Great Gatsby

     I went to go see the Great Gatsby in theaters on Saturday May 11. The interpretation of the book and the movie were spot on to me. From start to finish the movie is pretty accurate to the book. I didn't really see any huge changes. All in all the movie was really good and I would recommend seeing it.

     In the movie the characterization is done well. Daisy matches up to her character really well. You can tell she is sort of ditsy because it goes off the book really well. It also shows how careless she is for her daughter. She treats it more like a possession than a gift from God. On page 9 Daisy asks if people from Chicago miss her. This shows that she is very high headed of herself. She might think she is better than every other girl. The one minor mistake that I caught was she was careless in the book  but she was thoughtless in the movie. Her voice wasn't rich like money but it was more of a girl that was lost. All in all she was a great actor and it was almost spot on.

     Nick was very observant in the movie just as he was in the book. He notices things really quick with Gatsby. He is suspicious about him and the things that involve him. At the end of chapter one, Nick is observing Gatsby when he stares out into the lake. This is just an example of Nick being observant. In the movie Nick starts out his narration kind of broken up and has troubles with alcohol. In the book it shows that he is very considerate. The actor for Nick was very good just a bit awkward in moments of the movie.

     Tom is portrayed very well in the movie. He was pretty spot on as well. He is still that level headed man that cheats on his wife. In both pieces he is portrayed as a villain from the beginning. You get the vibe from both the book and movie. The way he answers the phone during dinner is a big hint that something is going on with him. In both pieces we are told right away that he has a mistress. I think Toms character was played very well.

      Jordan was also portrayed in both very well. She played a spot on character from the book. We are told that Jordan is an athlete. I think she fits the description from the book very well. It says she is a small breasted women with some manlier features. When her character comes on in the movie you can tell right away that she has some manlier features. I don't think they could have done a better job with this character.

     Gatsby's character is portrayed the best I think. He is this mysterious man in both. I think he does a pretty good job at portraying the New York accent. He is still madly in love with Daisy. He is mysterious about what he does. He lies about his past life and supposedly tells the truth to Nick later. He was a poor man early in his life and he became rich with a big mansion on the west egg. Good portrayal of Gatsby.

     The plot between the two are very spot on. The movie follows the guidelines from the book very well. I think they left out some minor detail for time sake. The Valley of ashes is kind of different because they short the description in the book I believe. In the movie it is developed and described better. When Tom and Nick pick up Myrtle they drive around and spot a man selling puppies. In the movie they leave this out completely.Gatsby and Daisy still have their never ending love for each other and Tom turns into this super villain that is after Gatsby. In the movie they develop this really nice. Everything in the book fits together well, but the movie had some minor errors that didn't really affect anything.

     The one big thing that I noticed between the two was how they portrayed the tone and the mood. The music was a big surprise to me. They played modern music at Gatsby's parties like; Jay-z, Florence and the Machines, Beyonce, and Gotye, These are all up beat artists that don't fit into the time period of the 20s. It changes the mood of the story quite a bit. I think they should of played 20s music instead of 20th century music. It didn't really make sense to me why they did this because it just makes things incorrect.

     The movie was very good and I would probably go see it again. It only had a few minor mistakes and one big mistake with the music. They kept to the story line very well which made it a very good production.



   

Blog #9

      My stance on the legalization of marijuana stands very high. I believe this should be nationwide and spread throughout the nation. According to Congress Rep. Earl Blumenauer, "we are in the process of a dramatic shift in the marijuana policy landscape." Marijuana legalizers enjoyed the unprecedented success in 2012, why not have even more success in 2013? Since Colorado and Washington approved of marijuana, even more states are interested. Hawaii, Oklahoma and now Rhode Island are interested in rolling back the restrictions on Marijuana. Marijuana is the most commonly used drug in the United States, with over 17 million Americans reporting past-month use. Many people can say they have used it, so it only makes it fair to legalize and recognize it.

     Along with legalizing marijuana it only increases our nations revenue. In 2010, a study done by CATO Institute, figured out that legalizing marijuana would increase our nations revenue by over $9 Billion a year and reduce the money we spend on enforcement. Legalizing pot would reduce spending and raise tax revenue buy about 0.5 percent. This is just one quick way to get us out of national debt. I'm not saying it will cure our debt but it sure will lead us in a positive direction. The state tax on marijuana would be equivalent to the state tax on cigarrets and tobacco has been proven more harmful than cannabis.

     With marijuana being on the legal status it could open up more job opportunities for the under educated people in the U.S.. A lot of people in America cant get a nice set job for themselves nowadays. Our country is corrupt and its very hard for people to get in a good financial state. People could become legal dealers for a part time job or maybe even a full time job. Either way it is making extra cash on the side. Money is money and people will do anything to get their hands on it.

     During this time period, an over abundance of people are getting thrown in prison for useless drug charges. People are even fighting over drugs across the world, and smuggling them into the U.S.. If marijuana was legal this would increasingly destroy the amount of crime that is going on around America. Our state and federal prisons wouldn't be overpopulated. It all makes sense when you sit down and think about it. A lot of people are getting released from prison because of the population in them. If this was legal drug charges would be minuscule compared to what some people have done. 

     Thank you for your time, its been a pleasure writing this paper to you. I hope you take this to consideration and take some time to look at it.    

Poets

Walt Whitman 

Walt Whitman was a poet and journalist born on May 31, 1819 in West Hills, Long Island, New York.  He was considered one of America's most influential poets. When he was just 17 years old he turned to teaching. His first job was in a one-room schoolhouse in Long Island. In 1841, Whitman set his sights on journalism. He started his own weekly paper called the Long-Islander, and later on he returned to New York City, where he continued his newspaper career. In 1855, Whitman took out a copy write on a addition of Leaves of Grass, which consisted of twelve untitled poems. He published a volume himself, sent a copy to Emerson. Whitman spent his years working on additions to new volume of poems.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born on February 27, 1807 in Portland Maine.  In 1820 he published his first poem in the Portland Gazette.  Throughout college he continued to write poems. He was considered as Americas most influential poet. He was also associated with Harvard University. His work was widely translated and published in other European languages: Italian, German and French. Walt Whitman and Edgar Allen Poe critiqued his work. Walt would accuse him for being an imitator of European work. He did praise because of his ability to keep his audience attention.

When you look at both of these poets you can see that they are pretty similar. They both were very smart and ended up in some sort of teaching. Walt was teaching by the time he was just 17 years old. Longfellow ended teaching at Harvard in his later years. They were also considered to be Americas best poets. They were inspiring to people in the way they wrote. Longfellow was respected by the way he could keep his audience entertained. They were both very good writers because Ralph Waldo Emerson supported them in their ways of writing. They both basically started their careers for their local newspapers. Whitman started his own newspaper articles and put his writings in their. Along with Longfellow he put his poems in the Portland Gazette. These writers are very similar with getting started. Longfellows writing is kinda different because his poems have been translated to many different countries. Both of these men are influences to today's poetry.

writing

When I was researching my topic at first I didn't feel as confident as I thought I would be. I had difficulty finding information to right about. As the time went on I started finding useful information to help me carry on with my essay. I think I found personal success when I typed my last word on my final sheet. It was a relief to just be done with the essay and to stop stressing over it. I felt like I put it off for awhile and then tried to cram it in, so i'm sure that's what led to all the stress. I do think all the pre-writing activity's were useful they, helped me understand the layout of an essay better. I got familiar with transitions and how to better my thesis statements. It made my writing a little easier it and helped me better my writing skills. I think the thing I want to change is not putting my essay off to the last second.  My peer editing experience was good. It gave me some great ideas on how to make my essay better. I learned some useful information from my classmates. The feedback I got for my paper was helpful. It showed me what I needed to work on and all my mistakes. I think the strengths of my paper is my information I gathered up. It took me awhile to get it all but I think it ended up pretty well. I need to focus more on expanding on the topic at hand. Some of my ideas are short and could be expanded.  

Influential

2)  When Krakauer wrote "no one was affected more powerfully by his or her brief contact with the boy than Ronald Franz."  The people that come to my mind when it talks about influencing is my mom and my grandpa. I wouldn't be the person who I am today if it weren't for them. Since my dad left when I was younger, my grandpa kinda took over the father role for me but I still treated him like my grandpa. They are always there for me no matter what, even if it is a sporting event, big moment in my life, or just a normal day problem I know that they will be there to help me. They have always influence me to do what I believe in and to not stop till i have reached whatever i'am going for. My mom influences me in a different way than my grandpa can and my grandpa can influence me in a different way. My mom is usually for everyday life and my grandpa can influence me sports and make me a better athlete. We all have those people that can make a positive impact in our life. 

Nature Surounds

     Nature surrounds us in many ways. We can describe it in many different aspects. Nature can have a full meaning of life and it is all around us. When I experienced nature for myself, I see many different aspects of it; I hear cars moving across the pavement at a steady rate. As the car drove by it gave a single honk, but no wave. I hear a birds faint chirp off in the distance to hard to tell what kind it is. I only heard it for a few minutes then it disappeared  I always wish I was a bird because of their ability to fly naturally. It always seems like a pleasure to be flying and experience everything from above. When I look up in the sky I see nothing but never ending blue. It seems like it could go on forever. The white clouds give it a nice compliment on this bright and beautiful day.

     As I'm laying here my eyes keep on wondering and all around be are bare trees. You can tell its a nice Autumn day. All the leaves are falling off and it leaves nothing for the trees, they are simply naked. The bright orange and yellow leaves cover the grass on the ground. Twigs and sticks lie upon the leaves covering almost every aspect of the ground. I hear rattling on the cement and I look over and leaves are rolling all over the ground making a smooth noise. Its almost too calm outside where I just want to lay down and enjoy the rest of my day and take a nap.

     Nature is all around us and you can see it in any way. You can relate your life to it and just connect with it. So I suggest everyone to go experience it every now and then and just enjoy your time out there.

Character Analysis

1. I view John as one of the protagonist throughout the story. He is brought up in every seen and has played a huge role in this story so far. People view him as someone they look up to cause he is that caring guy and shows it later on in the act. In this point in the story I view him as dynamic character. John has two personalities. He changes characters from act one to act 2. He went from this nice guy who seemed laid back to this aggressive trying to figure out something type of guy. I can also classify John as a round character. He has more than one facet to his personality. Him changing from act one to act two classifies him as that round character. John has a key role in the this act, and it seems like everything is coming down on him and he tires his best to get out of the situation.


2. John Proctors personal qualities consist of him being an aggressive man, but he has that caring side as well. Throughout act one John was a calm and nice guy but when it got to act two things started to change for John. At the beginning, Johns wife Elizabeth kept bringing up Johns incident with Abby. I believe this started his aggressive side, because he was trying to put it in the past but she kept bring it up and he got frustrated  with her. All the arguing and lying make their relationship a bit shaky. As the trials continued, more and more people started to get accused of witchcraft. One name that came up was Elizabeth Proctor. John was furious and appalled that his wife's name came up. He did everything in his power to keep Elizabeth safe. When Mr. Cheever arrived to pick up Elizabeth, Johns aggressive side started to kick in again. He was screaming and fighting them off. He couldn't do much more than that. He said he would rather die than have Elizabeth rot in jail. This shows Elizabeth that he actually cares about her and would do anything and everything for her. John still has that caring side after what all has happened in the first two acts. All the things leading up to the incident where Elizabeth got taken away motivate Johns qualities.


3. The type of external conflict that John faces is man v.s. society. This is when the character is facing societal norms. There is this big epidemic going on about witchcraft and anybody could get accused at anytime. Your friend of 10 years could turn you in if they have any suspicion against you. This is complicating Johns life because his wife was accused by Abigail Williams. At any moment someone could be taken away from you. He cant really do too much about this either because once you get accused your either going to jail or getting hanged. He puts a fight at the end of act two to try and get Elizabeth to stay. The type of internal conflict that he faces is man v.s. himself. He is in sort of a predicament, his wife has been taken and he needs to find away to help her and fend for his children. Along with this he lies to his wife about going to Salem and going to see Abigail. I believe he will find away to fend for his children, but helping Elizabeth is a different story.