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Posted on April 2, 2015, in AP Language. Bookmark the permalink. 28 Comments.
Room 37 Online 
In the film, The Godfather, Marlon Brando and Al Pacino come together to create one of the greatest films of all time. Brando plays the role of Vito Corleone, a father of three sons and one daughter, who is an Italian immigrant who plays a significant role in the Italian mafia. The plot of the film takes place in both New York and Sicily. The film takes its flight when the Don(Vito Corleone) meets with another gangster who wants to make a deal with him, his refusal results in a shooting. The Don gets shot and is then unable to play his role as, “The Godfather”. This is when his youngest son, Michael Corleone(Al Pacino), comes in and takes the role of “The Godfather”. This film has multiple purposes, one being, family is always first. The Godfather shows this specific purpose over multiple scenes.The intended audience for this film can be, mature teenagers and adults.
Personal Commentary:
The Godfather is one of my favorite movies because after watching it multiple times, I learn something new each time it is played. I am sure that I am no where near grasping the full concept of this film but, the whole plot/story is just very mesmerizing.
-Zaire Alford
Historic Article
Source: http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/nazi-party
Rhetorical précis: The article “Nazi Party” by History.com asserts the history behind the creation of the Nazi party and Adolf Hitler’s leadership of Germany that affected the world greatly. The author develops this assertion by giving the audience the origins of Nazi party and how Hitler joined the political organization, and their rise to power. The purpose of this article is to inform the audience about the origins of the Nazi party, its purpose of being created, their motives, and what Hitler did while he was in power in order to show the audience that Hitler originally did not create the Nazi party and so forth. The intended audience for this article is anyone because everyone knows about who the Nazis were and what they did this allows the audience to get some background information on them.
Personal Commentary: I found this article to be an interesting read, and I actually learned something new from it. I did not know that they felt the Treaty of Versailles was unjust to Germany. In the history books they don’t say what happened to Nazi Germany after World War II and Hitler’s death, the author adding the section “Denazification” was very interesting and I’m glad they added it. I was always curious why Nazism died out, reading about how the Nazi party was outlawed and the Nazi officials being convicted of war crimes.
RHETORICAL PRECIS:
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/black_panthers.htm
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/about-the-author.htm
Chris Trueman a far educated man, on this piece of historical writing argues that the black panthers were not just merely revolutionists, and a violent movement but more of an organization trying to help majorily communities of African-Americans, but also other minorities gain the basic fundamental rights that the government was not giving them, and how the FBI took down the BPP with “dirty tactics.” The way that Trueman goes about his argument he states the Ten Point Plan that the BPP set up in order to achieve their goals, Trueman then goes on about the FBI and how they used foul tactics to bring down the BPP and also speaks on the actions of the BPP what they did to benefit minorities. Chris Truemans purpose here was not just to give accurate brief description of the BPP but also to show how the FBI wrongly brought down the BPP and that the BPP was more than just a violent movement. The intended audience is anyone doubting that the BPP was more than just a violent movement, and wondering on how the organization crumbled.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY:
Upon reading this page I really appreciated how this other went over so much so briefly, hit so many key points. Also on how he made it ever so clear that the BPP was an organization that was very much more than a organization of brute force. Plus I never knew the Ten Point Plan of the Black Panther Party so upon reading this, I feel as I have now learned yet more about this inspirational party.
Rhetorical Precis:
James McBride’s memoir, The Color of Water, takes a deeper look at the issues of race and identity that lay within the American Society in the mid 1900s. The author develops the theme by comparing the past and present through interweaving the voices of two different generations (McBride and his mother) to show the continuities of those issues in society and by describing the exclusion he and his mother faced as a result of racial and religious differences. McBride’s purpose in writing this memoir is not only to give a tribute to his mother, but to also give people an insight of the struggles people like his own family encountered as victims of racial and religious discrimination. The memoir is appropriate for every reader because it is very rich in information about life as a minority in the white dominated societies of America in the 1900s.
Personal Commentary:
I really enjoyed this book because it was filled with information that I am never able to learn from a textbook. I know that minorities in American faced discrimination but I never knew what exactly their struggles were and what goes on in their minds. This book allowed me to enter the lives of the people who were unsure of their own identity in the American society because of social pressures and understand their experiences. I am really impressed with all that McBride’s mother had gone through and have a lot of respect for both McBride and his mother.
précis
The album Lady in Satin by Billie Holiday is her prenultimate album and shows the real end to her music career. The album’s purpose is to show the bittersweet sorrow of heartbreak and the end of love. The album is deamed one of the greatest Jazz hits, resonating best with those who grew up in the generation of Billie Holiday and those experiencing heartbreak. Holiday’s voice in comparison to earlier albums has become more worn but still is very touching. Her voice has a new effect, a more raw sound. You can hear the pain and relief that Holiday felt throughout the album. Pain from the heartbreak and relief that she is free. It is a bittersweet album. From the track list alone it is easy to know how Holiday is feeling.
Commentary
I really enjoyed this album. I think Billie Holiday is one of the most amazing jazz musicians I have listened to. Songs that I enjoyed are I’m a Fool to Want You and Glad to be Unhappy.
(Rhetorical Précis)movie: (On the Waterfront)
It is based on Crime on the Waterfront, a series of articles published in the New York Sun by Malcolm Johnson that won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting. The stories detailed widespread corruption, extortion, and racketeering on the waterfronts of Hoboken, New Jersey.
(Personal connection)
I personally don’t connect with this movie but the U.S. government does with all they illegal corruption toward the American people , they contribute to all the bad happings in the United states and over the world .
Article#1: And Now, Political Virgins-Gail Collins
New York Times
Gail Collins, a writer for the New York Times, thinks that politicians should not be concerned with sex. In the article collins talks about how the House of Representatives are taking away $3 million dollars that was for the prevention of H.I.V. and other STDs and are spending it on sex education instead.She thought that was going overboard and the Democrats should have stuck with their earlier lines of argument, which included pointing out that Texas gets more federal money for abstinence-only sex education than any other state, and that Texas has a teen birthrate that is almost twice as high as California’s, which has completely barred schools from limiting their courses on sex to the advisability of not having any. The purpose of the article was to show how sex, abortions, and homosexuality are becoming a norm and how its a waist to keep paying for sex ed classes when those kids already know what’s going on. The audience is the House of Representatives.
My Commentary:
I think that Gail has a point. Sex isn’t a dark secret anymore. In this day in age, we as teens are exposed to a lot more at a young age. Topics like STDs and homosexuality aren’t as hidden like they used to be. I think it’s kind of worthless keeping those classes and taking away money used to help the problems they are teaching about.
Nick Cassavetes, pioneering director, in his movie “The Notebook” implies that true love is not so simple to have but is worth a prolonged fight. In the film, this is shown when Noah Calhoun meets Allie Nelson and evidently falls in love at first sight and eventually begin to date, they lose touch, Allie gets engaged to another man and Noah returns from the army, she sees Noah on the newspaper and visits him, they rekindle their relationship, and a plot twist being that the narrator is old Noah, telling this all to Allie who happens to have Alzheimer’s. Cassavetes’s purpose is to display true love’s extremes in order to prove that it is very much worth the risk and grind. He develops a deep, emotional relationship with the audience as the movie goes on.
The Notebook is as good as it gets when it comes to romantic movies. This genre of film should give you a roller coaster of emotions and this movie took that to a greater extent. Most movies have an expected happy ending, however The Notebooks ending is yet another plot twist which is bittersweet. Its twists makes this film very unique and nearly impossible for another to surpass.
Rhetorical Precis: Milos Forman, the director of the film, Amaedeus, portrays feelings of regret and stress in his film. Forman developed these emotions by having the protagonists narrate his point of view and leads the viewer on as to what his thought process is in each event. Forman’s purpose is to juxtapose the lives of Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The intended audience of the film are of individuals interested in the classical work of Mozart and Salieri with a more fun demeanor and viewers over the age of 13 due to some nudity.
Personal Commentary: I highly doubt that everything in this movie was historically accurate. However, it was very entertaining to watch and I would love to watch it again. What really caught my eye was how they portrayed the burial of Mozart by dumping him with a bunch of other commoner bodies.
Category : Movie
Taxi Driver
The Taxi Driver is a crime & drama movie produced in 1976 starring Robert De Niro (Travis Bickle), Jodie Foster (Iris), and Cybill Shepherd (Betsy).Vietnam veteran, Travis Bickle is a mentally unstable and a lonely taxi driver living in New York where the streets at night are full of violence and prostitution; he is disgusted by what he sees. Travis instantly falls in love with this beautiful woman he sees on the street, Betsy, who works on the presidential nomination campaign of Senator Palantine. He takes her out for coffee and they instantly click, so they scheduled for another date. He takes her to watch an adult film and she is disgusted; she leaves in a taxi and ignores Travis’s calls. After this heart break, he attempts to try to help a child prostitute Iris return home and leave her pimp. He takes actions into his own hands and he battles the gangsters & pimps killing them. He is in a coma and the headline in the newspaper recognizes him as a hero. After Betsy reads the article, she gives him a second chance. Travis shows his feelings by telling Betsy that she makes him feel happy and shows he wants change in New York one step at a time by attempting to free Iris from her pimp. The purpose of this movie is to show disapproval against inappropriate adult films and show others that their lives are worth more than for others to take advantage of it. This movie most appeals to young adults and adults because they could potentially be involved in these situations.
It is a powerful film that depicts that prostitution ruins lives. It portrays realistic events that happens at night that not many people witness. It exploits the world of prostitution in attempt to lower the rate and save women and young girls from a terrifying lifestyle.It is important to bring down the prositution rate because it contibutes to crme rates and it is terrifying for those young girls involved which are forced to do their job under pressure. My favorite parts of the movie was when Bickle able to get Betsy back and save Iris. I like the message of this movie and hope many realizes to make better decisions and not get involved in gang activity.
4-11-15
Rhetorical Precis
In Marvin Gaye’s album “What’s going on”, he melodizes about the social unrest
going on at the time. In his first track he sings ‘brother, brother, brother there’s far
too many of you dying” “ You see, war is not the answer” here he is singing
of the conflict raging on overseas, in Vietnam. In his second track “What’s Happening Brother”
he sings about the difficulties of bringing money in, and the lack of jobs. Throughout the
album he never pinpoints the specific problems but through listening to the whole thing
and the date of its release one can conclude that he’s talking about the social inequality and
hatred at the time.
Comementary
I enjoyed listening to the album, you could hear the emotion in the singers voice which made it even more enjoyable. We’re currently going over this time period in my history class, which made it even more interesting.
Claude Debussy: La Mer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlR9rDJMEiQ
In La Mer, Claude Debussy shows his interpretation of the ocean as “la mer” in French translates to ocean. Debussy develops his interpretations by starting off with a subtle and slow drum with the addition of the harp and violin to show the calm currents of the ocean. The later addition of wind instruments and change in rhythm of the violin together add the feeling of the beginning of a storm or large waves in the ocean as the lower notes seem to be the most noticeable. Throughout this piece, there are moments of silence to represent the occasional silence of the sea. This silence doesn’t last long, as shown in the music, as the violin slowly creeps back in along with the rest of the orchestra, slowly growing into a symphony of melodies. As the orchestra plays in unison, a feeling of power storms through the listener to show the strength of the storm. The speed of each of the instruments also plays a major role in the presentation of the interpretations as it can either show a slow or fast paced wave or wind. The purpose of this piece is to show the emotions and movement of the ocean as depicted by Claude Debussy through sounds. The audience of this piece would pertain to those who enjoy classical music and fans of Debussy.
Debussy is one of my favorite composers as I am an avid fan of classical music. Although I have been a longtime fan of Debussy, I have never heard La Mer. Writing a rhetorical analysis on classical music, which doesn’t have any lyrics, is somewhat difficult as it is solely up to interpretation. As I began to listen to this piece, I was struck with the feeling of being on a boat and riding the waves depicted in La Mer which helped greatly in analyzing the piece. Classical music is often overlooked by many people in my generation as it is boring and sounds the same but what people need to realize is that classical music, like any genre of music, can hold important messages and is not just an amalgam of noises. Overall, I very much enjoyed La Mer and will look more into Debussy’s music, as well as pieces of other composers, and begin to uncover the meaning behind each piece as each note and the speed of the music have a purpose in the overall message of the piece.
Category: Books
Rhetorical Precis:
In his novel Brave New World, Aldous Huxley depicts an inevitable dystopia coming together through the fixation of creating a perfect world and society. In the beginning, Huxley establishes the corrupt and obsessive nature of the utopian government by describing the naive citizens influenced by a mandated drug. He tries to tell his readers that the use of science, social stratification, and consumerism in the overly obsessive manner as shown is far from creating a perfect world;rather, it is a recipe for total disaster. Huxley wanted to target an audience of all readers of all ages and backgrounds to show an artificial perfect society but later picks out the flaws of the utopia that affects individuals differently; thus becoming a dystopia.
Personal Commentary:
I recently have been reading a lot of dystopian novels. I pretty love this one for Huxley’s writing style and his presentation of the elements and plot twists. The way he approached and presented the issue at hand was unique. There are parallels that can be drawn to today’s problems like our economy. I simply enjoyed this book and look forward on citing it on my future essays.
-Andy Han
Quentin Tarantino, American film director, screenwriter, cinematographer, producer, and actor in his film Pulp Fiction,connects the intersecting storylines of Los Angeles mobsters, fringe players, small-time criminals, and a mysterious briefcase. Tarantino masterfully goes in and out of chronological order, to create a beautifully strung together plot. His purpose is to create a fantastic motion picture, and to connect multiple subplots. The intended audience is anyone with a passion for danger, or anyone interested in cinema.
Commentary:
I love pulp fiction. Ive seen it many times, but have never analyzed it to the extent I just did. I did a lot of research about this movie today, mostly just for pleasure. Like a lot of Tarantino films, he aces the out of order sequence and connects many ideas. The production is fantastic, its a great film and I recommend it to everyone.
. In the film “The Silence of the Lambs” director Jonathan Demme demonstrates the motif of being watched or stalked. One clear example of this eerie scrutiny is one of the most recognized scenes in which the main character Hannibal Lecter explains to another main character, Clarice Sterling, the motive that the serial killer that Sterling is pursuing has by stating, “Don’t you feel eyes moving over your body Clarice? And don’t your eyes seek out the things you want?” which implies that the serial killer watches his victims, stalks them. Demme illustrates this motif to give heighten the mood of anxiety and fright, being that this is a thriller film. The audience Demme intends to deliver to is any person worldwide as the crimes of stalking and serial killing is feared all over the world.
This movie is one of the most –well, thrilling- that I have ever watched. I am normally not scared by movies involving serial killers or murder by non-supernatural beings, but this one has a way of sending chills up your spine. Throughout the entire movie the mood was eerie and caused anxiety. My own apprehension was a big part of being scared, and Jonathan Demme surely intended that. The movie made me feel as if I was being watched myself and that just demonstrates how influential it is on the audience.
Book – 1984 – George Orwell
Rhetorical Precis
George Orwell, in his book, “1984”, asserts that a government with total control over a society and has the ability to dictate each individual’s thought through propaganda is not only dangerous, but it can also lead to mindless citizens that operate like robots. The main character, Winston, lives in a society where any opposition to the government will not be tolerated and his social life, as well as his thoughts are heavily monitored by “the Party” which uses propaganda and torture to instill specific beliefs into the minds of the citizens. The purpose of this book is to warn people about the consequences of a government that has complete authority over its citizens in order to prevent this form of government from rising up in the world. The audience of this book is anyone interested in futuristic societies and how societies may unfold.
Personal Commentary
I heard this book was good so I decided to read it. I thought it was cool that George Orwell wrote the book in 1948 and he tried to predict the future. This book reminds me of modern day North Korea and how Kim Jong Un brainwashes his people to believe that he is the greatest leader in the world. Also, the tactics used to manipulate ideas and beliefs in North Korea are similar like using propaganda and restricting alternative thoughts to enter the minds of the people.
– Guan Li
“How the FBI is whitewashing the Saudi connection to 9/11” by Paul Sperry
Rhetorical Précis: Paul Sperry, a Hoover Institution media fellow, in his history article “How the FBI is whitewashing the Saudi connection to 9/11,” argues that there may be more of a connection between the 9/11 attacks and the Saudi Arabian government than has been publicized. Sperry describes a specific case of a Saudi Arabian living in the US with connections to the Saudi government who mysteriously disappeared fifteen days before the attacks but has not seemed to have received much notice; he later goes into some recent findings about the Saudi government’s involvement and how it has been concealed. Sperry’s purpose is to show how involved the Saudi government may have been in order to highlight just how much has been hidden from the public and Congress. His audience is the entire American public, especially those who experienced the 9/11 attacks and their investigation.
Personal Commentary: Two pieces of this article were especially interesting to me. Firstly, if the Saudi Arabian government was involved in the 9/11 attacks, then the attacks can be considered a declaration of war. The idea that 9/11 was not just terrorism but an act of war gives the story a different picture. However, it seems like more would have come of a war declaration than what did. Or maybe that’s why the FBI withheld this information. Secondly, the concealment of important information like this makes me wonder how much is regularly kept from the public. I’m sure there’s a lot that we never hear about as normal citizens, but I think it’s important for us to know this kind of thing if we are going to call our government democratic.
Source: http://nypost.com/2015/04/12/saudi-role-in-911-being-whitewashed-by-fbi/
Rhetorical Precis
The song, The Scientist, from Coldplay’s album A Rush of Blood to the Head asserts that people in relationships make mistakes that they regret and wish to start from the beginning when they were both happy. All the members of Coldplay all contributed to the reverse chronological order of the song, demonstrating the desire to reverse time and “going back to the start.” The purpose is to show that love shouldn’t be taken for granted because it will just result in regrets for the future. The audience for this song is everyone because the message of the song is to address the fact that many people take what they have in the present for granted and end up feeling regretful later on.
Personal Commentary
I’ve always heard this song occasionally on the radio and other social media but I never listened to the lyrics carefully. I never really understood how meaningful and powerful this song is even if it is a love song, but it can have so many interpretations. I’ve always enjoyed listening to mellow songs and being able to just carefully listen to the lyrics has opened my eyes to the deeper meaning of songs and makes me enjoy it even more.
In the article, Invention Story of Computer, Samidha Verma informs us about the beginnings of the computer, the growth of computers from how it changed from back then to now, and the impact it has on life. He develops his article by starting off the article with introducing it with comparisons to the radio and mobile phone and then talks about the growth of computers and the impact of it. The purpose for Verma to write this article is to tell us about why the computer is so important to us and how it impacted our lives back then and even today. The intended audience would be for everyone.
Commentary: I enjoyed this article because it showed me how much we rely on and use our computers every day in life. It also shows me how advanced we are now in time as to back then.
Rhetorical Precis – History Event
Tierney Sneed, author of the article, “How John F. Kennedy’s Assassination Changed Television Forever” inform us how Kennedy’s assassination brought breaking national news to a whole new level, increasing views for breaking news. Sneed develops her article with an opening statement about how the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination also shows credit to the TV industry on how it covered this major event in American history. She then gives background information, stating a timeline about how news reportings as expanded. Sneeb’s use of Kennedy’s assassination symbolizes an era where broadcast television news had hit its’ peak and progressed with more delivering of breaking news, such as the attack on September 11, 2001 in order to bring recognition to the TV industry, that is slowly losing America’s attention.
Personal Commentary
This article was very interesting to me because I had never looked at Kennedy’s assassination has a ticket for news reporting to succeed. I agree with her about how the internet catches most American’s attention with breaking news. Not a lot of people that I know still watch the news. This is a very interesting concept to write about.
Book: Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Ring
J.R.R. Tolkien is a renowned fictional writer from the earlier European times on historical creatures. With Lord of the Rings, a timeless classic fiction tale, he sets the scenes with vivid arrays of constant detail to the depiction of the surroundings. He describes nature onto the point of how the leaves make shadows and pockets of sunlight on the grass, and to detail what sort of trees cover the forest Frodo and friends step into. It’s so ridiculously on point with his descriptions that it makes it inevitably alluring and captivating to read head on in this onslaught of a perfect alternate universe. The added songs he sprinkles in every now and then lighten the heavy sense of dread he constantly reminds by having Frodo looking behind him every few seconds. The Songs are naturally set as folklore or amusing snippets of everyday mundane happenings that depicts a Hobbit’s personality.
Personal Statement:
I thoroughly enjoy Lord of the Rings, being the first time I ever picked up the series is this year. I believe that the pure value of the fictional world J.R.R. Tolkien had created is nothing to be charted against, as it both inspired and sparked other fictional universes to start off as well by being a role model. It’s simply right up my alley in taste, diction, and fiction. I really enjoy reading.
Rhetorical Précis
Rocky, written by Sylvester Stallone became a sensation as well as a pop culture icon for its determination and hard work of the character Rocky showing anything is possible with hard work. The movie specially focuses on the training Rocky does accounting for most of the movie. Sylvester purpose is to give an idea that anything is possible and not to be deteriorated by obstacles. Since this is a movie this is purposely for anyone to see but it would be most appealing to teenagers.
Personal Commentary
Rocky being a big icon I’ve never seen it, and curiosity led me to it. Overall it was a great movie and realizing it’s almost and now being 40 years old is crazy.
Movie: Rocky
-Ulysses Gonzalez
Rhetorical Precis:
Cassandra Franklin-Barbajosa explains the history of tattoos in her article “Tattoo: Pigments of Imagination”. Barbajosa starts her article by telling that tattoos seemed to be first used for medical purposes and as different cultures and parts of the world discovered this form of permanent marking to the skin, the meanings for them changed and then ends with Americans today who see tattoos as symbols of different milestones in someones life; Barbajosa is able to explain this concept through a brief article. Her purpose is to explain how the intended use of marking the skin has changed over time. Barbajosa’s intended audience are people who get tattoos and people who might have second thoughts on these body markings.
Personal Commentary:
I always knew that getting tattooed was a thing hundreds of years ago for cultural reasons, but I did not know that getting these markings were first used as a medical treatment by Europeans. I thought that was interesting to find out.
Source: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0412/online_extra.html
Taxi Driver, the movie, implies that you have control in what you want to achieve in your life. The director of this film supports it by giving the main character a job, getting a girlfriend and realizing the prostitution going on around him when he’s working as a taxi driver. As a taxi driver at night, he drives around the whole city and doesn’t mind the people he drives around and what mess he may have to deal with. The purpose of this movie was to show what is really going on in life and what people may be at night and the problems they might face. For example, the little girl in the movie was a prostitute and he wanted to free her from child prostitution. The intended audience of this movie would be adults.
I watched this movie because it was suggested that it was on Netflix. I had no idea what this movie was about. This movie was not a typical movie I would watch. It was not in my interest. I have come to the realization that life is difficult when you get old and reach the real world. This has made me notice what young adults could be dealing with. It gave me a different perspective of how young adults may live their lives.
Rhetorical Precis:
George Orwell wrote, Animal Farm, as a representation of the Russian Revolution. Throughout the book, many political characteristics were evident, such as, Snowball and Napoleon fighting for dominance or Napoleon taking control and kicking others out. All these showed political movements, shadowing the Russian Revolution. The entire purpose of the book was to show the corruption of the government through a different lens. By using elements to shadow the political movements, it could not only simplify the revolution, it, in a way, mocks the corruption by using animals to figuratively relate it back to the government.
Personal Commentary:
I’ve always heard positive commentaries about this book, but never found interest or reason to read it. After reading it now though, i regret not picking it up sooner. All the symbolism and meaning behind the book shows the power of writing. Using animals as a way to re enact political movements, and the major events was genius because not only does it break down the events for better understanding, it’s more interesting than the political essay or articles everyone reads.
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0720.html
Rhetorical Precis
John Noble Wilford, in his article “Men Walk On Moon”, gives specific information on what happened when Neil A. Armstrong and his co-pilot landed on the Moon. Wilford tells the story chronologically and adds times, quotes and descriptive imagery. The author’s purpose was to retell the story in order to inform his audience that men from the US flew to the moon. Throughout the article, Wilford maintains a formal and apathetic tone towards his audience as he informs them of the spectacular deeds that was carried out by American astronauts.
Commentary
I thought that this article was very detailed and I was surprised that the times were incorporated into the article so extensively. It gave me the impression that the author of the article was well informed of the event. I overall enjoyed the article and appreciated how much it explained the situation instead of just stating a generalized summary. Wilford put effort into his writing which helped reveal a little of how much NASA worked in the space race. I also think this made me appreciate the moon landing more because I obtained more background information on the event.
Précis:
Nathanael West, an American author and satirist, in his expressionist black comedy novel, Miss Lonelyhearts, claims that during the time of the Great Depression, commodification and the overall lack of morals created a corrupt and fraudulent society. West uses irony in the creation of the novel’s hero, Miss Lonelyhearts, who is a man who openly has a messiah/Christ-complex and simultaneously does not believe in Christ, who both sympathizes and abuses, who provides hope but is hopeless to show both the corruption of 1930s America and to prove that Miss Lonelyhearts is not qualified to be a guidance counselor of sorts in a society in which people and advice are mass-produced and sold. West’s purpose is to have a protagonist who battles his own evils and often contributes to the insincerity of society in order expose the inescapable reality and dishonesty that was America during the Great Depression era. West maintains a disillusioned-esque feel throughout the dark novel in order to allow the reader to grasp the feeling of living in a society devoid of morals and values.
Personal Commentary:
This extremely short novel took me a while to get through the way most classics do, but I think because of the dark and semi-twisted nature of the novel, it took a bit longer to ingest (ingest? digest?) what was going on. But even though it took me a while to read the novel, I really, really enjoyed it. It was dark and even a bit morbid and grotesque (the poor lamb) at times, but because it was different from most of the other classics I’ve read, I enjoyed venturing into the previously untrekked territory. Also, the characters left large impressions on me and have changed the way I see protagonists and antagonists. I’m not sure if I hate Miss Lonelyhearts (the character) or if I loved him. The messiah/Christ-complex was what kind of makes me skeptical about him because by definition, he sees himself as a “saviour” and in some ways, it fits, he gives advice and he helps, but also he seems to be the creator of the problems that his readers would write to him about with the way he treats women and men and lambs. He was clearly an outsider, and maybe it was because of his morals, or maybe more because of the fact that he was simply aware of the amoral tendencies of the society. And despite his open acknowledgement of the venal and unethical society, I don’t feel that he does much to fix or better anything. And I realize that it’s a lot to ask of a 26-year-old man to be responsible for bettering all of America through advice columns and sheer kindness, but it’s a book and according to my own twisted idea of “traditional” formats of stories, he’s suppose to be the hero or even anti-hero. Nevertheless, he was better than Shrike, whom I thoroughly disliked. Shrike was arrogant and cynical. He often made Miss Lonelyhearts the butt of his jokes, and I believe that a large part of why Miss Lonelyhearts was so bitter about not only his life but about the people who write him letters and everyone else was because of people like Shrike.
Entry 11: 4/ 12/ 15
The Rhetorical Précis:
Flight 93, a drama based on real life movie directed by Peter markle is a recounted story of the passengers of United Flight 93. Movie starts of with the passengers getting to their planes to when the terrorists place their head bands to when they have hijacked the plane. The purpose of the film is to show the event that the passengers of flight 93 had to go through, and to show the stressed that they were put in and how they helped themselves not hit a target. The audience is to all the Americans of the U.S because the day of 9/11 was a sad day that a whole lot of things happen that caused a lot of drama and panic to the people that live here.
Personal Commentary:
I personally don’t think that 9/11 was right but I do believe that whoever planned it was very intelligent to make it happen but a lot of people didn’t have to die for their causes. If it wasn’t for 9/11, the U.S security wouldn’t have improved to the max and that began the war in Iraq that is also a war for some oil. The movie does a good job showing the feelings of the passengers and how they felt weak and discourage throughout the movie, it is also fascinating to see how people can become a group and fight together.