May 6, 2015
 “Richard Cory,” and, “The Unknown Citizen,” are both powerful poems that through masks of elegant appearance and a, “perfect record,” challenge the importance of appearance compared to reality. Robinson’s poem features the powerful, graceful, emperor-like Cory, who kills himself even though he has money, high social rank, and disarming good looks. Similarly, Auden’s poem features a government official reading the eulogy of a citizen that appeared to do no wrong, but whose happiness and joy was unknown to the government. The death of the two characters challenges the importance of appearance through characterization, ability to assert themselves, and level of success.
 The characterization of Richard Cory and The Unknown Citizen, featuring the citizen’s adoration of Cory and the fake happiness associated with, “The Unknown Citizen,” challenge the importance of appearance. For example, Robinson writes that all of the, “people on the pavement looked at him: He was a gentleman from sole to crown clean favored, and imperially slim,” when Cory is in their presence. What the green-with-envy commoners don’t know is that despite Cory’s finances that make him,”richer than a King,” he is lonely, depressed, and craving company. Similarly, Auden uses the bureaucrat to characterize, “JS/07/M/378,” as a perfect citizen just because he had no criminal records and, “didn’t think any strange thoughts.” This challenges the importance of appearance because the Unknown Citizen is uncreative, robotic, and a slave to his own government. Also, the Unknown Citizen is marked as, “in everything he did he served the Greater Community.” Because of serving in the War and worrying about the strict rules that the government set to follow, he is considered a, “modern day saint,” which compares the government to a religion because the citizen follows it so well. Thus, both poems characterize the men as perfect, when they are really troubled and slaves to society and the government.
 “Richard Cory,” and, “The Unknown Citizen,” both challenge the appearance against reality through the character’s ability to assert themselves. In, “Richard Cory,” Richard, “fluttered pulses when he said, ‘Good morning,’ and glittered when he walked,” meaning that Cory is soft-spoken and careful with words and actions. This challenges the importance of appearance because usually someone soft-spoken would not participate in self-harm, and Cory killed himself. Thus, Cory had problems deeper than the ocean and darker than the bullet that went through his head. Cory hid all of his feelings instead of asserting himself and telling friends how he really felt, instead of continuing his ebb-and-flow perfection. Since Cory had wealth and possessions, he appeared to be happy, even though he was depressed. Robinson also gives the example of Cory’s wealth, “And he was rich-yes, richer than a King, and admirably schooled in every grace”. Since Cory does not assert himself, he is judged solely off his mannerisms, which leads to everyone thinking Cory is perfect, but Cory himself is suicidal. Similarly, in, “The Unknown Citizen,” the citizen becomes uniform to society and the government instead of living a fun, creative, unique life. For example, when described by the bureaucrat, “ Was he happy? Was he free? The question is absurd: had anything been wrong, we certainly would have heard.” This proves that the citizen was average, regular, obedient, and never did anything to make himself stand out. Though he had five children and huge potential, he did nothing to leave a legacy for his children, only a number for everything he ever did for the, “Greater Community.” Like Cory, the citizen is judged off statistics and materials, not feelings. Therefore, the importance of appearance challenges reality.
 Finally, appearance is challenged in both poems through the characters’ level of success. Since Cory is, “richer than a King,” the townspeople can’t understand how he could live a life that opposed the, royal, god-like, unrealistic example that he showed in town. Based on success, townspeople, “wanted that we were in his place,” instead of realizing their own talents and attributes. Cory’s success makes the story more interesting, and adds mystery to the sudden tragedy. However, the Unknown Citizen’s success is marginal, average, and stoic which challenges the appearance that he is a perfect citizen or a, “modern day saint,” which is stated by the bureaucrat. Since the citizen’s success is marginal, he does not compare to Cory’s demise.         

Overall, both poems challenge the importance of appearance with the common lesson of don’t trust in appearance, and stand out from others. They also share that appearance does not equal reality, such as when Cory is valued highly in the community as a gentleman only to kill himself. Because of Cory’s success and the citizen’s hyped up perfection, their suicide and uneventful life destroys the importance of appearance.

January 16, 2015

Cell Phone Effects

 

Middle-aged-All-American-father Jim Brown pulls slowly to the sleepy town’s lone stoplight. Squealing delight in the back seat are his lovable twin daughters. Crash! Brown’s neck snaps forward like a whip as the Bugatti Brown worked his whole life for is obliterated. The cause of three deaths that night was a texting driver. Although modern day cell phones are a giant leap forward in technology, they pose many dangers to one’s selfish desires. The effects of cell phones are they make learning and communicating easier,but can also harm one’s life with all the power the pocket-sized computers possess.

Unlike older cell phones, new, popular, and expensive phones have many more forms than just texting and calling. For example, I recently received a new Iphone 5C after two years of a traditional, unbreakable, recognizable shiny red slide phone. On my older phone, I could communicate with friends only through blandly boring text messages and the occasional phone call to a relative. I now have many more tools in my communication arsenal, including popular, free apps like Snapchat and Kik. These apps, found on all smartphones and even computers, affect many teenagers and even adult lives, having over 100 million active users per month, according to expanded ramblings.com. The key to Snapchat’s success providing a fun, easy way for friends to have simple conversations, just by sending a creative picture of themselves and adding a caption. Likewise, cell phones also affect lives by enabling the user to call and text someone from anywhere in the country. For example, Michael’s grandma lives across the country, and not getting to see her but every couple of years, Michael convinced his beloved relative to get a cell phone so they can remain in contact every day. Now, instead of taking an hour to write a letter, all the reminiscent-twelve-year-old has to do is take a short phone call to hear the kind, wise, and soft voice of a loved one. Cell phones affect people by giving them easier ways to communicate with friends and loved ones.

Although cell phones can be very beneficial, there are also many dangers of using such a high-tech device. For example, John needs to listen in his Spanish class in order to pass the upcoming quiz, but he is too busy trying to shoot down evil pigs on Angry Birds. Now, instead of taking detailed notes on infinitive verbs and knowing what to study, John doesn’t have any notes at all, and is very confused come quiz time. Similarly, one can research anything online, without any boundaries. Just like anything in the world, the internet is corrupted by dark, evil messages that can scare anyone who happens to wander across them. Even in perfectly appropriate magazines online, there are many pop-up ads that range from satanic-cult-following to horribly sexual explicit content. Since many children even in the fourth grade to have cell phones, the disgusting possibility of one seeing these ads are very high. Cell phones enable the many distracting opportunities to take focus off what is truly important, such as grades, also presenting the opportunity for inappropriate content to be seen.

Although cell phones offer countless benefits to make communicating easier, they have to be dealt with responsibly. Unlike the drunk driver who killed Jim, it is important for one to be responsible with a cell phone. If used correctly, cell phones affect lives only positively.

April 24, 2015

 

You might think I’m just

a fifteen-year-old boy

with dirty blonde hair and ocean-like eyes

But I know I am more

way more than that

not a roller coaster or a summer day

not an essay writing machine

A blooming flower

in the late seasons

Covered from sight or sound

not expressing beauty

or freely waving in the breeze

When I hold back instead of letting it go

I’m frozen

Not blossoming, learning, or growing into my full potential

But when I bloom

petals inviting warmth

feeling, touching, renewing

Inner beauty puts a smile on faces

when I open my heart I grow

spreading joy for a moment

a gift from the earth

Sometimes it’s weeks, days, or years for seasons to pass

these seasons fluctuate like East Texas weather

the flower opens and grows

opens and grows

then returns to the state of lazy, dark, rest

The blonde-haired, blue-eyed teenager

through days of homework, sports, and family

changing every season

a happy, depressed, heart-warming flower all in one day

 

March 21, 2015

 

Most Helpful Critical Review

When our class read Stevenson’s Victorian-era mystery, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the tale of two men proved to be a great read. Although making a movie to follow such a classic is a daunting task, the director did a fair job of recreating the magic that made this book an instant classic.

Negatives:

– John Utterson is not mentioned in the entire movie. Despite being a main character and narrator in the book, the director decides not to worry about Utterson’s narration of events, but rather focus in on Jekyll and Hyde. This wouldn’t be a problem if the book wasn’t read, but since I have, I was wondering which character was Utterson during the movie instead of keying in on the plot.

–  Jekyll turning into Hyde towards the beginning of the movie tears away the suspense in the plot. Hearing the phrase, “He’s just like Jekyll and Hyde,” I knew that Mr. Hyde was going to be evil and probably murder, lie, and steal. Even though the unfortunately early revelation is disappointing, the movie is not at all spoiled.

– The death of Dr. Jekyll could’ve been much better it was really the most disappointing scene in the entire movie. Of course, Mr. Hyde had to be put to a stop, but the closing scene and interaction with Jekyll, Lanyon, and Poole felt very rushed by the director. The denial from Jekyll after the hunt seems anti-climactic as well as almost humorous. After such a complex and mind-warping movie, the ending was much too simple.

Positives:

– The romance between both Hyde and Ivy and Jekyll and Beatrice depict the difference of personalities between Jekyll and Hyde. For example, Jekyll is engaged to the polite, elegant, proud daughter of a member of parliament, while Hyde forces love from a show-girl who lives on the naughty side of town. These relationships depict Jekyll as a man of grace and stature, while showing Hyde as a man of secrecy and disgusting tastes.

– Sir Danvers Carew goes from a random victim in the book to a character of magnitude in the movie. The director showed great skill by using Carew as the father of Jekyll’s fiancee. Carew represents the high standards set and followed by Jekyll, only to show Hyde, ultimate evil, destroying all rules and boundaries with his cane.

– The movie does a great job of showing interaction between Jekyll’s new ideas and the established members of the community. For example, when Jekyll gives reasons for thinking a potion could separate good and evil, the dinner table of aristocrats explode on him, saying that his ideas are blasphemous and think Jekyll must be joking. These interactions prove that Jekyll’s experiments differ greatly from the Victorian-age culture.

Overall:

– This is definitely a great movie to watch if you like suspense and complexity in movies. If not, this movie will still provide entertainment with a unique storyline.