In the book, "The Virgin Suicides", five sisters kill themselves in a small suburban town. These deaths are not consecutive, as months go by after the first death. While these deaths are a tragedy and everybody has their own reactions to it, their parents cope with it by being in denial. They refuse to acknowledge that their daughter killed herself. They tend to see their family life as happy, when evidence and the suicide seems to suggest otherwise.
One very notable piece of evidence is the actual suicide. The doctors that looked after her seemed to ask her parents to lighten up on their strict rules. They considered the first suicide attempt as a cry for help, even though later they never talk about the attempt.Then after that, she attempts to kill herself again, and succeeds, the family has that death, and all the others, considered accidents. These aren't the actions of parents that have accepted the deaths.
Another piece of evidence that seems to contest the fact that they hade a happy life is the oppressiveness of the parents. They don't allow their daughters to date and when a boy came over, he had to sit in front of a TV for 2-3, which is an extremely boring date. These girls don't have enough freedoms if they aren't even allowed to date with anyone and just have to sit around. Also, they are only allowed to go with church and school. As we plainly see, this causes the girls, especially Lux, to act out with promiscuity and cigarettes.
In conclusion, the children seem to be repressed and sad, yet the parents don't want to admit that. When interviewed, though, the mother says that they had a happy family, but all signs seems to suggest that they were anything but.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Agatha Raisin Blogpost
In the book series, "Agatha Raisin", a major theme is unrequited love. This theme is very prominent is the book "Agatha Raisin and the Love From Hell" when the titular character, Agatha Raisin, marries her crush, James Lacey. She had a crush on him through the earlier books and even though they are married, her love seems to still be unrequited. While she had a crush on him, he never returned her feelings. All men in her life never seems to show their true feelings. Because of this, any affection is from or towards her seems to be unrequited.
Her husband, James Lacey, is a very independent man, so even though they are married, he never really says that he loves her. Through the text, it's obvious that this is not a marriage based on love. It seems like he married her because of companionship. He doesn't want to be annoyed by other women that wanted to marry him, so he just got married to one of his friends. This is not good for Agatha because she actually does like him. While he just sees her as a wife, she actually wants a passionate relationship with him. These ideals clash with each other to create a marriage full of tension.
In contrast with this relationship, a man, Jimmy Jessop, she once knew proposed to her because he loved her, while she just wanted companionship. Besides this interesting parallel, another one is how both were ruined by Charles. In her relationship with jimmy, Charles had casual sex with her and then they were caught. In her relationship with James, he started to cheat on her after she saw Charles when they had both agreed she would not talk with him. In both of these relationships, unrequited love caused them to fail.
In conclusion, the author seems to talk about the dangers of unrequited love. Both of her serious relationships were ruined by Charles, who is very independent and a representation of detachment and independence. This theme is the most prominent in the book where she is married to James Lacey and this book really shows how a relationship can't function with love from only one person.
Her husband, James Lacey, is a very independent man, so even though they are married, he never really says that he loves her. Through the text, it's obvious that this is not a marriage based on love. It seems like he married her because of companionship. He doesn't want to be annoyed by other women that wanted to marry him, so he just got married to one of his friends. This is not good for Agatha because she actually does like him. While he just sees her as a wife, she actually wants a passionate relationship with him. These ideals clash with each other to create a marriage full of tension.
In contrast with this relationship, a man, Jimmy Jessop, she once knew proposed to her because he loved her, while she just wanted companionship. Besides this interesting parallel, another one is how both were ruined by Charles. In her relationship with jimmy, Charles had casual sex with her and then they were caught. In her relationship with James, he started to cheat on her after she saw Charles when they had both agreed she would not talk with him. In both of these relationships, unrequited love caused them to fail.
In conclusion, the author seems to talk about the dangers of unrequited love. Both of her serious relationships were ruined by Charles, who is very independent and a representation of detachment and independence. This theme is the most prominent in the book where she is married to James Lacey and this book really shows how a relationship can't function with love from only one person.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Critical Analysis "The Disaster Artist"
In the book, The Disaster Artist, the author describes his life with the director of the movie "The Room", Tommy Wiseau. Each chapter contrasts Tommy Wiseau's character as a friend with Tommy's attitude on set during filming. The author talks about how Tommy acts cocky and is very defensive towards his ideas. The author doesn't know that much of his past after being friends with him for two years. The author also talks about how this made production of the movie hell because he was a terrible actor and writer. He wanted to do the movie his way, which had a lot of flaws. He ate alone, was only able to spend money if it helped him directly (i.e. air conditioning, generator), he refused to change the script even with obvious inconsistencies, he was a horrible actor who could barely remember his lines, he used too much lighting, etc. Because of this, the author tries to show us how Tommy isn't just a bad director, but he's a multifaceted person who's personality isn't a inherently good or bad one.
One way the author tries to convey this is which the structure of the chapters. Every new chapter changes the time. He continually changes from a part of the room production to a part of his life after meeting Tommy. This helps him because we see two sides of him, which greatly increases our understanding of Tommy. If we only had one side of him shown, the author could've easily manipulated our understanding of him. The author primarily uses this tactic to help us understand. Without it, the author would have very little chance of actually convincing us of his multifacetedness. His life with the author makes us pity him and see a man trying to achieve his dream. His life on the set shows us how his personality can drive people crazy and how he is very closed-minded. These balance out and any idea's we have are ours based on seeing both sides of his life.
This book really gave me insight on the creation of my favorite movie, "The Room", and the director/lead actor/producer/executive producer. I really enjoyed this book and the author taught me about how we judge people.
One way the author tries to convey this is which the structure of the chapters. Every new chapter changes the time. He continually changes from a part of the room production to a part of his life after meeting Tommy. This helps him because we see two sides of him, which greatly increases our understanding of Tommy. If we only had one side of him shown, the author could've easily manipulated our understanding of him. The author primarily uses this tactic to help us understand. Without it, the author would have very little chance of actually convincing us of his multifacetedness. His life with the author makes us pity him and see a man trying to achieve his dream. His life on the set shows us how his personality can drive people crazy and how he is very closed-minded. These balance out and any idea's we have are ours based on seeing both sides of his life.
This book really gave me insight on the creation of my favorite movie, "The Room", and the director/lead actor/producer/executive producer. I really enjoyed this book and the author taught me about how we judge people.
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Non-fiction critical analysis Global Warming
In "Study: Global warming skeptics know more about climate science" by Maxim Lott, the author wants us to know that the skeptics may be smarter than the believers. The author tries to show us this by explaining the results of a test given to people who are believers and skeptics. The results showed that the skeptics got more right than the people who believed. The author uses this to show that skeptics aren't dumb or ignorant, but know about the same as believers.
The author wants to convince us that people should try to convince skeptics not by berating them, but by explaining the science, no matter the political party. One way he does this is through results of a test. He uses the results of the test to show that the skeptics aren't stupid or uninformed. He uses this to try and convince us that telling people what they already know won't change their opinions. The author also uses quotes from scientists to further prove his point. For example "The study’s author, Kahan, says that the global warming debate has become so politically polarized that people pick their side based on politics rather than what they know about science." Also, “Climate contrarians know what scientists have found but they’re choosing to reject those findings, usually for political reasons,” Aaron Huertas, a spokesman for the Union of Concerned Scientists". The author uses both of these to convince us of his beliefs about convincing skeptics of climate change.
I have learned something about skeptics of climate change. I always thought they didn't know all of the facts, but I now realize that they have more of a misunderstanding of the facts than an ignoance of these facts.
The author wants to convince us that people should try to convince skeptics not by berating them, but by explaining the science, no matter the political party. One way he does this is through results of a test. He uses the results of the test to show that the skeptics aren't stupid or uninformed. He uses this to try and convince us that telling people what they already know won't change their opinions. The author also uses quotes from scientists to further prove his point. For example "The study’s author, Kahan, says that the global warming debate has become so politically polarized that people pick their side based on politics rather than what they know about science." Also, “Climate contrarians know what scientists have found but they’re choosing to reject those findings, usually for political reasons,” Aaron Huertas, a spokesman for the Union of Concerned Scientists". The author uses both of these to convince us of his beliefs about convincing skeptics of climate change.
I have learned something about skeptics of climate change. I always thought they didn't know all of the facts, but I now realize that they have more of a misunderstanding of the facts than an ignoance of these facts.
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Agatha Raisin blogpost
In the "Agatha Raisin" book series, the main character has a very conflicting personality. Even though she grew up in the Birmingham slum, she had a very innocent and kind personality. Eventually, she had to create a hard exterior because of her environment and because of her ruthless climb to the top in the PR industry. After fulfilling her dream of moving to the Cotswold, she doesn't have keep up her ruthless behavior, which means she starts to revert to her kind self. A perfect example of this is her friend/ex-husband, James Lacey. She's kind to him because she really likes him, but she's ruthless because she's extremely jealous and competitive for his affection. Because of this, both sides of her personality shine in her interactions with him.
Her kind side shines when talking to James Lacey. Because she's really keen on him, she tries to be nice and even has to combat this because she's too nice. One time when she was going to have lunch with him, she lit candles and wore a very pretty/revealing dress. She constantly focuses on her weight and appearance which wasn't really a priority before James. She really cares, which she didn't really do before the Cotswold. She has a lot of new priorities which show that she cares and that she is kind enough to try.
Although, with James Lacey, she brings back her ruthless side and kind of sees him as a prize. She's very competitive and focused on being with him. If there's a possibility of him being with someone else, she is determined to make her leave him alone by lying or anything else. She would even investigate cases just to spend time with him and make sure that they always have stuff to do together. This shows that her nature to work transfers to her personal life too.
In conclusion, Agatha has two very different personalities. She's a kind, yet ruthless person. She wants to be kind, but has been breed to be manipulative. She is actually kind of reverting back to her nature of being nice from her childhood.
Her kind side shines when talking to James Lacey. Because she's really keen on him, she tries to be nice and even has to combat this because she's too nice. One time when she was going to have lunch with him, she lit candles and wore a very pretty/revealing dress. She constantly focuses on her weight and appearance which wasn't really a priority before James. She really cares, which she didn't really do before the Cotswold. She has a lot of new priorities which show that she cares and that she is kind enough to try.
Although, with James Lacey, she brings back her ruthless side and kind of sees him as a prize. She's very competitive and focused on being with him. If there's a possibility of him being with someone else, she is determined to make her leave him alone by lying or anything else. She would even investigate cases just to spend time with him and make sure that they always have stuff to do together. This shows that her nature to work transfers to her personal life too.
In conclusion, Agatha has two very different personalities. She's a kind, yet ruthless person. She wants to be kind, but has been breed to be manipulative. She is actually kind of reverting back to her nature of being nice from her childhood.
Friday, February 27, 2015
"The Silent Wife" Literary essay
In the book "The Silent Wife", the main character, Jodi, goes through a lot of injustices as a wife, and even after they split up. She constantly provided for her husband and believed in him while he was broke and working on his first project. Even with her constant love and support, her husband, Todd, takes away their home and money when he's forced to get married to his latest mistress after getting her pregnant. Jodi had to suffer while he went out and consistently cheated on his wife, then has to suffer even more when he's done with her and ready to move on the the next person to cheat on. Even when her friend springs the idea of an assassination on her and when Jodi goes through with it, she still hasn't gotten justice. Jodi has tried to be a good wife all her life to an ungrateful husband, then is forced to suffer even more when Todd takes away all stability in her life and plans to not do spousal support or give alimony.
One of the biggest injustices committed against Jodi is Todd's constant cheating. Before the floozy Todd was forced to marry, he still constantly cheated on her. It was pretty obvious with the going outback with the friend's wife and such. Jodi knew about all of his affairs, yet never divorced him. She reasoned (correctly if I might add) that if she becomes a point of stability, then Todd will never leave her. She was such a good wife that would never divorce him even with all the affairs.
Even with being such a good wife, Todd quite easily moves on. The worst example of this is when he discovers that because they had a special type of marriage, he wouldn't have to pay alimony and he becomes ecstatic. You can obviously see that he was attached to her as a point of stability, not as a person. He just shifts that stability to his floozy, Natasha, and then starts to cheat on her, too. He even tried to get her evicted and was going to cancel her credit cards without even telling her. He gives her a month to move out. One month to completely change her life. He takes all of the things that could give her even a sense of stability because he doesn't want to spend any money on someone he was married to for twenty years. These are all obvious injustices that Jodi has had to deal with.
In conclusion, Todd is a horrible person. A women he "loved" for twenty years now means nothing to him. He's prepared to take all their money and house because he can't be bothered to support her. She was a great wife while he couldn't be bothered to be even be a smidgen of a decent husband. Even him being murdered can't make up for all the injustices done against her.
Link to original here
One of the biggest injustices committed against Jodi is Todd's constant cheating. Before the floozy Todd was forced to marry, he still constantly cheated on her. It was pretty obvious with the going outback with the friend's wife and such. Jodi knew about all of his affairs, yet never divorced him. She reasoned (correctly if I might add) that if she becomes a point of stability, then Todd will never leave her. She was such a good wife that would never divorce him even with all the affairs.
Even with being such a good wife, Todd quite easily moves on. The worst example of this is when he discovers that because they had a special type of marriage, he wouldn't have to pay alimony and he becomes ecstatic. You can obviously see that he was attached to her as a point of stability, not as a person. He just shifts that stability to his floozy, Natasha, and then starts to cheat on her, too. He even tried to get her evicted and was going to cancel her credit cards without even telling her. He gives her a month to move out. One month to completely change her life. He takes all of the things that could give her even a sense of stability because he doesn't want to spend any money on someone he was married to for twenty years. These are all obvious injustices that Jodi has had to deal with.
In conclusion, Todd is a horrible person. A women he "loved" for twenty years now means nothing to him. He's prepared to take all their money and house because he can't be bothered to support her. She was a great wife while he couldn't be bothered to be even be a smidgen of a decent husband. Even him being murdered can't make up for all the injustices done against her.
Link to original here
Friday, February 20, 2015
Gone Girl Blogpost 2
In the book, Gone Girl, one major plot twist (don't read this if you want to read the book), is when Nick, Amy's husband, discovers that his wife has so much of a sense of judgement that she is compelled to give punishment for anything she deems a crime. In Nick's case, it means faking her death so that all signs point to him because he's a bad husband and he cheated on her. It's seen that she is very thorough and even wrote in a fake diary with 5 years worth of entries in different pens and based on actual events which makes her seem innocent and abused by Nick. Later in the book, you find out that she has done this with other people and see how her sense of justice is way off.
An example Nick finds is with a guy named Thomas. He was dating Amy and liked her, but then began to cheat on her. She finds justice by inviting him over, having sex with him, making it look like rape, calling the police, then dropping charges. Amy could've put him in prison for a long time and ruined his life. She even hurt her wrists to make it look like she was roped onto the bed. Framing someone for rape is way worse than just cheating on a girlfriend. Technically, she's the criminal in this case for framing someone. Amy believes that this is justice when having her arrested would truly be justice.
Another example of her inane logic for justice is with her friend, Hillary, from high school. Amy had befriended Hillary, which made Hillary popular. Eventually, Hillary became even more popular than Amy. To fix this situation, she tricks Hillary by making her dress like her and tell her mother, as a joke, that she was going to replace Amy. Amy then threw herself down some stairs and got Hillary expelled for being a creepy stalker. Hillary hadn't even done anything wrong, but Amy wanted revenge for Hillary stealing the spotlight.
In conclusion, Amy's sense of justice is like an abusive cop. It takes a level one crime and makes it punishment for a four, four for a seven, seven for a ten. She claims to be about justice, but it all seems to be revenge based, not justice based. It seems like it would be hard to even claim that she is for justice, because she shows no signs of that.
An example Nick finds is with a guy named Thomas. He was dating Amy and liked her, but then began to cheat on her. She finds justice by inviting him over, having sex with him, making it look like rape, calling the police, then dropping charges. Amy could've put him in prison for a long time and ruined his life. She even hurt her wrists to make it look like she was roped onto the bed. Framing someone for rape is way worse than just cheating on a girlfriend. Technically, she's the criminal in this case for framing someone. Amy believes that this is justice when having her arrested would truly be justice.
Another example of her inane logic for justice is with her friend, Hillary, from high school. Amy had befriended Hillary, which made Hillary popular. Eventually, Hillary became even more popular than Amy. To fix this situation, she tricks Hillary by making her dress like her and tell her mother, as a joke, that she was going to replace Amy. Amy then threw herself down some stairs and got Hillary expelled for being a creepy stalker. Hillary hadn't even done anything wrong, but Amy wanted revenge for Hillary stealing the spotlight.
In conclusion, Amy's sense of justice is like an abusive cop. It takes a level one crime and makes it punishment for a four, four for a seven, seven for a ten. She claims to be about justice, but it all seems to be revenge based, not justice based. It seems like it would be hard to even claim that she is for justice, because she shows no signs of that.
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