The Quest.

"The quest consists of five things: (a) a quester, (b) a place to go, (c) a stated reason to go there, (d) challenges and trials en route, and (e) a real reason to go there."-- How to Read Literature Like a Professer by Thomas C. Foster

Stand by Me

1.) Our quester(s): A group of four adventurous 12/13 year old boys-- Gordie, the narrator, being the most intelligent and sheltered of the group; Chris, the "tough guy" with a rough home life; Teddy, the boy with an INSANE home life (literally, his mentally ill father once held Teddy's ear to a stove); and Vern, the chubby kid who finds himself at the butt of every joke.

2.) A place to go: Where the corpse of a missing boy, Ray Brower, mentioned on the radio lays. Vern knows the location, because he overheard his older brother and his friends talking about how they have seen the dead body.

3.) A stated reason to go: The four boys hope to bring the body back in hopes of getting credit for finding it. Not to mention the simplicity of the mere desire to see a dead body.

4.) Challenges and trials: First and foremost, no one brought any food on this on-foot journey, so the boys had to put their money together in order to buy something that will at least tide them over. A junk yard dog chased them, Gordie and Vern had a near death experience involving a train and a bridge, leeches attacked the boys when they were cutting through water. Lest I forget the emotional breakdown/breakthrough every character experiences OR the climatic encounter with the "big kids" Eyeball and Ace.

5.) The real reason go: To make lasting memories with friends, to discover themselves while simultaneously learning more about their friends, and to overcome fears. Overall, it was a major bonding experience for Gordie and Chris.

Great Gatsby Analysis.

Fitzgerald's criticism with an undertone of regret symbolizes how we corrupted America.

When the reader first reads the passage, he will associate the color green with "the new world" that "had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of human dreams," but after the narrator mentions Gatsby, the reader associates the color green with an "orgastic future." "Gatsby believed in the green light."Fitzgerald means that America-- not to be mistaken with humanity as a whole -- has corrupted the American dream with sex. The world that "flowered once for Dutch sailors' eyes" had now "made way for Gatsby's house."

Fitzgerald also criticizes humanity as a whole, not only America in the last few lines. Humanity believes that "to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther" when really, we are only getting our hopes up for a change. Though humanity lies in desperation for change, we only "beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." No matter how hard we strive for change, the current (people who want to go the other way) will always be stronger.

Overall, Fitzgerald, through his critical tone, tells the reader that we, as Americans and humanity have corrupted the American dream and no matter how hard we try to change that, we will not be able to.

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Apple lures people in with "thinner," "smaller," and "faster." Forget your piece of crap iPad 1 and drop $700-$800 more on this super awesome advancement that will only be a piece of crap next year when iPad 3 comes out EVEN thinner! (http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apple) Though I cannot argue that Apple has some snazzy computers, I can safely say that the company feeds our consumer society, because Apple updates us with something even better looking than the previous product. That's probably why Microsoft cannot sell Zunes. It's sad how some people with the new iPad 2 will actually look down upon the iPad 1 owners. Not even the smartest "techies" can escape consumerism.

Quote on Consumerism

"In a consumer society, there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy."--Ivan Illich (1926-2002)

Frightening images project in my mind when I read this. The prisoner of addiction is already in a greedy haze but is still loading a syringe with money and wastes it away through his veins; he wishes he could stop all of the lavish spending. The prisoner of envy is wild-eyed and starving for possessions; he craves what the prisoner of addiction has. In reality, outside of my creepy little mind, these prisoners exist. The prisoner of addiction buys everything that appeals to him, simply because he has the money to do that. He tries to find joy in it, but that is impossible. He wants more. He sees what other people have and wants it, too. Wait, that sounds like a prisoner of envy as well! Perhaps people uncontrollably enter a cycle that starts with envy, then goes to addiction, then goes back to envy and so on.

Books I Have Read

I read 4 books, the equivalent of 6 books.

• Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne- 232 pages (counts as 2 books, because of the INTENSE diction)
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky- 224 pages
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson- 206 pages
• Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway by Cherie Currie- 328 pages

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is not the everyday novel-- it's a epistolary novel, meaning that the book is in letter format. I don't find the novel to be the every day epistolary novel either, because the reader does not know the identity of the sender nor the receiver, even though the sender of the letters refers to himself as "Charlie." Through these letters, the reader sees scenes in Charlie's life which include drugs, sex, abuse, homosexuality, suicide, introversion, and just plain awkwardness. Some of those scenes do not involve Charlie directly, but as an observant and thoughtful wall flower, he sees all. The novel is based in Charlie's freshman year in high school, 1991-1992. His friend committed suicide the school year prior to that, causing Charlie to start high school as an outcast. He remains friendless until he meets Patrick and Sam, seniors who are step-brother and step-sister, who then befriend him and shows him a side of the world he has never seen before-- parties. Charlie quickly develops feelings for Sam, often referring to her as the most beautiful person in the world. On the flip-side of the party-life, Charlie is a very deep thinker and quite intelligent. His English teacher gives him extra assignments and becomes somewhat of a mentor for Charlie, often telling him to "participate." His writing style noticeably improves throughout the novel. I find the character to be very relate-able, because I too am a wallflower.

Scarlet Letter Journal (1)

The founders of a new colony have two immediate necessities for the new land-- a cemetery and a prison. Though the prison was already "gloomy", the "weather stains" and "rust" on the door's iron spikes "darkened" the structure even more; it was as if the prison had "never known a youthful era." Even the lot in front of the the prison was unpleasant-looking and "overgrown with...unsightly vegetation." One one side of the grotesque prison door lies an out-of-place, yet beautiful wild rose bush "covered...with delicate gems which might...offer their fragrance and fragile beauty" to the new prisoners and the prisoners off to execution. Obviously, the rose symbolizes a "moral blossom that...relieve[s] the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow." Therefore, this chapter alone tells tells the story of The Scarlet Letter.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Modern Library Classics, 2000.

"Nothing Gold Can Stay"

Although I do not disagree with her point of view, this is not quite S.E. Hinton's interpretation of "Nothing Gold Can Stay," and if you would care for her view on it, read The Outsiders if you have not already.

Robert Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay" only has eight simple lines to it, but happens to be one of my favorite poems of all time. He paints a clear image of a golden sunrise and nature blooming it's first green, but replaces that with a gray picture of Eden sinking to grief. Robert Frost rarely wrote about nature and only nature. This poem is a parallel to happiness.

Happiness is a beautiful emotion that I never take for granted. It gives me a warm fluttery feeling in my heart that spreads through my chest and builds a smile across my face-- a feeling that is "gold." Unfortunately, this feeling of sweet ecstasy never lasts. It is the"hardest hue to hold." Soon enough, my smile fades and the feeling in my heart coldly diminishes. "Dawn goes down to day."

"Letdowns" are everywhere in life. We all come across tons of them a day. Somehow, no matter how dark it gets, we hang in there. Perhaps it's the hope of a new-found happiness that helps us hold on a little longer. Maybe if we cling to that hope for a new dawn a little tighter, we can make that "gold" stay a little longer.