I was given to Sally the night of her 16th birthday. Jared told her that as long as she kept me on her finger, they would never be apart. Jared was 17 when he gave me to Sally and now 4 years later Sally’s in college and Jared, well Jared’s gone. It was a terrible night, the roads were slick with rain and hail. Jared was driving over to me and Sally, she just told him the day before that she was having his baby at 20. He cried with joy when she told him. He knew now that it was the right time to ask her what he’s always wanted to ask her. He wanted her to marry him. The police showed up to Sally’s door hours later. We both could tell that something was very wrong. He was dead. His car had flipped over 4 times and hit a tree.“We’re sorry, said the police, “we knew he meant a lot to you, we found this in his pocket.” It was another ring, just like me, an engagement ring. Sally has never been the same.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Promise Ring
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
What Do You Live For?
Author's Note- a essay response to the novel, The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
The smell of brandy is everywhere, but even with all this delightfulness, the feeling of death clings to everything. The morning sun peaks over the horizon and he knows, we all know, that his time on this earth will soon cease to exist. His only reason for life was his faith, and he had failed, not only God, but himself, the only thing left for him is forgiveness. Prayer fills his mind, body, and soul as he is taken to his death, but not for himself, for his enemies. The wall of which many others' blood has been splattered and drenched across comes closer and closer, until finally its all that fills his vision. Words begin to flood like poisonous venom from the lips of the officers, it doesn’t matter what they are, just what they mean; death. Shots are fired and the pain is so intense that nothing but death can cure it, but he has forgiven his enemies and himself, so he journeyed on to a better life with God in his mind and forgiveness in his soul. In the novel The Power and the Glory, by Graham Greene, the "whiskey" priest portrays nothingness, his life unvalued. Throughout the novel, multiple of different characters are shown, each living their own life is different ways, each believing in something either wholesome and pure or disgusting and evil.
Within the first few pages of the novel The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene, you are introduced to the most human figure in the entire plot. The "whiskey" priest is a man on the run for believing in his faith. Although he isn't the most faithful priest, he still represents us as people. With our own flaws and mistakes, he shows that people are not perfect and everyone is searching for an escape. Most of us feel pain and suffer through hardships, and most of us don’t want to feel that. The "whiskey" priest gets his name from his alcoholism, which is his escape from reality. It is human nature to shield away from pain, to want to feel anything but it. Even though the priest is full of mistake after mistake, he still is true to his purpose. "There's a pain. To choose pain like that-its not possible. And it's my duty not to be caught"(40) This quote explains his reasons for his life; he knows that without an escape he would be caught sooner. Without him the people would have no hope and their faith wouldn't exist.
One of the younger characters in the novel, Carol Fellows, shows the most compassion and selflessness out of anyone. With her bright spirit and knowledge of right and wrong, she represents the selfless people of the world. When the "whiskey" priest appeared in her home, she immediately became kind and caring towards his needs. If we had more people like this in the world, then it would be a better place without unnessisary pain. Without selfishness and pride, the world would not be as cold as it is today. Carol Fellows is a gift, she makes people want to be good, to strive for it. Although she in young in age, her knowledge shines well beyond thoughs of her parents, who are afraid and concerned at all hours of the day.
Though they are close in age, the character Brigita, the "whiskey" priest daughter ,is far different form Coral Fellows. Brigita was born to a single mother in the times when that was uncommon. Her father was a priest who was not allowed to be to married, let alone produce a child. She only thinks of herself as unlucky to have come from such a broken life, which is what leads her to be cold. Cold is a word that every child shouldn’t be. A child is the symbolism of innocence and life, but Brigita shows the exact opposite of everything a child should be. "Now perhaps you'll go - go away altogether. You're no good any more to anyone,' she said fiercely. 'Don’t you understand , father? We don’t want you any more."(78) These bitter words, words that should never be spoken from a child's tongue, show the mass hatred towards her father and her un-childlike ways.
Evil and betrayal takes a whole new meaning in the character known in the novel as the mestizo, which is why he represents the evil way of life. Upon the priests first meeting of him, it is shown how the sneaky and conniving his true self is. He goes along with the "whiskey" priest to the city of La Candelaria, constantly trying to get the priest to confess to his true identity, showing nothing other then his evil ways. With evil in our lives, we can never truly be happy. With betrayal in our lives, who do we trust? The mestizo is a perfect example of why we do not completely trust each other, why we lock our doors at night, why we don’t always tell the truth. Evil is all around us in the world, without it everything, every way of life, would be different. Betrayal is what makes us human, everyone strives to achieve and advance in life, which is not possible without some form of betrayal.
As the novel, The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene, comes to an end, the existence of so many different types of lives are portrayed. From living to the most honest true life, down to wanting nothing more then to gain, each life represents what goes on in our world every hour of every day. There are some who love and strive for good, and there are some who want destruction and self gain, but no ones reasons are exactly the same. If they were then we wouldn’t be known as individuals, and our world would be like something out of a science fiction novel. We need convictions and we need conventions to make our world function. Without differences in people we would be boring and dull. We would be normal.
The smell of brandy is everywhere, but even with all this delightfulness, the feeling of death clings to everything. The morning sun peaks over the horizon and he knows, we all know, that his time on this earth will soon cease to exist. His only reason for life was his faith, and he had failed, not only God, but himself, the only thing left for him is forgiveness. Prayer fills his mind, body, and soul as he is taken to his death, but not for himself, for his enemies. The wall of which many others' blood has been splattered and drenched across comes closer and closer, until finally its all that fills his vision. Words begin to flood like poisonous venom from the lips of the officers, it doesn’t matter what they are, just what they mean; death. Shots are fired and the pain is so intense that nothing but death can cure it, but he has forgiven his enemies and himself, so he journeyed on to a better life with God in his mind and forgiveness in his soul. In the novel The Power and the Glory, by Graham Greene, the "whiskey" priest portrays nothingness, his life unvalued. Throughout the novel, multiple of different characters are shown, each living their own life is different ways, each believing in something either wholesome and pure or disgusting and evil.
Within the first few pages of the novel The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene, you are introduced to the most human figure in the entire plot. The "whiskey" priest is a man on the run for believing in his faith. Although he isn't the most faithful priest, he still represents us as people. With our own flaws and mistakes, he shows that people are not perfect and everyone is searching for an escape. Most of us feel pain and suffer through hardships, and most of us don’t want to feel that. The "whiskey" priest gets his name from his alcoholism, which is his escape from reality. It is human nature to shield away from pain, to want to feel anything but it. Even though the priest is full of mistake after mistake, he still is true to his purpose. "There's a pain. To choose pain like that-its not possible. And it's my duty not to be caught"(40) This quote explains his reasons for his life; he knows that without an escape he would be caught sooner. Without him the people would have no hope and their faith wouldn't exist.
One of the younger characters in the novel, Carol Fellows, shows the most compassion and selflessness out of anyone. With her bright spirit and knowledge of right and wrong, she represents the selfless people of the world. When the "whiskey" priest appeared in her home, she immediately became kind and caring towards his needs. If we had more people like this in the world, then it would be a better place without unnessisary pain. Without selfishness and pride, the world would not be as cold as it is today. Carol Fellows is a gift, she makes people want to be good, to strive for it. Although she in young in age, her knowledge shines well beyond thoughs of her parents, who are afraid and concerned at all hours of the day.
Though they are close in age, the character Brigita, the "whiskey" priest daughter ,is far different form Coral Fellows. Brigita was born to a single mother in the times when that was uncommon. Her father was a priest who was not allowed to be to married, let alone produce a child. She only thinks of herself as unlucky to have come from such a broken life, which is what leads her to be cold. Cold is a word that every child shouldn’t be. A child is the symbolism of innocence and life, but Brigita shows the exact opposite of everything a child should be. "Now perhaps you'll go - go away altogether. You're no good any more to anyone,' she said fiercely. 'Don’t you understand , father? We don’t want you any more."(78) These bitter words, words that should never be spoken from a child's tongue, show the mass hatred towards her father and her un-childlike ways.
Evil and betrayal takes a whole new meaning in the character known in the novel as the mestizo, which is why he represents the evil way of life. Upon the priests first meeting of him, it is shown how the sneaky and conniving his true self is. He goes along with the "whiskey" priest to the city of La Candelaria, constantly trying to get the priest to confess to his true identity, showing nothing other then his evil ways. With evil in our lives, we can never truly be happy. With betrayal in our lives, who do we trust? The mestizo is a perfect example of why we do not completely trust each other, why we lock our doors at night, why we don’t always tell the truth. Evil is all around us in the world, without it everything, every way of life, would be different. Betrayal is what makes us human, everyone strives to achieve and advance in life, which is not possible without some form of betrayal.
As the novel, The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene, comes to an end, the existence of so many different types of lives are portrayed. From living to the most honest true life, down to wanting nothing more then to gain, each life represents what goes on in our world every hour of every day. There are some who love and strive for good, and there are some who want destruction and self gain, but no ones reasons are exactly the same. If they were then we wouldn’t be known as individuals, and our world would be like something out of a science fiction novel. We need convictions and we need conventions to make our world function. Without differences in people we would be boring and dull. We would be normal.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Faith in Our Lives
an essay response to the novel Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
Water is rushing through the walls, fast, on all sides. The blue that once was so comforting now only fills you with the feeling of terror and shock. Even from up here it is obvious, everything you feared is reality, the ship is sinking. Everything and everyone you care about is missing. All signs point to death, but the small part is still hopeful that it will all turn out in the end. In the novel, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the theme is quite easy to comprehend. With ever major point in the novel, the theme of faith relates to each in its own way.
With each chapter in the novel, Life of Pi, faith is important to every aspect , including the taboos that Pi, the main character, has to face. In the beginning of the novel, Pi showed his faith with one religion only; Hindu. Soon he is introduced other religion and believes in everything of all the religions. Before when Pi went to the other churches he was afraid of the trouble he would get into with his parents. Other religions were taboos, meaning that he was faced with taboos throughout the whole novel. Religions itself is a taboo and speaking of it was non-proper. Pi had to have faith in order to put the taboos aside and become what he really wanted to be, what he really wanted to have, which is freedom.
The way Martel shows a connection between animals and humans relates back to the theme of faith. In order to have animals and humans exist, there must be faith, the real connection between animals and humans. In this novel the animals and humans are the same but are not seen that way. With faith it is soon realized that God loves them both and they are in fact the same people, not two separate beings. Towards the end of the novel the problem of two very different sides of what happened on the life boat are explored. Each story could be a possibility, but the animals and people are in fact the same. When Pi sings Happy Birthday to his mother, although he believes she is not there, he subconsciously knew that she was really the orangutan, Orange Juice.
On the life boat in the middle of the ocean, Pi is stranded with a tiger which he calls Richard Parker, but Richard Parker was really created by Pi. The reason Pi made Richard Parker is due to him losing all his conventions and meaning to life itself. He created him as his alter ego to help him face what was hard for him to deal with otherwise. Pi turned almost into a true animal, an animal which relies only on instinct. We as people are animals, we build our own cages with conventions, so when all our conventions are gone we turn into everything that is wrong. His faith is the only way he could have survived that long, with or without Richard Parker. Without faith he would have given up right in the beginning and let the ocean take him.
Throughout the novel, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, there are many different aspects to ponder over. In each one the theme of faith is coherent. Faith is what keeps everything in balance. If you believe in nothing, what is it that you're really living for? Believing in nothing is the worst kind of… Nothing would be here on this Earth if the beings on it didn’t believe; what created this Earth if you don’t believe in any type of faith? Scientists are all about the facts, but they have faith in science to tell them the right answers. Surgeons rely on years of medical training to save lives, they have faith in their lessons to keep lives from falling through the cracks. Faith is all around us, without it life is meaningless.
Water is rushing through the walls, fast, on all sides. The blue that once was so comforting now only fills you with the feeling of terror and shock. Even from up here it is obvious, everything you feared is reality, the ship is sinking. Everything and everyone you care about is missing. All signs point to death, but the small part is still hopeful that it will all turn out in the end. In the novel, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the theme is quite easy to comprehend. With ever major point in the novel, the theme of faith relates to each in its own way.
With each chapter in the novel, Life of Pi, faith is important to every aspect , including the taboos that Pi, the main character, has to face. In the beginning of the novel, Pi showed his faith with one religion only; Hindu. Soon he is introduced other religion and believes in everything of all the religions. Before when Pi went to the other churches he was afraid of the trouble he would get into with his parents. Other religions were taboos, meaning that he was faced with taboos throughout the whole novel. Religions itself is a taboo and speaking of it was non-proper. Pi had to have faith in order to put the taboos aside and become what he really wanted to be, what he really wanted to have, which is freedom.
The way Martel shows a connection between animals and humans relates back to the theme of faith. In order to have animals and humans exist, there must be faith, the real connection between animals and humans. In this novel the animals and humans are the same but are not seen that way. With faith it is soon realized that God loves them both and they are in fact the same people, not two separate beings. Towards the end of the novel the problem of two very different sides of what happened on the life boat are explored. Each story could be a possibility, but the animals and people are in fact the same. When Pi sings Happy Birthday to his mother, although he believes she is not there, he subconsciously knew that she was really the orangutan, Orange Juice.
On the life boat in the middle of the ocean, Pi is stranded with a tiger which he calls Richard Parker, but Richard Parker was really created by Pi. The reason Pi made Richard Parker is due to him losing all his conventions and meaning to life itself. He created him as his alter ego to help him face what was hard for him to deal with otherwise. Pi turned almost into a true animal, an animal which relies only on instinct. We as people are animals, we build our own cages with conventions, so when all our conventions are gone we turn into everything that is wrong. His faith is the only way he could have survived that long, with or without Richard Parker. Without faith he would have given up right in the beginning and let the ocean take him.
Throughout the novel, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, there are many different aspects to ponder over. In each one the theme of faith is coherent. Faith is what keeps everything in balance. If you believe in nothing, what is it that you're really living for? Believing in nothing is the worst kind of… Nothing would be here on this Earth if the beings on it didn’t believe; what created this Earth if you don’t believe in any type of faith? Scientists are all about the facts, but they have faith in science to tell them the right answers. Surgeons rely on years of medical training to save lives, they have faith in their lessons to keep lives from falling through the cracks. Faith is all around us, without it life is meaningless.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Fahrenheit 451
Scenario
A group of strangers get together and begin to watch a “reality” TV show. After it is over they slowly start to change their personalities and appearance. Soon there is a group exactly like the cast of the show. The same is happening with other shows, and although the shows are scripted the teens believe that the shows are real life. The world is forming into something that we never wanted, a world where there are no individuals and everyone is the same.
Relation to Fahrenheit 451
The novel Fahrenheit 451 is a perfect example of what will happen to our world if the government doesn’t provide us with the tools we need to create new television shows. In the novel the youth are care-free and reckless. With the reality TV shows portraying violence and crime, the kids and teens follow the example put in front of them to view, just like the teens in Fahrenheit 451. In the novel to problems were not fixed, but with for our society we still have a chance to go back to what we were before these bad TV shows.
A group of strangers get together and begin to watch a “reality” TV show. After it is over they slowly start to change their personalities and appearance. Soon there is a group exactly like the cast of the show. The same is happening with other shows, and although the shows are scripted the teens believe that the shows are real life. The world is forming into something that we never wanted, a world where there are no individuals and everyone is the same.
Fahrenheit 451 Project
View more documents from Your Mother.
Relation to Fahrenheit 451
The novel Fahrenheit 451 is a perfect example of what will happen to our world if the government doesn’t provide us with the tools we need to create new television shows. In the novel the youth are care-free and reckless. With the reality TV shows portraying violence and crime, the kids and teens follow the example put in front of them to view, just like the teens in Fahrenheit 451. In the novel to problems were not fixed, but with for our society we still have a chance to go back to what we were before these bad TV shows.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)