Ajax in Modern Day

Ajax is one of the greatest warriors in the history of Greece. Ajax uses his strength rather than his brain. In The Hysterical History of The Trojan War, Ajax was very stupid and very strong. Ajax never thought, he just did the first thing that popped into his head and hoped for the best.

The Hulk and Ajax are very much the same in modern time. The Hulk is a very popular fictional character in modern day films. The hulk crushes everything he sees without even giving it a second thought or thinking about it. When The Hulk gets mad almost nothing can stop him.

He is also like The Hulk because they both prefer brawn over brains. Ajax will get really mad and start to fight just like the Hulk would. They can both be tricked easily when they aren’t paying attention. Their brawn can make up for their lack of intelligence most of the time, but sometimes they can get so mad they don’t think at all but instead just attack.

Life Isn't Always Fair

Authors Note: I recently read the book Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt. I really liked it and noticed many places where it mentions what life was like in the sixties. So for my text analysis essay, I decided to write it on how Ok For Now demonstrates how life was in the historical time period.

Life isn't always fair, especially for Doug Swieteck. It’s the sixties and Doug has to move away from his friends to some random neighborhood so his alcoholic dad can get a new lousy job and Doug can enjoy the rest of his terrible summer. In the 1960s, people dressed different, lived different, and different major events happened. Ok For Now by Gary D. Schmidt shows many examples of how the book stays true to the time period of the story.

First, Ok For Now mentions how people dressed different. On page 78 it says “My mother took off her hat and held it in her hands. She took off her gloves too.”. Nowadays people don't wear gloves and hats to occasions such as a school assembly which is what Doug and his mom attended. Many women wore hats and gloves in the 1960s for many occasions. This was one of many popular fashions in the 1960s.

Second, a very popular event happening in the 1960s was the Vietnam war. The Vietnam war was fought mainly between North and South Vietnam, and the USA. Doug’s oldest brother is out fighting in Vietnam, and who knows how much that’s changed him. On page 6 It says “Lucas is my oldest brother who stopped beating me up a year and a half ago when the United States Army drafted him to beat up Vietcong instead. He’s in Delta somewhere but we don't know any more than that because he isn't allowed to tell us and he doesn't write home much anyway.”. Many men were drafted into the army at the time for the Vietnam war and many moved to Canada to avoid the war.

In conclusion, Ok For Now by Gary D. Schmidt shows extravagant examples of how the book stays very true to the time period. Major events in the 1960s affected this story and the character as well as real people in the 1960s. Life isn't always fair, so when you’re feeling down it could be worse. Stay positive and look at the bright side.

Trojan Horse Response

In the Trojan horse, the Trojans and the Greeks had been fighting for 10 years. The conflict was the war between the Trojans and the Greeks. the Greeks left a huge wooden horse as a gift because the Greeks "left". The Horse was very sneaky because the gift was very sudden and sounded too good to be true making a hint towards foreshadowing. The horse turned out to be a distraction for the Greeks to seige the Trojans when they have their guard down. The conflict was resolved when the Greeks won the war. This tactic has not just been used in war but the concept of penetrating the "base" with a distraction so the victim lets down its guard can happen everywhere like the internet. I highly doubt this could happen at a school or small workplace since mostly everyone knows each other and it would be hard to come up with a practical version of that plan in that situation. I have yet to see this tactic used somewhere else

Ribbons Response

The shoes (mainly ribbons) represent hatred and evil to the grandmother because of the history of the ribbons back in China. To stay though, they represented what she loved most, dancing. These two point of views on ribbons clash and stacy and grandma soon realize each other's point of views. In China women bent their toes to look "pretty" the ribbons were used to cut off the blood flow to ease the pain. This may seem crazy but what about piercings and tattoos in America? People in America get piercings, tattoos, starve themselves to look "pretty" so is it really worth it? of course it isn't, when would piercing your body or getting a permanent tattoo ever seem beautiful? This happens everywhere because people are so desperate to fit in. Some people need to be like stacy's grandma and break away from what made you fit in. Some people should start eating full meals or get a laser removal, it may feel different at first but it also did for Stacy's grandma. In conclusion why would you injure yourself to be beautiful, real beauty is on the inside.

After You My Dear Alphonse Response

After You My Dear Alphonse by Shirley Jackson is a short story focusing on racism and naivete as a mother involuntarily starts to insult her sons black friend. I feel that this would almost never happen in Pewaukee since we live in a nice small community compared to milwaukee or another big city. This could happen easily in a place such as Chicago or Milwaukee since those cities are large and very diverse. Shirley Jackson s trying to teach us to never judge a book by its cover, or judge a person on their color. Racism needs to stop everywhere since the situation in After You My Dear Alphonse is unacceptable. I feel racism is low in America but high all around the world.

Need Help?

Authors Note: The Fourth Stall is one of my favorite books of all time. I noticed many hints of foreshadowing  in the very beginning of the book. It would make a great essay so I thought why not?

The book The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander  shows great examples of foreshadowing. A story about a student nicknamed Mac running a black market helping people out when they need it the most: test answers, gossip, even McDonalds for lunch. He is your go-to guy when you need some help. Chris Rylander  truly put together a masterpiece presenting foreshadowing, and I believe The Fourth Stall  demonstrates many examples.

Speaking of which, an early example of foreshadowing in The Fourth Stall is “It’s actually a pretty long story that is best left for later.” (Page 2) Foreshadowing is demonstrated in this phrase said by Mac. The phrase “left for later” is a hint since he is talking about the future. This makes the story interesting right away by demonstrating foreshadowing. This makes the mood and tone suspicious as if Mac was hiding something and also interesting since you want to know what the story is.

While the tone and mood is suspicious and interesting for a while a hint of foreshadowing is shown “Yeah, there may be a time when I need your help with something.” (Page 8) This demonstrates there will most likely be a conflict near the end of the story where Mac will need much help thus having friends and acquaintances help support in the conflict. This makes the tone reassuring in a way since the reader knows Mac will have people to fall back one while the mood becomes rather sad since there will probably be a conflict big enough where Mac will need a lot of help.

In conclusion, there are many examples of foreshadowing in The Fourth Stall . These foreshadowing examples are even shown within the first ten pages of the book. The Fourth Stall  makes the reader wonder what Mac will do next and what is going to be revealed later almost right away. While other books start off slow and take time to get into, The Fourth Stall is instantly a quick and interesting book to read.

Story vs. Film, A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

Author's Note: This is a comparison between the film and short story of A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, by Ernest Hemingway. I believe the film was much better since it can become more dramatic and stays exactly to the story.

In the film based on the short story A Clean, Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway enhances the story in my opinion. You can experience what you couldn't in a book. In the beginning, music plays with many sharps and flats giving it a creepy and sad tone then, the lack of music gives the story a more serious feel. You see the expressions of the waiters and old man's face.

Another reason why the film enhances the book is because the film stays exact to the book in every detail while adding more. The waiters say exactly what they say in the book, and do everything that happened in the book short story down to exact detail. You can see the loneliness of the older waiter while he is at the bar, and depressing music adds on to the effect to make everything more dramatic as he sits alone. In conclusion, I believe the film is much better than the story since the film adds on to the book.