Frank is his FRIEND

On the list of the top ten existentialist films, there in lies Donnie Darko. The story of a lost and confused teenage boy diagnosed insane. The debate now is whether or not this movie actually represents the ideas within existentialism. I have to say that the existentialist ideals were poorly portrayed in the film. The existentialist ideals embody free choice and free will, while in the film, Donnie Darko was forced to follow his fate by the concept of time travel and pre determined fates (the weird looking bubble things that he follows around). Other concepts of existentialism include that there is no meaning in life other than what we determine, and that people create the overall meaning of their lives through their own actions.

This seems to be contradictory considering the entire movie is centered around Donnie's predetermined fate. His life is shaped by his relationship with Frank. The first example of Franks influence on Donnie's life is his first interaction with Frank, when the plane engine crushes Donnie's room, but Frank saves him, by telling him to follow him out of the house.

When Donnie travels back in time at the very end of the film, he knows that not following Frank will kill him, and spare him all of his suffering, so he chooses to suffer his fate. Many would vouch for Donnie Darko when it comes to existentialist films, however I would have to disagree.

donnie darko

The novel The Plague by Albert Camus shows how the meaning of existentialism can be reflected with a boring town, a lot of bland people and of course a plague. The habits the habitants of Oran fall into show how people do things without consciously thinking. I guess that makes sense, but wouldn’t that just leave room to think about other things while doing another task. But then the plague comes and they continue with their daily life until they are forced to change. Rieux is one character that looks at the situation with logic, which makes sense, so I like him the best. Instead of trying to relate how God is responsible like Paneloux, he has to tell himself that the death of a child was due to the plague and improper protection from the sickness. He’s kinda like Donnie in that sense too. And lady death is creepy.

Donnie Darko and Rieux

Although Donnie Darko and The Plague are stories separated by nearly fifty years, the existentialist view does come through in both. In both, death is the every looming factor that the characters struggle against. It is the inevitable end that none of the characters are willing to accept. From Donnie to Rieux, everyone is trying their best to escape the fate that seems to be handed to them, simply by not believing that it has to do with fate. This is where much of the existentialism comes out, as the characters work to make things in their lives happen rather than sit back and watch. There is no God, there is no predestination. There is only a person and the decisions he or she makes daily that moves the world forward. Rieux will not accept that people are inevitably dammed for their sins, working endlessly to save as many as he can, while Donnie will not settle for allowing the people he cares about to be killed. Donnie has the extraordinary chance to see what is to come before the life changing decision must be made, a luxury Rieux is never given, which may have to do with the gap in time between the writing of the two stories, but the basic line of their lives is very similar. Creating their own meaning, they value life, and will do everything they can to stop it from being doomed to death.

Donnie Darko

Simply put, existentialism could not have been more perfectly displayed with the evolving and devolving story of Donnie Darko. The story builds with the choices of Donnie makes. This is special only because a subconscious potential future (if that makes sense) leads him through a winding road of choices. This is really what existentialism is all about. To some it may appear that Donnie has experienced mental corruption, but to him, he is breaking his natural tendencies and seeing where it leads. I think this movie talks about the potential of existentialism and how the choices you make can alter your own existence and the existence of others around you. Instead of Donnie simply dying, he experiences where his life would have gone had he not gotten crushed.

Donnie and Cottard

I would like to blog on the similarities of Donnie and Cottard. I would like to point out that both of these men thrive in situations that most people would collapse in. Donnie thrives through his insanity. During his insanity he developes a meaning ful relationship, exposes a famous sleezball for what he really is and ultimately decides to travel back in time to save multiple lives. Cottard also thrives in not so normal circumstances. During the time of the plauge Cottard starts to thrive, he starts to make a profit and enjoy his life. I think the link between these two men is the fact that they do more then survive their time of trial, the thrive in it. thrive.

Plague

Throughout the book the Plague, I continue to be infatuated with the character Tarrou. I feel that there is much mystery to his character and his experiences. His obsession with the death penalty is intriguing, although I feel that the background on his father should be more in depth. The plot of this section is a little confusing to me, but it is interesting that Tarrou feels that death is in his hands and that he is almost at fault. Raymond Rambert on the other hand projects as a more comedic character for me. I feel it's almost comical that he cannot escape the town. Yes, it's sad that he is separate from his wife, but everyone else is in the same boat. There is no reason that he should have special privileges. In love or not, that's just the way it is. It would be too much of a threat to the town for him to leave. Regardless, I think he is sneaky enough to get away. I'm interested to see the approach that him and Gonzales come up with. In conclusion, I don't necessarily enjoy reading this book. I feel that it is repetitive and slow. There's not much context or new plot events, it's just the same events over and over again. Maybe that is a metaphoric throw on the novel, suggesting that the plague is just a slow painful process. It repeats itself through its prevalence and continues.

Donnie Darko vs. The Plague

Existentialism circles around the concept that existence precedes essence. Basically, some form of deity or higher being isn't in control of your life and happenings, but you are. You are in control of giving your life meaning and setting its course. Donnie Darko is an existentialist film in that Donnie isn't happy with the way his life is going (consistent re-occurences of his "friend" Frank, the death of his girlfriend etc..) so he sets out to change it. Apart from this he begins to question the happenings of daily life: why am I doing this? Who am I doing it for? According to existentialism, you are supposed to find your own meaning in life. Donnie discovers that life in suburbia isn't fulfilling his "purpose." Similarly in Albert Camus' The Plague, Rieux and the townspeople of Oran learn that in order to avoid their seemingly pre-destined plan (dying of the plague) they must take matters into their own hands (sanitation squads etc..) and at least try to fight the grim outcome.

Dannie Darko

Dannie Darko could or couldn’t be considered existentialist depending on how you look at it. It could be existentialist because Dannie decided what he was going to do all the way through the film. When he first met Frank he chose to get out of bed and follow the voice out side. Every time Dannie did what Frank said to do he chose to fallow Frank. At the end Dannie chose to kill Frank and to stay in bed and die from the jet. You could also say that it isn’t existentialist because Frank telling Dannie what to do Dannie had no choice. The only thing that Dannie decided was at the end to die. There are different ways of looking at it and what you think depends on what you believe. If you believe that you always have a choice even if some els is influencing you or not then Dannie Darko is existentialist. if you don’t believe you always have a choice then it wouldn’t be existentialist.

Donnie Darko and The Plague

For this I am thinking of writing about the way in which Donnie Darko and the Plague are related in the respect that both have quite a sense impending doom and destruction. The main difference is that in The Plague, the entire community of Oran faces the disease and has to deal with the looming sense of doom whereas in Donnie Darko, it is only Donnie that knows that he has to dieor the world will end. I think contrasting these two things could be interesting. The topic of choice in these two stories is also interesting in that they both are defined by lack of choice. In The Plague, Oran is quarantined and the people do not the choice to leave. In Donnie Darko, Donnie is stuck in the predicament he is in not because he chooses it, but it just happens, and in the end, the fate of the the universe is defined by choice.

Donnnie Darko... Bom Bom Bom What to Write?

In this blog we will be connecting the teenage movie Donnie Darko and the intelligence of our class book The Plague. I think that the main connection between the two is the idea of making choices. Through out the whole book the idea that Camus is trying to portray, is a persons choices shape who they are as a person. No choice is wrong or write but turns into good or bad. A person is like a blank slate, and the choices these people make are the paint added to the white canvas of who you are. This relates to Donnie Darko because of the choices he is able to make with his ability to time travel. The first choice he makes is to leave his house and follow frank into a inner psychotic break where in turn he loses every one he cares about. But then in the end of the movie he changes his choice and makes the decision to let himself die in order to save every one else. Neither of these choices were wrong or right but it lead to different out comes which lead to in turn two totally different Donnie's, one that went crazy and had every one die around him and then one that sacrificed himself for the sake of every one who died around him. This also plays into the idea that death shapes life, the reason he had to make these two choices in the first place was because of the fact that people where dying and he wanted to stop it. I do think that the ideas of Camus and the movie Donnie Darko correlate very well. So when Carter complains to you just tell him that we are learning how to connect things and that we can now do it successfully. I enjoyed the movie and it makes the essential ideas that much clearer.

On the list of the top ten existentialist films, there in lies Donnie Darko. The story of a lost and confused teenage boy diagnosed insane. The debate now is whether or not this movie actually represents the ideas within existentialism. I have to say that the existentialist ideals were poorly portrayed in the film. The existentialist ideals embody free choice and free will, while in the film, Donnie Darko was forced to follow his fate by the concept of time travel and pre determined fates (the weird looking bubble things that he follows around). Other concepts of existentialism include that there is no meaning in life other than what we determine, and that people create the overall meaning of their lives through their own actions.

This seems to be contradictory considering the entire movie is centered around Donnie's predetermined fate. His life is shaped by his relationship with Frank. One example of this is his first interaction with Frank, when he leaves his bed to follow Frank, and the plane's engine comes crashing into Donnie's room when he is gone, destroying his room. Although many would vouch for Donnie Darko when it comes to existentialist films, i would have to disagree.

Everything has a price

The main similarity I see between Donnie Darko and the themes of existentialism is the power and importance of choice. Basically the movie takes us through a series of choices that determine Donnie's safety and sanity more or less. By the choices he makes, to listen to Frank, and to do what he says, Donnie is determining his future; he is applying meaning to his life. Both the movie and ext. basically defy the concept of fate. This is shown with ext.'s believing that there is no purpose or point to existence beyond what each individual assigns to their own life with the choices they make. Basically, nothing is predetermined except that we will die. This theme is pretty evident in Darko, with the whole premise of the movie being that Donnie can go back in time, to choose to let himself die, rather than those he loves. The choice to die, after he learns about his situation, is where the entire anxiety and schizo-ness of the movie come from. The choice is what makes the difference.

Donnie Danko

As far as this film goes, I don't think it follows the existentialism belief that existence precedes essence, in fact I think this film displays the opposite. I find it difficult to really relate Donnie Darko to The Plague because the story lines are so dramatically different. The Plague deals with a mass extermination of people, which involves a strong will to do what the people can to survive(which demonstrates the existential beliefs); whereas Donnie Darko displays more of an out-of-body intertwining of time. Donnie Darko completely contradicts the existential belief, what I mean by this is that the theme of this film is more essence precedes existence. Donnie's existence almost means nothing but his essence is caught in a weird time warp that I found to be slightly confusing. This movie concludes by showing us how meaningless Donnie's existence is by showing what would have happend if he had never left his bed that night and died in the plane accident. I don't know exactly where I am going with this, other than the fact that I am trying to say I couldn't really find the connection between the three pieces: Donnie Darko, The Plague and Existentialism.

Freedom

Albert Camus' novel The Plague has a real overlaying theme of freedom and how it can be removed. When the plague strikes Oran, it's citizens become cut off from the rest of the world, stuck within the cities walls. However, you also realize that the citizens are never really free being stuck within their same old lives. It's not until a calamity happens that the people realize that they are really confined into one place. This idea of "freedom" throughout the novel is actually quite ironic. When free, the people really are not free. And when their freedom is actually taken away, people start to complain even though their lives before the epidemic were plagued with the rituals of every day life repeating endlessly. Now for Donnie Darko, freedom could be an idea applied to it. Donald may be totally insane with creepy and imaginary friend, but Frank is the main source of Donald's freedom. By telling him to do these things, Don is free to do whatever he wants. It's this freedom that shapes the entire movie and it's events. His mental freedom allows him to interact with the thoughts in his head and even travel in time. In the end of the film, Donnie goes back to when this freedom didn't exist. Avast! Instead of following his free mind away to safety, he dies just like that. I feel that these two freedoms, mental and physical, totally relate between the novel and the film. Donnie's mental freedom is like the citizens freedom before the plague. In both situations, their lives were being lived the ways they wanted. The people of Oran's lives may have been lame and dull, but they still had this freedom to do whatever they want. Donnie works in the same way. No one stops him (not like they could), and the events that unfold are almost like routine for him. Now when that freedom is taken away, things get bad. Donnie dies, the people of Oran go crazy and sad. Or I'm full of shit, either or.

D.D.

I thought this movie was very interesting, but the fact that we watched it in a three day duration made it a little bit more difficult to understand. I thought that it was interesting that Grandma death had so much to do with everything that went on in the book. At first I didn't understand what was going on in the movie. I thought it was kind of frustrating how he went back in time by himself but I think it would have been cool if his girlfriend went back in time with him so he could experience all of his madness with someone else. I didn't really understand the whole bubble coming out of his chest thing, I wouldn't really know what to do with myself if that happened to me but I think that Donnie's situation was frightening and I wouldn't really know how to deal with myself if that happened to me.

Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko should not be under a existentialist because it does not follow those rules. In Existentialism, the person is his own ruler. They chose their fate through their actions. The only time Donnie Darko chooses his fate is the ultimate one, when he chooses his friends' lives over his own. This is the part that makes me extremely mad because I believe that he chooses the wrong choice. If I knew what was going to happen, I would choose to help the people I love, not decide to kill myself. He believes that he has to make that choice because of Frank, but Frank is only existent because he kill shim at the end, but if he chooses to not Kill Frank, then ultimately he will not have Frank in his life at all. This movie does not agree that Donnie has a choice, he is restricted by his future actions.

Donnie Darko + The Plague

The movie Donnie Darko and the book The Plague are related by all of the destruction that goes down. In Donnie Darko, the plane jet comes crashing down onto the house. Also Donnie’s life just comes crashing down throughout the whole movie. In the book the Plague, the entire population of the town Oran goes through the disease and then has to deal with all the deaths that happen; almost about half of the population if this town dies off because of the plague. The difference between the movie and the book is that only Donnie goes through such destruction and then in the book the whole town has to deal with all the massive destruction.

Me Talk Pretty One Day

Me Talk Pretty One Day, written by David Sedaris, is a delightful, outrageously funny, and enjoyable memoir about the everyday stories that make up Sedaris’ life. While this is a work of non-fiction, it reads much more like a novel; something in which I greatly appreciated, not being a huge non-fiction fan myself. Sedaris’ memoir is a semi-chronological, disjointed story of his life, broken up into separate vignettes depicting specific instances, events, or periods within his life. There are several “over-arching” themes that one could pick out and justify, however, for the most part, each vignette should be taken independently, as its own story, with its own mini-message.
Sedaris tells stories ranging from tales of his childhood speech therapist, his quest to become an artist, his family’s bad luck with pets, to large turds he’s encountered in random toilets and his run-in with a couple of ignorant and clueless tourists. Each story he tells, no matter the subject matter, whether already funny in nature, or of a more serious subject matter, is absolutely uproariously funny. Sedaris could document the day in the life of an ant, and I would die of laughter; side-splitting, laugh-out-loud laughter. He has a true gift for not just storytelling, but telling a story in a really clever and unique way, a way you may never have thought to tell a story. He uses plays on words and rearranges meanings to turn things on their head and explore them in a very cool and entertaining way. One passage in the book discusses his amusing antics with his grade-school speech therapist, Sedaris writes, the sign on the door read, “Speech Therapy Lab, though a more appropriate marker would have read Future Homosexuals of America. We knocked ourselves out trying to fit in but were ultimately betrayed by our tongues…were they also able to spot the future drunks and depressives.” As depicted in the former passage, David Sedaris is homosexual, and that topic is one that often comes up within his “story” in many interesting, subtle, and again, very humorous ways. “’You need to believe you’re playing an actual woman,’ he’d say. ‘Just grab her, [guitar] by the neck and make her holler.’ Mr. Mancini had a singular talent for making me uncomfortable. He forced me to consider things I’d rather not think about—the sex of my guitar, for instance. If I actually wanted to put my hands on a woman, would that automatically mean I could play? On the off chance that sexual desire was all it took, I steered clear of Lisa’s instrument [flute], fearing I might be labeled a prodigy.” Above are just a couple of the endless passages that have left me reeling on the floor with glee.
I most definitely, without a doubt would recommend this book. David Sedaris not only wrote a fabulous work or art, but the fact that it is all true, makes it that much more impressive. I normally think of the non-fiction genre as somewhat dry and non-engaging. However, this book combated that opinion of mine on every level. He truly put everything out there and on the line for this book, revealing every little detail of his life and thought within his psyche. Sedaris has lived a clearly very entertaining and roller-coaster-like life providing him with much subject matter on which to dish. His attitude is so refreshing, a kind of hit-and-miss approach to life and to his work. We all need his attitude, along with a, “Fuck-It Bucket—a plastic pail filled with jawbreakers and bite-sized candy bars (‘when shit brings you down, just say ‘fuck it,’ and eat yourself some motherfucking candy’).” Ah, David Sedaris, you simply kill me.

Hitler's Willing Executioners

Hitler’s Willing Executioners By Daniel Jonah Goldhagen

Daniel Jonah Goldhagen starts this book with reflections on his opinion, the theme of his book, and the structure of his book. If you cannot finish the first 25 pages, set it down. This opening shows his tone and voice of his writing, it’s an indicator of your ability to bare the rest of the book. The question that Goldhagen tries to answer is how were the Germans able to participate in genocide, which becomes the theme throughout the book. Each section of the book brings another aspect of the war against the Jewish culture and each chapter brings a new aspect of that section. Each page comes back to this theme. Each page of this 454 page book relates to how that certain person was able to participate in the genocide of Jews, without this theme, the book would have no purpose than to let the author vent. The only difference between Hitler’s Willing Executioners and a history book is Goldhagen’s opinions on the neutral facts that can be interpreted in many different ways.

The theme of Hitler’s Willing Executioners is what made a German man become part of a police battalion that lines up children to kill; or become part of the SS that commands the rest of army; or become a neighbor that reports the community’s Jewish family to the Gestapo? Goldhagen does a good job in sticking to this underlying structure, which ends up driving his words. He uses different people’s lives to illuminate his theme. For example he goes into great detail of the police battalion 101. By the end of this section the reader has become a part of the battalion. The theme is strong through out the book and never loses its strength.

Daniel Goldhagen’s voice and tone in the book is very frustrating because of its arrogance. He makes it apparent that it’s his way or the highway. Every chapter begins why other people are wrong, then it goes into his opinion, and ends with why he is right. He also is a hypocritical writer. He begins his book with these long philosophical reasoning on why as a reader, our obligation is to only agree with ideas that are backed-up by strong evidence and facts. However, he seldom uses this rule and when he does, he uses facts that can be interpreted in many different ways.

This book is not far from a history book in that it has no feeling, just strong opinions that are based off of neutral facts. Daniel Jonah Goldhagen takes a topic that many people are interested in and makes it more boring than reading Chemistry. Goldhagen rips this period in time so much that it becomes monotonous to read. Daniel Jonah Goldhagen is a hypocritical writer that presumes that he is never wrong and the reader must agree with him because of the facts that he lists after each idea. However, these so called ‘facts’ are nothing more than mere ideas and numbers that can be used in any opinion. Hitler’s Willing Executioners is a poor way to waste time. The book is infuriating with its many observations with no true backing. The only interesting parts of his book are the quotes that he thrusts into his text.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Native Americans have become a rare sight in today’s modern society. Their spiritual beliefs and ways of life have been demolished ever since the invasion of the white man. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee composed by Dee Brown is an Indian history of the American west. From the Navajo to the Sioux, this book explains and details the hardships and utter destruction that the Indian tribes of America endured due to the white mans fear and wrath.

No story in this book ends well. Instead of just reading it, the reader is supposed to comprehend the stories from a standpoint of a Native American as if the events were happening to you and your loved ones. With this point of view, the reader quickly becomes touched and angered by the history of Western expansion. As Natives in the east had been forced west of the Mississippi, they were promised those lands as their own where the white man would not interfere with their lives anymore. Assimilating into the tribes of the west, Native Americans believed the white mans promise and lived in peace.

Right off the bat, the story begins with the Navajos and immediately sheds light upon the cruelties and absurdness of what was done to them. Having already fought with the Spanish for centuries, the Navajos felt they were prepared to deal with the Americans coming west. Soon, American soldiers began appearing and creating forts across the Navajo lands of the south-west. With their livestock roaming freely on the unfenced land, Navajo herds entered the pastures where the soldiers livestock had been, and were all eliminated. To get the livestock back, Navajos started to steal the soldier’s livestock. This led the Army to begin attacking bands of Navajo’s. From there it was all downhill. Attacking forts and failing, the Navajo had fled but had been marked from killing. The soldiers were ordered to hunt down all the Navajo’s. Then the massacres began. Soldier’s pillaged and wiped out entire innocent villages. This is only one story in the book, with many others like it. All of which end up in large scale extermination.

This is a book that really appalls and makes you hate your countries history. The voices of Indians had never truly been heard. With lack records composed by the Natives, the majority of their history had been passed down through spoken word, generation from generation. Treaties between the white man and Indians also gave a little insight on their history and beliefs. Dee Brown did his best by compiling news articles, treaties, and stories from victims or relatives of those involved in the atrocities to create a great work or writing that affects our hearts in such a magnificent way. It wasn’t until 1971 that these historical events were brought together and to the attention of the American public. Being such an incredible and touching book, it easily became a best seller and is considered the most important contribution to American history.

As most would say it was how the West was won, it was really how the West was lost. The stories in this book seem almost fictitious because of the utter power and pain it holds within its pages that one would not want to believe true. All of the events will make one feel a deep sympathy for the Indians and their unreasonable destruction. Every tribe has a story, and all of them make the reader hate America more and more. From the first few conflicts to the final massacre at Wounded Knee Creek, these stories touch the reader in ways most books cannot.

This history of Native American in the West is one of great power and influence. It changes readers, and has shined the light upon what should be considered the darkest part of American history. The Indians had experienced a short but brutal annihilation, and those that survived the white mans wrath have been left with deep emotional scars that will affect their heritage for decades to come.

Deep Economy By Bill McKibben

The United States of America—actually the entire world—is trudging through the most significant economic and environmental crisis in history. Now, instinctively, we’re all trying to solve for an answer as to why, but multiple solutions seem to be fogging the action needed to be taken to get us out of this mud puddle. Bill McKibben, in his book Deep Economy describes his own reasons on how we got into this sticky situation and what we might be able to do to get out. McKibben evaluates this international depression by focusing on a few key aspects of life in the world, in main comparison to the USA. These features of life are in large: consumerism and production, and community and locality.

The main idea that has brought us rather far in our poor economic and environmental standards is that “more is better.” For some reason, we humans can never be satisfied; we are constantly putting all of our energy into purchasing the next, new car model or wearing the latest jean vest. This phenomenon seems to appear particularly in the United States. But wherever it may be, it has to stop, or at least slow down. Our daily lives being filled with whatever we “want” whenever we want is not helping our markets, nature, or happiness. The more we buy, sure, the more it feeds into the economy, but the consequences of that purchase considering the resources needed to produce and transport us, just sets us back. The demand for production increases immensely, and pressure on our planet is piled on. Every time a new product or building is developed, the care that we need to take of the Earth is simply not being met; it’s not a

problem if we keep driving around, emitting CO2 emissions into the air, if we don’t see it. And finally, as McKibben states “…new research from many quarters has started to show that even when growth does make us wealthier, the greater wealth no longer makes us happier.” (page 2) Why is this though? It’s because it’s more or better, not more and better.

As a considerate solution however, McKibben focuses on the concept of community. If we look around today, we can see that our society has become highly individualistic. We work to gain for ourselves. We want our own success. We do what we want to do. We plan our lives on our own schedules. We make whatever we want to make. All in all, we have just lost the thought of helping others, as well as ourselves. This is where the idea of buying locally comes in. Buying locally just may be one of the best things for the world’s situation right now. Purchasing local energy, resources, products, and especially food is hugely important. Paying that extra $0.60 or whatever it may be for a local tomato to come from the area in which you live in, you are helping the economy more than if you were to get that in the supermarket. Getting it from a local farmer, you are supporting his or her income even more than that other farmer in Brazil, because there is no middleman involved in the exchange. The local farmer gets the full profit, and not just $0.08 of it like the industrial farmer. The rest of your money is then put into paying large corporations to transport, advertise, and take control of other unfair agricultural negotiations. Luckily, the idea of community is reinventing itself in the world. In approximation, the number of CSAs (Community Shared Agriculture – contracts between local inhabitants and local farmers having weekly boxes filled with fresh, local produce in exchange for a reasonable price and/or labor) has risen to over 1,

500 (2007) and the number of farmers markets has shot up to way over 3,700 (2004). So there’s hope, it just needs to gain a little bit more speed.

Bill McKibben states the facts in his book Deep Economy. His writing allows the reader to dive into the page and examples, without realizing the time passing by. Each problem and solution is carefully thought out, and listed with concrete examples of evidence. Through his experiences at his own home and traveling all over the world, McKibben brings the grand concept of the economic and environmental crisis down to a personal level, showing the audience that this is something that truly does relate to all of us. Also, in spite of the horrific statistics and instances happening right now on our planet, McKibben tries his best to stay positive, but without making it sound like everything will just be okay if no one does anything, thus leaving the reader (hopefully) to take action! This book reminded me of why it is important that we consume less and act locally as well as globally. I recommend it to anyone and everyone, because in a sense, we all need to be brainwashed by McKibben’s values in order for our future to survive.

The Outliers

In the year 1984, a young man named Malcolm Gladwell graduated at the University of Toronto, he then moved on to the United States of America to become a journalist. In the past couple of years this young man has came out with three very popular books such as Outliers: “The Story of Success.” In this book he mentions many stories about successful people and how they were in the right place at the right time.

To start off Gladwell mentions all of these hockey players who get an advantage at becoming professional because of their birthdays. Gladwell mentioned that “success in hockey is based on individual merit- and both of those words are important.” He means that players are judged on their performance and talent, not their team’s performance. Gladwell uncovers the remarkable secrets about professional hockey and tells us all. In this section of the book he shows us that more than half of the players, in all of the Canadian teams in 2007, have birthdays in the beginning of the year, starting with January to March. The scouts for Canadian hockey teams consider all of these men over the others not because they just like thoes months, but because thewse men are older. Gladwell also mentions “yes, hockey players who make it to the professional level are more talented than you or me. But they also got big head start, an opportunity that they neither deserved nor earned.” For example lets take Scott Watsen, he is in the professional leagues. He played on a hockey team in Canada and took his team all the way to the Memorial Cup Championship. Watsen’s was born on January 4, which is the perfect day for a hockey player to have his birthday. Gladwell suggested that if his birthday were later into the year he probably would not have gone professional. I mean not all hockey players born in January will become professional but all the ones with talent will.

Billy Joy, at age 16, became one of the many “gawky” students who pass through Computer Science programs in college. Joy came to the University of Michigan the year they got computer science into their majors. After he graduated he got a job with his professor and programmed many things over the summer. Joy then enrolled himself at Berkeley, California; he then majored in computer software. Then after that he found a job at UNIX, which was successful computer software developed by AT&T. Joy’s software was so good that it became the operating system for a million of computers around the entire world. Billy Joy’s story has been told many times, and the same message comes out every time. Success doesn’t come from who your parents or you grandparents are, it doesn’t come from how much money you family has. Success comes from you talent and where you are at the time. If Billy had not gone to Berkeley he would have never created this program. Also if he didn’t decide to take the summer job withy his professor he would have never again created this brilliant software.

Outliers by Malcom Gladwell is an excellent book about the most successful people in the world, and how they became successful by being in the right place at the right time. These two stories I summarized are about people being in the right place at the right time. For example the first story was about the Canadian Hockey League. 90% of these men have birthdays from January to March. Canadian scouts do this because all if these men have had a head start. They all have the best talent and are all-older then the other men born in any moth after March. Along with hockey Gladwell also mentions that many soccer league scouts do the exact same thing. They choose all of the men born in January to March. This roster shown in the book shows that 16 out of 21 people are born in the beginning of the year. But the rest are all in April or May.

Half Broke Horses-Jeannette Walls

Half Broke Horses, a True-Life Novel by Jeannette Walls

Half Broke Horses opens to Lily Casey Smith and a horrifying flashflood ravaging their Texas homestead. At the age of ten she was resourceful enough to shimmy herself and her two younger siblings up a tree to wait out the flood. The story of Jeanette Wall's grandmother continues in this fashion; creative, heart wrenching and compelling stories passed down directly from Lily Smith and skillfully retold by Jeannette in this first person narrative.
The story takes the reader through the complete life of Lily Casey Smith, starting at childhood in the early 1900's, through marriage, jobs, starting a family and even the birth of her granddaughter. Each chapter brings entertaining stories that showcase Lily's hardened and adventurous spirit. We watch as she learns to break "half broke horses" at the age of six, rides 500 miles for her first teaching job at 15, moves to Chicago for some time, and then heads back to her home in the West. The reader is amazed to see her drive as she fights personal battles as well as her physical strength and determination as she learns to drive a car, and even fly a plane. We laugh as she fools the police to keep her part-time job selling bootlegged liquor from beneath her baby daughter's crib and impresses local ranchers with her horse skills.
Jeannette takes time to describe the western landscape with beautiful and honest details. The ranch's, deserts, and canyons come to life through vivid descriptions of Lily's adventures. A scene that particularly stuck with me was when Lily and her daughter Rosemary head down to the Havasupai canyon to interact with the Native tribe. After having been there, hearing the descriptions of the waterfalls and red rock walls before it turned into a campsite and tourist attraction was captivating. Here an emotional scene occurs that depicts Rosemary's wild, rebellious side and also shows one of the less attractive, yet honest, side of Lily.
While the book did a incredible job explaining the setting and the adventures that the main character went through, what was most amazing about the book is that way Jeannette was able to flawlessly become this character of her grandmother. After finishing her first memoir, The Glass Castle, Jeannette wanted to write another book, this time about her mother. However, her mother convinced her that the real story was to be found in the story of her mother, Jeanette's grandmother. So even though Lily Casey Smith died when Jeannette was only eight years old, through the many oral stories that she had heard, she began weaving stories into a full tale of her grandmother's life. Every piece was not there, so she took the liberty to fill in the gaps with her own details, but overall the novel gave a very true account of her grandmother's life. The way she was able to take on the strong character of her grandmother and change her voice so drastically from her own voice in The Glass Castle is truly a mark of a great writer.
I would recommend this book for anyone, especially those interested in the time period of the expansion and the frontier. Yet the book, called the "Little House on the Prairie for adults", is more interesting than just the events and time period. For anyone looking to get into the mind of one of the most interesting characters I have ever seen develop throughout the pages of a book, this novel is a must read.

Under the Banner of Heaven

Celine Wright

1/10/11

AP Comp

Under the Banner of Heaven

By Jon Krakauer

It’s the fastest growing religion in the country. U.S. News and Report recorded that if the growth continued at this rate, by 2080 there would be 265 million members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon church). Still, Mormonism isn’t usually held in the highest of regards. Few know its history, but the fundamentalist sect and its ties to polygamy, still remain the dark cloud over Mormonism’s general image.

Jon Krakauer’s book seeks to examine the history of Mormonism, and in doing so, reveals striking realities about its fundamentalist branch. The first thing Krakauer does, is root his reader in a story. In the summer of 1984, Ron and Dan Lafferty murdered their brother Allen’s wife and infant daughter. The murders were results of a revelation they received from god telling them to do so. It’s a recurrent theme: revelations from “god” inspiring bold, often completely delusional men to take action because of guidance.

An ethereal light awakened Joseph Smith in his bedroom in 1823, when he was only 17. The angel called himself Moroni and was there to tell Smith about an ancient text written on gold plates that were buried 1400 years earlier. He unburied the plates (the location would later become the sacred Mormon landmark the Hill Cumorah). Smith’s translation of the plates later became The Book of Mormon.

The Hill Cumorah is most easily likened to Mecca and the Kaaba, in a sense: The holiest of holy places in the two religions, respectively. The annual Hill Cumorah Pageant is a hollywood-ized version of a religious festival, complete with light shows, special effects and thousands of cheap plastic chairs. “Families sprawl on blankets alongside the edge of a meadow, eating fried chicken and Jell-O salad from plastic coolers,” (65) as it, says in the book.

It’s apparent that the Mormon religion is cast in an exceedingly negative light. Not only is it apparently the destined “white trash” religion of America, but also is filled with crimes of a completely insane nature. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Perhaps the most interesting part of the book is when Krakauer delves deep into places like Colorado City where polygamy is rampant. Tales of pedophilia, girls being forced to marry men as much as forty years older, being raped and getting pregnant all because the “prophet” has been told by god to arrange the marriage. Krakauer recounts the story of fourteen year-old Elizabeth Smart who was abducted by Brian David Mitchell, an ex-communicated Mormon fundamentalist. Dan Lafferty just happened to follow the story and surmise (before it was proven true) that Mitchell was a fundamentalist Mormon.

Is being a fundamentalist Mormon so visible? I mean, is the sect of the religion really so screwed up that one can distinguish the behavior of the other? People have likened the plight of fundamentalist Mormons to the Taliban and the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Actually written on the tails of 9/11, in a sort of round-a-bout way Under the Banner of Heaven can kind of help us answer questions about the basis of fundamentalism and what moves these people to commit such crimes.

The book flips between current anecdotes, to the historical sub-plot. The Mormon journey across the country, eventually ending up in the land of Deseret (Salt Lake City). The rule of Brigham Young, successor to Joseph Smith, and the subsequent massacres that resulted from consistent opposition by the so-called “gentiles.” Polygamy has long been banned by the Mormon church, but with media representation through television shows (Big Love, Sister Wives, etc..) it’s often hard to distinguish between a fundamentalist Mormon and a normal Mormon.

The book is a compelling read, especially in the beginning with the horrifying accounts of polygamy and the inner-workings of Colorado City, and the like. However, by the end, I was thoroughly fed up by the historical component. Part of me thinks that Krakauer needed to insert more of his own personal opinion. It is a work of modern journalism, but it reads like an empty shell. Sure the material is relevant to the time period, but why is it relevant to me, as a person?

In Cold Blood; The Breakthrough

Xanthe Demas

In Cold Blood Book Report

January 10, 2011

AP Language and Composition

The realistic and appealing tale by Truman Capote, In Cold Blood, reflects the tremors and terrors that Capote himself experienced as a result of his own moral and intellectual struggles as a homosexual, and a struggling writer in the mid 1900’s. The book, set in a small town in Kansas attempts to relate the best it can to a real life situation. The Clutter family serves as a perfect vessel for Capote to represent these bizarre and deranged events in the world right to us.

Throughout In Cold Blood, Capote explores the senseless, and seeks an explanation for a terrible event that seems to have none. The book opens with a description of Holcomb Kansas, the small town that the plot of the book surrounds. Holcomb is a small, antique town where everyone knows everyone, and “nothing ever really happens.” The Clutters, a well-known, church going, good-hearted family is found brutally, bizarrely, murdered on November 15^th 1959. The town is baffled, along with the police and investigators considering there were barely and clues or motives to the murders.

However, as the reader you are briefed on both sides of the story. The chapters alternate perspectives between the Clutter family members, such as the daughter Nancy, Mr. Clutter, and the son Keyon. The Clutter family, although successful and popular, was lacking support from a mother. Mrs. Clutter was declared insane, and never really left her own bedroom. After being enthralled by a short clip of the Clutter family, Capote shifts to the perspective of the two murderers, Dick and Perry. Capote also includes perspectives from Nancy Clutters boyfriend, the Chief of Police, and the English Teacher at the local high school. However, the murders are by no means the climax of the book. The murders are the justification for the rest of the book. After the murders took place, In Cold Blood continues to chase Dick and Perry around the country, following them as they plot their gruesome murder of the Clutter family.

Truman Capote’s style of writing forced this bizarre situation into every nook and cranny of your imagination. The descriptions and style of Capote’s writings were a huge breakthrough in author’s styles all over the world. His descriptive, peculiar style of non fiction writing opened the doors for many authors to write in the style that many books today are written in. The altering perspectives of In Cold Blood mirror those of many works of writing that are published today. Capote’s book not only introduced this new contemporary style of writing, but a new subject as well. In, In Cold Blood Capote develops this bizarre, extraordinary story, with such great detail and imagination, that you can’t help but turn the page.

Capote’s overall theme of the struggle, and the eccentric happenings of life is very well represented throughout In Cold Blood. Capote recognizes the hardships of life in all areas, and represents it through the bizarre happenings of the Clutter murder. The colorful descriptions of everything little detail throughout In Cold Blood allowed the writing in the 20^th century to take a huge turn.