Story Telling Time

Story telling. This is the earliest form of entertainment known to man kind. Since the very beginning of human existance on the planet, people have told stories and passed them down from generation to generation. Starting off as an oral tradition, in time they became permanent memories in the form of books and novels. Now fast forwarding into today's present time, stories have transformed into grand cinematic adventures, sucking the audience into thier world more so than ever before.

In the story of Forrest Gump, he see the tale of a simple man who leads a life that is anything but simple. He tells us his life story and we cannot help but fall in love with his endearing personality. "...the naivete that comes through a limited understanding of the world around him gives Forrest a uniquely positive perspective of life," (Berardinelli, Reelviews). Forrest having a bit of a mental handicap sees things slightly skewed. Forrest is by no means lieing to us when he describes a situation, but we know he's not telling us the whole story only because he cannot understand the full story. This blending of Forrest's truth vs. the truth that we all know is the driving perspective of the film. We see how Forrest is interperting the scene and then as we do it ourselves, we realize that he's not able to fully grasp the concept and we almost feel pity for him. But even if Forrest wasn't able to comprehend a situation in its entirety, he was able to see some things very clearly. "...like that moutain lake. It was so cool and clear, Jenny, it looked like there were two skies one on top of the other. And then in the dessert, when the sun comes up, I couldn't tell where heaven stopped and the earth began. It's so beautiful," (Forrest Gump)

However when speaking of stories that blend truth with fiction, one cannot go without mentioning Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried. In there we read the real stories of his days in the Vietnam war, and also the fake stories of his days in Vietnam. Sometimes he will let the audience know what is real and what isn't, but then he will contradict himself, leaving the reader in a factual confusion. "As a fiction writer, I do not write just about the world we live in, but I also write about the world we ought to live in, and could, which is a world of imagination." (O'Brien Writing Vietnam). This book was personally difficult for me to read because of O'Brien's constant contradiction of "real or not real." It was just a personal pet peeve not being able to tell what is fact or fiction and being lost in a vast confusion, even though that was the way O'Brien intended the memoir to be.



http://www.reelviews.net/movies/f/forrest.html

The Universal Teen

J.D. Salinger has created a character that will live on for years to come; Holden Caufield, a 16 year old boy who definitely has his teenage troubles galore! Houlden's destiny in life, set forth by Salinger, was to try to portray the universal teen; but has he fulfilled it? This is a point argued by many but never officially declared.
I believe that, though Houlden's character may be a bit extreme, he does represent the teenage population. He gets angry, depressed, happy, and sad all within the same day. Teenage stereotype ahoy! Many of us do go through lots of these mood swings so much so that we should all have whiplash! And one can unquestionably see that Houlden does feel the pain of those lashes. He is a mad and depressed boy who takes out his anger so often on anything that he could possibly rant about.
"You can't ever find a good place that's nice and peaceful, because there isn't any. You may think there is, but once you get there, when you're not looking somebody'll sneak up and write 'Fuck You' under your nose," (204). All the anger that Holden portrays does make him seem a little harder to relate too. Though Salinger does show Houlden's soft spot, his family. Houlden is deeply attached to his dead brother as well as his younger sister and would do anything for either of them. Making him seem vulnerable through this point gives him the well rounded character that the universal teen should posses. Without this element, the book and Houlden wouldn't seem real and his destiny of being the universal teen would never have been.

FIRST OF THE YEAR!! Mac and Biggie :P

In Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, he develops two extremely powerful characters. The first one we are introduced to is Big Nurse, the head nurse in an insane asylum. She is alpha on the floor and no one even dared to think to cross here. But this all changes once a new member, Mr. R.P. McMurphy enters into the ward. He is a big grizzly of a man who KNOWS he is numero uno. Throughout the entire book these two character struggle to have the most power in the hospital.
"That nurse ain't some kinda monster chicken, buddy, what she is is a ball cutter...people who try to make you weak so they can get you to toe the line and follow their rules..." (57).
Throughout ht majority of the book, I believe that McMurphy is the more powerful presence. He is the new cool kid on the block with an overwhelming presence. The other patients see his charisma and confidence and feed off it. They try to become more like him and to be friend him and trust to lose all trust in Big Nurse, leading to the self sign out of nearly all the acute patients at the end of the novel. "She couldn't rule with her old power like she used to anymore...She was losing her patients one after the other. Harding signed out and was picked up by his wife and George transferred to a different ward..."(269).
The attitude and persona McMurphy carries is all man. Big, strong, and powerful. He is not criticizing of the patients like how Big Nurse is. He encourages the men to play, gamble, and to strive for Independence. So though it was never his intended job, McMurphy is the more therapeutic for the men. The hospital's mission is to make the men feel like they are in normal society again, but they only feel this feeling once McMurphy comes in. He has them play games, takes them fishing, sneaks girls in during the night. What else is more real life than mischief!?
Though McMurphy won many battles, Big Nurse did win the war. After the girls were discovered in the ward, she sent McMurphy up for a lobotomy. He couldn't recover from this and in essence became a completely different unrecongnizable person.
"' That ain't him.'
'Nothing like him.'
'How stupid does she think we are?'
'Oh they done a pretty good job though. ...they got the broken nose and crazy scar-even the sideburns.'
'Sure they can do things like [that]...but they can't do that look. There's nothing in the face.'" (269).
Big Nurse had a mission to strip all the power from McMurphy, and she finally had.

The Endurance of Arthur

The legend and tales of King Arthur and his round table has been around for centuries past and present and without a doubt for the future as well. Readers absolutely love to take in the melodramatic fairy tale like Chronicles of the knights and their never ending journeys of pure adventure and excitement! The tales of King Arthur can be put on the same level as classic Disney stories such as Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast and Peter Pan for they have been around forever and every soul knows of them and their intrigue.
"' There is only one man living who can draw the sword from the stone, and he is the true-born King of Britain.'" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Malory p. 25). That line is the most remembered aspect of the legend of Arthur. Arthur was the one man chosen of out many to be the one that would rule the land and conquer over many others. The ideal of being in a position of such high power and being selected over so many others is something that all humans strive for; the elite-ness that King Arthur embodies is so desirable.
Power is not the only aspect that attracts the readers of the Arthurian tales. There is also the o so romantic and honorable side of the knights. The best example of this is probably from the tale of Sir Gawain and Lady Ragnell. Here Gawain makes a promise to marry an ugly grotesque woman in order to save Arthur's life. While he talked to his new bride she said that her ugliness was because of a curse her brother put on her and that it could only be broken by the honorable knight's wise choice. "'Gromer said that if, after i married the greatest knight in Britain, my husband freely gave me power of choice, the power to exercise my own free will, the wicked enchantment would be broken forever!'" (24).
Another part of the romance aspect that keeps the Legend alive is the passionate love triangle between Gwenivere, King Arthur, and his most trusted Knight Sir Lancelot. Though Arthur was warned that Gwen and Lance were destined to fall in love he wanted to marry her anyway. Lance and Gwen's love remanded a secret for some time but they were soon discovered. The Movie, "First Knight" directed by Jerry Zucker goes into a in depth view of the affair stirring up floods of emotions. "' I trusted you, loved you, and you betrayed me!' 'I never meant to hurt you my lord.' 'You leave me nothing! Nothing!'" (First Knight).
We as the audience feed of the drama that not only those three create, but what all the characters in the epic story craft together through their own battles and struggles. The people just cannot get enough of the trauma that happens for one simple reason; its interesting! Its not everyday stuff and something new for us to wrap our minds around. And that is why this amazing legend will never seize to exist!

King Arthur Readings Sum Up

I have been quite enjoying the readings of the medieval times and King Arthur. When I was younger I was really into this era and "The Mists of Avalon" was one of my favorite movies (which was set in this period), but since then it has died out a bit.
I do agree with you that it seems like alot of these stories are soap opera! With there never ending dramas and love sagas, especially with the incestual affairs, you would think you were watching "Days of our Lives"! Like in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight when we find the Lady of the manor trying to seduce Sr Gawain!
"And so she tested him, pushed and probed, trying to tempt him, pretending love, and Gawain was so gracefully evasive tat he seemed always polite, and nothing happened but happiness" (154-1554)
My favorite story so far has been "Sir Gawain and Lady Ragnell". In this story Gawain was a truly noble night all in order to save his uncle, King Arthur. He went through with a wedding to what was at first a hideously large woman with the utmost respect and dignity. When you asked in class what did women wish for the most i was sure it was going to be love, but then when Ragnell said sovereignty I knew that that definitely beat love. Because even though a woman may love her husband, she can always resent him for not being to do what she wants to do. Sir Gawain definitely gave Lady Ragnell all that and more! Letting her choose how she would spend her time as beautiful was the true key in letting her be rid of the horrible curse forever, which i thought was quite the surprise reading it; for I could tell that she would end up being beautiful by the start of the story, but the answer to the question and the surprise secret loop whole in the curse was a real shocker to me.

Post 4, Beowulfs hunger fo fame

I believe that Beowulf is selfish to an extent with his desires. But when you think about it, wouldn't you be too if you had to do the things he did?
"And a young prince must be prudent like that,giving freely while his father lives so that afterwards in age when fighting starts steadfast companions will stand by himand hold the line. Behaviour that’s admired is the path to power among people everywhere." (20-25)
Killing thousands of people and creatures and traveling though such horrid lands is so taxing and demanding.
"they looked down at the lake...watched the waves' blood-stained swirling..." (1422-1425)
"the kind that infest the ocean, in the early Dawn, often ending some ship's joureny with their wild jaws." (1428-1430)
I know if I was in his position I would want some recognition for it too! He does these acts not only for himself but also for the person asking for is help. He doesnt want to let them down so he trys his best to get the job done and if he just so happens to reack some extra benefits from it, so be it!

Correct Cover

I think that the second cover with the red/orange background and with what seems to be Ben perched on a landing and an adult opening up windows in front and below him. I believe that this cover best represents Lessing's novel, The 5th Child, because its color scheme gives off a feel of frustration and chaos that was felt throughout the book during Ben's life. The darkness of the silhouette the artist gave Ben extenuates the dark regions of Ben's brain and personality and how only he truly knows whats going on inside of there. The pose that the artist put Ben in also visually describes his animalistic qualities that Lessing constantly eluded to in the novel.
"Ben began banging a stone against a metal tray...with all his force...but the women waited until Ben stopped: interrupted, he would have raged and hissed and spat."(Lessing, 69).
The total reaction I get from this cover is a creepy, dangerous feel from how the dark, shadow-y Ben is placed behind the other figure, so unknowingly there, like he is about to attack. Even the subtleties like how you see individual fingers on his hands is almost claw-like, giving chills down my spine.