The ALIS Doctor Is In!
Please post your introduction and thesis statement here. Don't get too attached to it--we shall tear it apart tomorrow in class (gently and constructively).
posted by Kristin L | 6:47 PM
About Me
- Name: Kristin L
My favorite place in the world to be is underwater. My second favorite place is the front of a classroom.
- The Village
- The Devil in the Forest
- A Dark Scenario
- Individual Villainy
- Steady Hands
- The Mysterious Unknown
- Venture Capitalists vs. Native Americans
- Controlling the Past
- Will the real Pocahontas please stand up?
- The Yellow Wallpaper
17 Comments:
Irving Wallace wrote, “To be one's self, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity.” Often societies lapse into the simplicity of conventionality, losing sight of the problems this often causes. Certain individuals can get past this obstacle and stand up for their own views, changing their lives and the lives of others. Ayn Rand’s Anthem and Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle criticize the failures of conformist communities and in turn emphasize the importance of independent views on society.
In life people don’t always stand up for what they believe in or what they think is right. The society in Anthem is one where the group of people in control has convinced the other people that they are worthless and they have taken complete control of these peoples lives. Because of that there is no love in the society and when love is found it causes the characters to realize that they are free to be who ever they want to be. At the end of Something Wicked This Way Comes a similar situation arises and Charles Halloway realizes that he can not let his son and his son’s friend be controlled and put in the dangerous situations by the owners of the carnival, even if he is risking his life, he loves them too much to let them get hurt. In Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes and Ayn Rand’s Anthem the main characters are controlled by an outside power and also have some self inflicted issues, but it doesn’t hold them back from overcoming that power and letting love and happiness overcome destroy the force controlling them.
"People think at the end of the day that a man is the only answer [to fulfillment]. Actually a job is better for me (Princess Diana)”. Women for centuries have been degraded and portrayed as dependent on men. Feminists such as authors Barbara Kingsolver and Anne Tyler have aided in the breakdown of this stereotype by using strong and successful women in their writing. Taylor from The Bean Trees leaves her hometown to start a new life on her own and discovers she did not have to depend on others to become happy and successful. Muriel from The Accidental Tourist must support her son and herself without assistance; however, gets through her tough times and finds herself proud of who she is. With thanks to these feminists women can be perceived as strong, content people, able to succeed on their own, and contribute to others. Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees and Anne Tyler’s The Accidental Tourist illustrate thriving, content women fully capable of independence, and helping others to feel as satisfied.
question: are we supposed to post just our thesis statements or are we supposed to post our entire intro?
When one thinks of an alien, they think of E.T or a cheesy late night television show trying to publicize the horrors of alien abductions. No one thinks of creatures that create beautiful, ancient cities that would be any archaeologist’s playground. No one imagines creatures wiser in matters of life and death and time than our own species of man. No one envisions that perhaps aliens are more civil than humans. No one imagines extra terrestrial beings as our superiors, except famous authors Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut. In both The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury, and Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, humans, should they demonstrate their flaws by war or fallacious ideas, have a flawed view of life, death, morality, superiority, and the world they all share.
To answer Sarah's question: Please post your entire introductory paragraph. Thanks!
What would you do if you were trapped in an orthodox religion, where your life is constantly watched by your peers, and you want nothing else but to leave? Chaim Potok’s “The Chosen” And Barbara Kingsolver’s “The Bean Trees,” show how when people are oppressed they can eventually realize how change can be obtained, after creating life altering friendships. Both of these books bring out every emotion from anger, to awe and continually surprise the reader; but in "the Chosen," as Danny and Reuven continually strive to keep their friendship alive, a new found sense of the need for companionship is discovered. Just the same in “The Bean Trees,” where Lou Ann finds Taylor’s friendship an eye opening experience, and changes her life more than she could have ever expected.
ok thanks!!
The human mind is a weak entity. It is easily manipulated to another's will and gives into desires without struggle. In "The Haunting of Hill House," a novel by Shirley Jackson, the main character is easily overridden by the house in which the story is set. The house in which the main character, Eleanor, stays, slowly eases its way into Eleanor's mind, turning her to insanity. In "The Shining," a novel by Stephen King, the main character, Jack Torrance, is slowly manipulated towards insanity by a hotel that he is caretaking. The hotel slowly gains control of Jack and uses his body as a manifestation of itself in order to maintain its power and attain its ultimate goals. In both stories, the main characters are easily manipulated by buildings with powerful and corrupt pasts. Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" and Stephen King's "The Shining" reveal how a building may attain the control of a human's mind by taking advantage of weak minded people and eventually gaining a personality through its past corruptions; however, the building's evil personality is the result of purely human evils.
Our parents raise us to become independent individuals who can rely on ourselves for help. Imagine what it would be like if you were so timid that you had to depend on others at all times even to make simple decisions for you. Maya Angelou in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, and the women from The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan are strongly dependent on others because of the expectations of society of women and gender dominance, yet through trials and tribulations, they learn that the only person they can rely on and trust is themselves.
Society is indifferent to anyone who is different, persecuting and even killing them. In The Martian Chronicles the people of Earth are trying to inhabit mars. The Martian who encounter the humans either think that thee humans are insane they just kill them because they are not ready to accept that there is life on other planets. In Slaughterhouse Five the main character, Billy Pilgrim, is captured by aliens from Tralfamador who call themselves Tralfamadorians. They teach him about time travel and show him how to do it. When he comes back to Earth he tells people about it and nobody believes him because they don't want to believe in aliens or time travel because it would change their whole lives. Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles and Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five both display society's reluctance to accept changes in their stable environment.
“All my life I had to fight. I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my brothers. I had to fight my cousins and my uncles. A girl child ain’t safe in a family of men” (Walker 40). Sophia tells Celie that she has to stick up for herself, and that she doesn’t need a man to control her and make her successful. Celie knows that she has to fight to break away from the abuse of her husband, but she doesn’t know how she can do that. She has been taught that a woman is defined by the man she marry’s, and that is all she knows. In the same way, Taylor in The Bean Trees breaks away from all the people that are trying to confine her. She knows that in order to be successful, she has to get out of the small town she is in, and she will fight for what she knows is right. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver and The Color Purple by Alice Walker show the struggles of women to get out of the control of others, even when there has to be sacrifices, hardships, and things to learn.
“Every hotel has its ghosts”(King). In Shirley Jackson’s, The Haunting of Hill House and Stephen King’s, The Shining, the struggle of man against himself plays a large part in the unwinding of the plot. In The Haunting of Hill House, the main character, Eleanor Vance struggles to fit in with the other guests at the supposedly haunted, Hill House. However, in the end the house seems to claim her as its own deeming her unique and ultimatly chosen. In The Shining, the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, Jack Torrance seems to be singled out by the unusual inhabitants of the hotel. Moreover, Eleanor and Jack seem to be driven mad; however, the “supernatural” is not always to blame. Some can argue that only man can drive himself insane. Both The Haunting of Hill House and The Shining display man’s inward struggle, which, in the end can lead to his ultimate demise.
Most people have those little things that bother them, their “pet peeves”. Many come from child hood, little things that would happen occasionally, or even all the time that grew to be old and annoying. The people you love most can have the most annoying habits, and you swear never to do them yourself. Why do people decide to become different than their parents? This issue arises in both The Chosen, by Chaim Potok and The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan. In both of these books, however, the children do not grow up and decide to become different from their parents because of their habits, but because of their culture and difference from the American Way. In The Chosen by Chaim Potok and The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, the younger generation deviates from their parent’s teachings and traditions passed on through silence and stories to embrace the American lifestyle and thus creating their own American identity.
In Tim O'Briens books The Things They Carried, and Going After Cacciatto, O'Brien relays his opinion that human nature controls ones mind and conscience.
The search for ones identity is often a lifelong journey. The idea of an identity search is something every person struggles with. There are many things that shape you as a person and make you who you are today. People discover who they are through hard times, good times, and every day scenarios and in very unexpected ways. This is especially true in the novel, The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, and Breakfast at Tiffany’s, by Truman Capote. These novels illustrate a self discovery and a strive for independence in ways never expected. These experiences come from adopting children or sitting on the balcony singing with friends. Through these experiences and everyday life, the characters grow and develop with the help of friends and family. The women in the novels, The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver and Breakfast at Tiffany’s, by Truman Capote show the compelling journey of women striving for independence and self discovery.
you guys are very lucky to have Ms. Kakos as your teacher for American lit and during the ALIS project. trust me on this one!
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