent in there speaking manner.

Hilly thinks that she should not give her maid money because she thinks instead of feeding their kids they will go to a voodoo tent and get a tattoo. Obviously Hilly has many misconceptions about African life and tradition.

From seeing the story from Hillys point of view I think she does not understand a lot of things. For example like the African life and tradition. As well as being racist and discriminating. Although I still don’t understand Hilly and why she has to be so mean, I at least understand her a little 

Irony Ransom of Red Chief

The story The Ransom of  Red Chief  two guys kidnap a boy to get a ransom from his father but in the end have to pay the father to give the boy back because nobody wanted him. I think that the most important quote is He's all right now," says Bill, rolling up his trousers and examining some bruises on his shins. "We're playing Indian. because it showed how the boy is strong and doesn’t think being kidnapped is a bad thing. It also was one of the first signs that they didn’t want the boy anymore because he was to much for them to handle.  

Compare and Contrast

Have you ever wondered what its like to live in a place where everyone judges you for the color of your skin? Well Celeste Tyree(Freshwater road) and Abileen Clark (The Help) both live in the same world but are different as well. both of their worlds are different but also the same in a way.

Celeste Tyree and Abileen Clark have many similarities. one of them is that they were both dealing with the race issues in the 60’s. Celeste and Abileen also both live in Mississippi where there is a lot of race issues . they both try to help people and are friends with many people in their town Celeste by helping register votes and Abileen by praying for people. They both threaten people because of the color of their skin.  They both struggle with being discriminated by their race.

Celeste and Abileen also have many differences one of them is that they have a big age difference Abileen is in her 40’s or 50’s and Celeste is a sophomore in college. Celeste has her father and Abileen has no one since her son died. I also think in personal opinion that Celeste is stronger than Abileen and has more strength than her and can handle the racism better.

Even though Celeste and Abileen are very different they are also very similar their goals are similar but yet different they both want to help people but they want to do it in different ways.