Mon project du Francais

Il était une fois une mauvaise reine. Elle avait une fille, un grand château et beaucoup des servantes. Elle était très moche mais elle voulait a était très belle.  La fille de la reine est très belle et la reine était jalouse de sa fille, et, pour était certain elle était plus belle que sa fille. 

Un jour, la mère de la petite fille a vu á sa lanterné magique. Tous les jours, elle parlait vers sa lanterné-

“Lanterne Magique, Lanterne Magique, Qui était la plus belle dans la terre?”

“Ta fille était la plus belles dans la terre.”

La mère était furieuse. Elle a appelé pour son servante. Elle a dit à son servante son quête et a envoyé l’homme.  Elle a dit à son servante à trouver sa fille et à prendre son cœur.  Le servante est partie du château et a marché dans la forêt.  Dans la forêt, le servante a hurlé pour la princesse.

“Anne Matire, Anne Martire, où es-tu?”

Ce n’était pas une réponse.  Pendant deux semaines le servant cherchait, mais un jour il a décidé de quitter et de retourner au château.

Le servant est retourné au château de la reine et il est allé à la salle du trône.  La reine était en colère que son servante n’a pas pris sa fille.  Elle a décidé d’aller trouver sa fille toute seule.  Pendant trois semaines, la reine a cherché pour sa fille.  La reine avait faim et soif et fatiguée.  Elle perdait son espoir mais elle n’était pas finie. Pendant un jour plus, la reine a cherché et elle a entendu un bruit dans un arbuste.  Elle a suivi le bruit jusqu’à  ce qu’elle a trouvé un petit oiseau sur la terre.  Elle a ramassé l’animal et l’a tenu pendant pour cinq minutes et elle avait un changer à cœur. 

 La beauté de la planète est trouvée dans la personnalité de ses habitants.  La reine a porté l’oiseau à son château et a décidé d’être une belle personne à l’intérieur.  D’abord la reine voulait trouver sa fille.  Elle a envoyé une grande équipe à la chercher.   Bientôt ils ont trouvé la fille.  La reine a devenue une belle personne á l’intérieur et á l’extérieur et tout le monde habitait heureusement toujours.

                                                                                            

Innocent Love

Author's Note- This is a Point of View analysis of Francesca in the novel The Bridges of Madison County. Technically this story is written from a third person POV so writing this was a little difficult but I wrote about how Francesca cannot see the flaws of her lover because, of course, she is in love. I tried to expose those flaws like the story would have, had it been written from the villagers point of view. The author talks a lot about how small towns have a lot of gossip, and I honestly do not in live in that small a town, therefore I don't exactly know what small town gossip is. I tried my best to write pout what I think it would be like but I could be totally wrong. 

 

What would it be like to be in love? Many of us, myself included, are much to young to know that feeling for ourselves, all I have to go on are cheesy scenes from The Notebook, which I have been told are pretty unrealistic.  Francesca Johnson is in love, she has been for the last twenty-four years, and she can honestly say that her experience was a far cry from The Notebook.  Her lover, Robert Kincaid left in 1965 after four days with the woman of his dreams.  He never looked back. He said he loved her. He said he remembered her.  He sent her one letter. He quit his job and disconnected his phone number. He left her alone. That is an confession that she will take to the grave.

This story mostly reflects the point of view of Francesca Johnson, an elderly widow longing for her lost lover to come home. After twenty-four years she still loves him and he has all but forgotten her. I think that since Francesca is in love, she cannot see the character flaws of her boyfriend. This compromises the way that the reader interprets the story because then they just assume that Robert is perfect and Richard was a mean old man. Really, I think that this story might have been just the opposite. Richard Johnson, I think, is actually a very nice man who is talked about by his wife as a boring old cranky puss. Robert on the other hand, strikes me as very deceptive and cunning however innocent he may seem.  He has almost no manners, I can tell when he expresses almost no reluctance to accept Francesca's insistence to put her own image at risk.  Robert expresses an incredibly little amount of gratitude towards Francesca and not until the fourth or fifth day does he bring up that fact that she is married. What kind of man does that? The worst part, though, is that Francesca notices none of his flaws. She is completely ignorant to the fact that he might be taking advantage of her.  The thought doesn’t even cross her mind. Had the story been told mostly from a different perspective, things would have turned out quite differently.

"The girl was crazy!"

"One of the only weekends that her husband goes out of town she has a fling with some traveling hippie photographer from Washington!" "What would Richard think? It would crush his heart!"

Thoughts and whispered echoed throughout the town and was gossip was so juicy you could squeeze it. Everyone who wasn't living under a rock knew about Francesca's little "thing" with the traveler. For one she goes out with him in a public setting and acts the part quite well, as the lover.  She doesn't even try to hide his car when he's at her house which, with great regret the town members may admit to say, doesn't leave at night. What filthy little urchin would prey on innocent women when their husbands leave town? Who does he think he is? The villagers always knew that hippies were to be avoided, as this one certainly ought to be.   Those horrendous race of "lovers" were nothing more that perverted creeps they were! Francesca knew that too! Oh Richard would hear.  And he would be mad. Oh, he would be livid.  

Prediction Piece

Author's Note: (Second Paragraph) I think that this will happen because in the notebook the girl, Allie, says goodbye to her controlling husband and he gets angry.  I also think that this happens because in the beginning of the book it says that Richard dies while Francesca lives on and so I know that he dies sometime in his mid sixties/seventies.  I don't know if he gets hit by a car but I just made that up.

While reading the novel  The Bridges of Madison County  it occurred to me how similar it is to The Notebook by Nicolas Sparks. In the first few chapters of the book the author creates a scene where you have two elderly people, separated for some unknown reason,  and one is in love with the other while the other doesn't appear to care for the first person.  After those few chapters, almost the entire rest of the book is a flashback telling the story of the couple falling in love.  I cannot speak for any other similarities so far in the books because I am only on page 51. Either way, by knowing how The Notebook  ends, I think that in the end of this book the couple will rekindle somehow and then they will both die.

I'm sorry, I can't. I've been living this life for too long, it's not what I want to be, this isn't the person I dreamt of being. This has gone on for too long. I'm leaving.

The note ended there. Richard was furious. This was insane. She was his wife! This was the act of a twenty year old college girl, not his wife of thirty-five years! What would the neighbors think? With his wife sneaking off in the middle of the night and leaving a simple note that,  had he not trusted her as he did still, it might just seem that she had snuck off to see a lover! He didn't believe a word of it. Nor did he want to. The keys to the car begged him to grab them. He listened to their pleas and soon after he found himself standing at the small bridge that Francesca always came to think. A young looking couple lay sleeping on a thin blanket  and he averted his eyes, disgusted. After scanning the rest of the area Richard was not just mad. He was furious. She was his wife! She would listen to him. She would not leave him, and certainly she would not give him a bad reputation. The car motor turned over but didn't start. He twisted the key again. The engine refused to start. He swore under his breath and hopped out of the car. The door slammed shut behind him. It just fueled his anger. The gravel crunching under his feet became loud and annoying. His head was buzzing with fury, distracting him from the large gray Chevrolet pickup truck speeding up the road. He didn't hear the squealing of breaks. He didn't see the expression of utter horror on the drivers face. All he saw was a shining metal grill and then- nothing.

Don't Lock Me up and Put me in a Home Because I'm Innocent!

 Author's Note- This is my final essay for To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  As you probably know this is a book we are reading as a class in Language Arts.  This is a theme analysis with text evidence supporting my theory.  Enjoy

They say that childhood is not  a way of being but a state of mind.  Others say that innocence is most active in the mind of a child. So, does that mean, theoretically, that an adult can be innocent? Of course they can.  If a child is never humbled anywhere along his or her lifetime,  they will remain innocent forever.  I would even actually say that in the story of To Kill A Mockingbird  by Harper Lee, the innocence usually thought to be only in the minds of the children is best demonstrated through the actions of the adults.

For starters I think that I will begin by analyzing the actions of Atticus Finch, the town lawyer and peacekeeper.  He is well known as never being fazed by anything, never panicking in tough situations, always considering the consequences but never letting them influence his decisions, he is the last person on earth most people would think of as being innocent.  But he is.  Taking this case, for example, was an action of innocence.  As was the time when he did nothing to restrain Bob Ewell.  Atticus is so convinced that that he understands the facts of the world, when really, all he knows is what he has experience with.  He thinks he knows how everyone will respond to his case.  He thinks he knows the need for revenge in Bob's head.  He thinks that everyone might give him a chance to expose that flaws of the human race and then be glad to change themselves.  Maybe, just possibly, Atticus Finch is a little naïve in that matter.  Naïve in the idea that he put himself and his children in danger for their lives without realizing it. In fact, ignoring all the fancy dialect and the wise opinions, Atticus Finch seems to act; sometimes more than others; just like a child himself. 

After being accused of raping young Mayella Ewell, Tom Robinson, an innocent black, is found guilty and sent to a black prison camp.  Days later he is shot on an escape attempt and everyone in town believes justice has been served.  Innocence, as it is the topic of my paper,  is nowhere if not in the mind of this one man.  Simply pleading innocent, which he was, at his trial was an act of innocence.  Trying to escape a prison would be another.  This man barely had the common sense to run away from the Ewell house when he say Bob approaching.  No, I'm not saying he's stupid.  No, this doesn't mean he's ignorant.  Nor is he necessarily naïve either.  Tom Robinson is completely blinded by his simple innocence.  And now he is dead because of it.  

Bob Ewell, who I have mentioned multiple times before, is just another face in the theme of innocence.  In the end, of course, he's dead(see a pattern?), but during his life he never, not once, ever, thought of anyone but himself. This trial was nothing but a chance to get more money by weaseling his way through the holes in society.  His kids were nothing but pawns in order to get what he wanted.  He was an evil old man, and however smart and devious he was, he was still quite innocent in some terms of the word.  Without realizing what damage his temper can cause, he somehow turned the entire town against him. Not that they weren't before, but now more than ever they want him to stay in his place.  Or he might just end up in a position he does not want to be in. 

"I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard but I know you'll go after bird.  Shoot all the blue jays you want if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

Atticus uses his words of wisdom once again to tell Jem and Scout about the ways of the world. Maybe it's just coincidence that later in the book a bunch of mockingbirds would be dead. Maybe, but I don't think so.  Mockingbirds are basically the model of innocence, they never hurt anyone, they sing and play and have babies.  Why would you want to shoot them? Because we are us.  And that's what we do.  Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch, and Bob Ewell are just like mockingbirds themselves.  Yet almost all of them end up dead.  Harper Lee was trying to tell us something. 

Many times in our society we have come across adults that haven't moved out of, so to speak, their childlike minds.  Innocence, or not knowing or understanding beyond what you see in your head, is found everywhere.  Whether it's in children or adults, that doesn't matter all that much, but what does matter is that you treat it simply like you do a learning disability.  It is as such, only about a billion times more common.  Everyone has a little innocence, just a smidgen bit.  And so, I suppose, the moral of the story is that it doesn't matter your age- your height, don't judge someone by what they can't see, judge them by how they use what they can see.

Mad Dog

Author's Note- This piece I made is told from the point of view of Stephanie Crawford, the town gossip. I wanted to expose her to show everyone that she might not try to overreact and tell tall tales, she just did.  She always thinks the worst of people other than herself and she trusts no one and nothing.  I suppose you could say she needs an attitude adjustment.  I don't know if half of the things told in this piece are true or not, but there isn't really a reason why they couldn't be.  It is what I imagine happening when no one is looking.

The road was dead, not a single soul dared exit the safety of their homes with the mad dog on the loose.  With a sudden curiosity, Stephanie Crawford poked her tiny head through the gape in the curtains in order to catch a glimpse of the action.  She gasped.  There was Atticus Finch; the town lawyer and peacekeeper aiming a large gun at the obnoxious dog belonging to that stupid Negro Tim Johnson.  Her legs shook.  She ached to tell someone about her findings, but, as they all most likely are watching it right now just like herself.  She picked up the telephone.  She rang a few numbers and then held it up to her ear. 

"Hello? Who is this?"the receiver asked.

"It's Stephanie Crawford. I would like to report  a rabid dog loose in Maycomb country. We have been trying to restrain it but it's mad!"

"Sorry ma'am about that ma'am.  I'll be there right away." The man's voice in the earpiece was replaced with a dial tone.  Stephanie placed the hand piece back on the doc.  She smiled. 'Bout time somebody put that darn Negro's dog in it's place.  She strutted over to her dining room table and pulled out a chair, but practically jumped out of her petticoat when the unmistakable sound of a gun being fired rang out in her house.  She ducked; hiding under the table and waited.  Oh no.  They've come for her! They were going to shred her dresses and cut her hair and- she stopped midsentence when a though arose in her head.  The blacks- they were uprising! Atticus had given  Tom respect so now they all thought they deserved something more! How dare he! That stupid Negro lover was going to get her killed! She crouched lower.  Then a sound erupted in the streets.  Not gunshots, not screams, not  anything she could ever have imagined at such a time.  It was applause.  She stood.  The idiot blacks thought that they had defeated her didn't they?  Well she'd teach them.  In a single burst of courage she grabbed the shotgun she always kept behind her large array of fur coats in the closet and ran into the street.  And froze.  It wasn't Negros applauding.  It was Miss Maudie and Mr. Avery and Jem and Scout Finch and all her other imbecile neighbors applauding. Averting her eyes from those strange people she saw a darkly clothed figure fallen in a heap on the road.  They killed someone and now they were applauding? What was going on?  Either way, she didn't need this she thought as she looked down at the gun still in her hands and bustled back to the house.  A few moments later, when she emerged again, the crowd had dispersed until only Jeremy, Jean Louise, and Miss Maudie remained on the road.  The figure was gone. 

Blanket Scene

As we drank our cocoa I noticed Atticus looking at me, first with curiosity, then with sternness. "I thought I told you and Jem to stay put," he said.

"Why, we did.  We stayed-"

"Then whose blanket is that?"

"Blanket?"

'Yes ma'am, blanket.  It isn't ours."

I looked down and found myself clutching a brown woolen blanket I was wearing around my shoulders, squaw-fashion.

"Atticus, I don't know, sir . . . I-"

. . .

Atticus said, "Whoa son, " so gently that I was greatly heartened. It was obvious the he had not followed a word Jem said, for all Atticus said was, "Your right. We'd better keep this and the blanket to ourselves. Someday, maybe, Scout can thank him for covering her up."

"Thank who?"  I asked.

"Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn't know it when he put the blanket around you."

I chose this scene to help represent the book because to the readers, it was one of the first signs that Boo Radley was a alive, and maybe not quite as mean and crazy as everyone says he is. Boo plays a huge part in the story of the town as well as the story of Jem and Scout's childhood.  His mystery and craziness drive the kids to doing some things that they will most likely remember the rest of their lives.  Also, after reading this scene, that was when I first started to consider that maybe it was Boo that sowed the pants, maybe it was him that filled the tree with gifts, and now, maybe it was him that gave Scout the blanket.  Another reason why I enjoy reading the excerpt from the book would he because it just proves that not everyone in town knows exactly as much as they think they do.  They think that they have all the dirt on everyone, when really, all they know are a bunch of silly stories and rumors.  People like Miss. Stephanie Crawford are really not quite as knowledgeable as they give themselves credit for.  Boo Radley isn't who everyone says he is.  And he is about ready to show it.  

The Reflection

Heather.  The new girl from Ohio desperately praying to fit in. Melinda.  The freaky outcast Goth chick with a reputation so deep it would take a miracle to turn it all around.  I'm sure, even without reading the novel (Speak), you know where this is going. Two polar opposites forced together by their desire to make a friend.  Turns out they have more in common than they think. 

You know that feeling that you get when you're reading a book and something pops up that seems totally irrelevant?  Actually, 9 times out of 10 the author is giving you a hint. One of the scenes I remember the best for being just plain weird is the one where Melinda and Heather are in Heather's basement and Heather just jumps right onto the treadmill and goes for a spontaneous run.  I know that I have been wondering the entire book why Heather is so strange. I mean who in their right mind just has a complete meltdown when a jar of nail polish spills on the carpet.  Sure it might have been new carpeting, but still?  Really?  Isn't that a bit eccentric?  After searching the book for anything regarding Heather's oddness I realized that Melinda has some pretty weird habits herself.  I'm not even going to mention the whole fact that she tried to kill herself, but really, Melinda is a lifeless drone.  She has no opinion.  No interest.  No nothing.  Then it hit me.  Heather and Melinda aren't complete opposites.  They are exactly the same. They are mirrors. 

Okay, call me crazy, go ahead,  I won't mind, but you might just swallow you words soon enough.

First I'm going start out with Heather.  Strange child.  I might have mentioned that before, but it's all too true. To start out with, I went back to Heather's first real freak-out scene when her white carpet got stained with nail polish.  She threw herself onto her bed and sobbed.  Then she ended up crying even harder when Melinda tried to fix it but just ended up making it worse.  Okay.  So? Then I realize the biggest hint there.  The carpet.  It's white.  And new.  Just like Heather.  Heather is fresh to the area.  She's got a new room, new carpet, and completely blank slate.  Melinda is just a little stain on her flawless record, but when you have no personality, no life to tell of in your whiteness, a little stain just might stand out a lot more than it would in a normal bedroom. Heather doesn't have any idea who she is, just that if she doesn't find a way to fit in, she might end up sticking out.  Heather is just a reflection of whoever stands in front of her.  Like a mirror. Like Melinda. 

Melinda, at one point, might have cared what others thought of her, but her interest has long since gone.  She has bigger problems than trying to fit into a stupid messed up high school social triangle.  Bigger fish to fry so they say.  Wrong.  If that was the case, the book wouldn't be called Speak.   People who don't care what others think of them can talk without wondering what the consequences will be.   People who don't want to fit in don't hide from their parents because then they might just realize that there might be something wrong with their child.  Then they would have to explain.  Come clean.  Coming clean would mean an end to Melinda. So she hides.  Where nobody will find her; all the while, that little sane part of her still wishes somebody would reach out  and notice. Her whole white carpet is soiled with mistakes and hatred, the trash of others being thrown on the freak, and the only one who won't throw their trash at her is the only one that can clean it and let the real Melinda out. 

Sorry I lost you with that whole carpet metaphor, I guess I sort of got carried away.  Happens.

Of course, Melinda isn't the same thing as Heather, other wise they would both be preppy Marthas, that, or depressed freaks.  There is a difference though.  Melinda doesn't have a clean slate.  She doesn't have a new life and new, littler problems, she is stuck with all the baggage she's picked up over the years.  She's dirty.  A dirty, dirty girl.

Heather on the other hand is spit shine clean.  She has no history, and, hate to say it, but no future either.  But that doesn't matter.  The main reason Heather is so much different is because she is clean. She has no baggage at this school.  In this new life.  With these new people.  She can be whoever she wants to be.  Isn't that what a mirror does?

Okay.  Did you gobble those words right back up?  I sure hope you did.  Or I just might eat them for you.

Heather and Melinda aren't different.  They aren't the same.  They aren't anything.  This whole book is not telling the story of two girls, but of those who chose to influence them.  The Martha's.  Andy Evans.  IT.  Rachelle.  Mr. Freeman.  Try to explain the look of the mirror, eventually you'll just end up describing the person looking back from the inside.  Look as hard as you want to, but you won't find anything underneath the mirror but a blank wall. 

A Strong Old Oak

"I can see it in my head: a strong old oak with a wide scarred trunk and thousands of leaves reaching to the sun.  There's a tree in front of my house just like it.  I can feel the wind blow and hear the mockingbird whistling on the way back to her nest .  But when I try to carve it, it looks like a dead tree, toothpicks, a  child's drawing.  I can't bring it to life. I'd love to give it up.  Quit.  But I can't think of anything else to do, so I keep chipping away at it."

I picked this scene because it, if you look closely, it is just an extended metaphor.  Melinda is comparing herself to a dead tree, she can see what she wants to be. She wants to be alive. Scarred, but alive.  She is dead inside. Wanting mockingbirds, or friends, to flock to her and sing to her and stay with her, she doesn't realize that it isn't the birds that are wrong, the birds are smart enough to know that this tree isn't safe enough to build a nest in. The tree is weak and broken, and there is nothing the birds can do about that.

Melinda doesn't want to start over, she just wants to rebuild what is gone already.  She can't find the things in herself that she has lost, so she keeps chipping away at what she still has.  Wanting to give it up, she wishes she could just succumb to failure, but Mr.  Freeman keeps her going.  If you think about it, in  her reality it's the same thing.  Mr.  Freeman is keeping her from floating away, he is the rock that her family is supposed to be.  He believes in her and continues to encourage her.  He is the reason she comes through. 

Music

My music flows,

through my-

Human,

Sloppy,

fingers,

Over the scratches,

And the scars,

The hands of a human,

The voice of a god.

A living,

Breathing,

Flood of voices,

Singing,

Their beautiful

Glorious,

Song.

The fate of the world

Resting,

on my fingers,

Yet,

They flounce lightly,

Across the keys,

On the wings,

of a butterfly.

Music,

It fills my bones,

Lifts my spirit,

I am lost,

But I don't want,

To be found,

I am a puzzle,

But I don't want,

to be solved.

A symphony,

of one

A choir that sings,

Solo,

I speak,

through my music,

But who,

Will listen?

Prophetic Tales

Throughout history many iconic figures have made predictions as to what they foresee happening in the future.  Many of these people, if I were to start mentioning names, you would probably recognize.  They have become famous for their grand insight and their supreme knowledge, but many become laughing stocks once others realize their calculations were quite wrong.  I believe that if any of these prophecies were to be completely fulfilled, our world would go off the deep end.  Have you ever considered what the future might bring?  Ray Bradbury makes his thoughts quite clear, and, as offensive and as cruel as they are, they, slowly but surely,  are coming true. 

In an interview with his publisher Ray Bradbury speaks about his inspiration for writing this book.  When asked how he was so well able to make his imagined story a prophecy of  reality, he states- "I was considering the whole social atmosphere: the impact of TV and radio and the lack of education.  I could see the coming even of school teachers not teaching reading anymore. The less they taught, the more you couldn't read books." Doesn't it make you wonder?  If it means nothing, maybe I should tell you that this book was published almost 100 years ago.  Does that make a difference?  Back then, people were just starting to get TVs.  In this book, people talk to TVs and they use these televisions instead of human interaction.   Does that sound familiar?  Most of the things in this book have already started to come true.  Who knows what will happen to us if this story actually comes true?  Author James Warner also mentions something along the lines of Ray Bradbury's book.  He says-  "Future 'books' will be bundled with soundtracks, musical leitmotifs, 3-D graphics, and streaming video. They’ll be enhanced with social bookmarking, online dating, and alerts from geo-networking apps whenever someone in your locality purchases the same book as you— anything so you don’t have to actually read the thing."  Now you've got your kindle fire, and your electronic reading devices with all these apps and games, you've got your online reading sites with pop-up ads for all sorts of other games.  The government doesn't need to influence our reading/technology choices, we make them ourselves, and it will be our own fault when Bradbury's story comes true. 

Am I offending you?  Do you love to read?  Do you wish that maybe I would just stop complaining about the flaws of society and start talking about princesses and ponies?  Or wait-  is that your uncle that still believes in unicorns?   Would he be offended if I accidentally mentioned that they were fake?  Why are you so offended?  What do you suggest I talk about?  Can't you see?  In Fahrenheit 451 Beatty mentions  something that might make you think.  He states- "Now let's take up the minorities in our civilization, shall we? Bigger the population, the more minorities. Don't step on the toes of the dog-lovers, the cat-lovers, doctors, lawyers, merchants, chiefs, Mormons, Baptists, Unitarians, second-generation Chinese, Swedes, Italians, Germans, Texans, Brooklynites, Irishmen, people from Oregon or Mexico. The people in this book, this play, this TV serial are not meant to represent any actual painters, cartographers, mechanics anywhere. The bigger your market, Montag, the less you handle controversy." And he isn't the only one! In the epilogue of the book, Ray Bradbury describes all the notes he receives about how offensive his book is.  Isn't it ironic?  You write a book to talk about how the world is so wrong because they won't let anyone interfere with their personal views, and your book gets banned.  It is illegal to put out Christian Christmas decorations in the front of a public place because someone might get offended.  My pastor once told a sermon about how at his old church, after having the design approved by the city for not being too offensive, they hung banners for Christmas on the street lights.  Not a day later they get a call asking to take them down because somebody is offended.  What has the world come to?  And the scary thing is, there is only one way for this situation to go- down.

I'm guessing that you're probably a little scared right now.  Who wouldn't be? Thinking about the future tends to bring that on.  I guess I might have been a little heavy the first few paragraphs, but there is something else we have to understand.  No opinion is foolproof, we have had that drilled into us since childhood.  Nobody is ever truly correct, because there are so many ways to look at life, it is simply impossible.  Ray Bradbury has a flaw.  He doesn't know.  He's not a prophet or a physic , he's a regular old Joe with too many opinions.  He can guess all he wants, but he doesn't know.  Neither do I.  Neither do any of us.  Some people can look at the world and think, wow, look at the horrible thing we've become.  Others can smile and say,  wow, look at how far we've come.  Your opinion, no matter how right you think you are, is still your opinion.  Many of us often confuse opinions for facts, and sometimes it scares us, but we need to keep going.  There is still a little part of us that needs to remind us of the full half of the glass rather than the empty half we always seem to find.  Bradbury can remind us again and again where his world might be going, but that isn't necessarily where our world is going.  Oprah Winfrey says, “When I look into the future, it's so bright it burns my eyes."  Bruce Lee says,  “The future looks extremely bright indeed, with lots of possibilities ahead -- big possibilities. Like the song says, ''We've just begun.''”  Marcel Pagnol states, “The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be” Our future doesn't just hold the end of the world, but it holds happiness and joy and fun and love and everything else we never seem to be able to see.  Don't be afraid of what the future holds, but of what you will miss if you chicken out. 

All in all, the world might, or might not be headed for disaster.  We might all die, but then again, we might not.  The future might be absolutely horrifying, or it might be everything we've been working for.  The scary truth is, we don't know. We might not ever know. But we don't need to know.  Ray Bradbury is a smart guy, he knows a lot about what he is talking about, and there are a whole bunch of ways that society is failing. It takes a very strong person to admit to the horrors of life, but an even stronger person won't let these negative  opinions influence their views on life.  In the end, it all comes down to what you want to see, and I just hope you make the right choice. 

Angry Noises

" A great thunderstorm of sound gushed from the walls. Music bombarded him at such an immense volume that his bones were almost shaken from their tendons; he felt his jaw vibrate, his eyes wobble in his head. He was a victim of concussion."

In this quote, Ray Bradbury uses two different semantic devices.  This first thing you probably see is the metaphor comparing the sound to a great thunderstorm.  I believe that he chose to compare the noise to something unpleasant, not necessarily because the noise was incredibly loud, but that Guy simply didn't want to hear it.  Mildred just sits in her chair and does nothing. Obviously there was no loud noise, it was just in his head, but guy got so overwhelmed at that moment that every worry, every fear swallowed him, and after, he mentions that the actors' conversation feels drained.  Just like him. 

Next, the author chooses to use a series of hyperboles to describe Guy's reaction to this noise.  With these few sentences, I wonder if really there was a noise, because how can your eyes wobble in your head and your jaw vibrate at nothing?  All they are doing is arguing with one another. Not to mention the fact that the arguments don't even have a point! You're mad. No you're mad. Why would you be mad? I'm not mad, you're mad! But I'm not mad! Then why are you yelling?  I'm not yelling you're yelling! What kind of argument is that? It has no point, no reason to argue.  Yet they do.  The only reason that they are arguing is because they have nothing to argue about.  These hyperboles describe the anger that just aches to be released by Guy.

That dude has some serious problems.

Courageous Dancer

In the story of Harrison Bergeron a young ballerina, whose name is unknown, decides to make a stand.  I think that she must have had a difficult time doing so, as the price of this outburst is her life, but nonetheless she still gets up and dances.  Towards the beginning of this short story the ballerina is ashamed of her gorgeous looks and her fabulous dancing, but as the story goes on, you realize that the only reason she is ashamed of these things is because she has been taught to. Illegally dancing happily in the air, the beautiful dancer is suddenly shot down as well as the criminal she is dancing with.  In the end, her end that is, I do not think that she was afraid of death.  Her only fear I believe was dying just like everyone else, and being forgotten because she was normal just like everyone else.  Not only did she make a difference in herself, but she made a difference in the world, just like she always wanted to. 

Cheerful Ghosts

“I am the ghost of Christmas Present,” said the spirit. “Look upon me!”

Scrooge reverently did so. It was clothed in one simple deep-green robe, or mantle, bordered with white fur.  This garment hung so loosely on the figure that its capacious breast was bare, as if disdaining to be warded or concealed by any artifice. Its feet observable beneath the ample folds of the garment, were also bare, and on its head it wore no other covering than a holy wreath, set here and there with long shining icicles. Its dark-brown curls were long and free as its genial face, its sparkling eye, its open hand, its cheery voice, its unconstrained demeanor, and its joyful air.  Girded round its middle was an antique scabbard, bud no sward was in it, and the ancient sheath was eaten up with rust.

“You have never seen the like of me before!” exclaimed the spirit.

“Never,”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Pg. 54

                                                                                                                        A Christmas Carol

                                                                                                                        Charles Dickins

The ghost of Christmas present was a sight to see for sure, as nothing so innocent had ever given a second thought to the likes of Scrooge.  This thing was perfect in every way, even in the clothes it wore there was perfection, nothing so beautiful as this creature, and although unknown to Scrooge, nothing so misleading either.

The description of the Ghost of Christmas Present is so full of symbolism that I might even call it overdone. The green robe symbolizes life, the new life that Scrooge will be granted after he repents.  The white fur is innocent and pure like a powdery new snow.  Unable to be disguised, the clothes have an elegance that was only completed with a wreath of holly around his jolly head.  This, the holly that there never seems to be enough of for the holidays, people end up mass producing it out of plastic.  Icicles hang off his head not in an ironic way, but in a romantic lovely way that makes onlookers blink at the phenomenon.  His face is peaceful; his chocolate curls hang unconstrained around his head.  He makes your pride melt away at the sight of him, but the heat radiating from him has to be very hot in order to melt the ice layered onto Scrooge’s soul.

I think that this ghost is used because he represents the joy of Christmas. This representation is different than the ghost of Christmas past because the other ghost is described as being an old man, but looking like a child, its features are old and worn down but it’s energy and light signifies youth.  I think that this ghost is described this way because depending on which eyes you see it through the past is completely different.  The ghost of Christmas Past is Old because the events that it will be retelling are long past, but it has a certain youth to it, because the true past never gets old, Scrooge can push his past out of his mind however much he wants, but it will still be there, each memory just as bright as they were the day they were made. 

The ghost of Christmas Present also differs from the Yet to Come Ghost, because that ghost is mysterious and unspeaking.  The future is also unknown just like the ghost, we all know that, but I also think that there was a specific reason behind why this ghost doesn’t talk. The ghost message needs to be interpreted individually by Scrooge.  If the ghost tells Scrooge why he should be afraid of the future, it wouldn’t nearly affect him as much as it would if he were to see and experience it himself. Many questions will drift through Scrooge’s mind, but they aren’t questions that he needs to ask, they are questions of doubt.  Scrooge cannot believe his eyes, and if the ghost were to snap its fingers and announce that none of it was actually real it wouldn’t influence Scrooge at all.  Fear and doubt are different, with doubt usually comes hope, but Scrooge has no hope so he cannot have doubt either.

                       

Christmas Present is a gift.  We can see and experience it, we can make the best of it and love with it and have joy with it. Christmas past is gone.  Christmas yet to come is unknown, you cannot love the unknown.  I believe that the symbolism in the ghost of Christmas present not only represents the joy the whole world is feeling, but it reflects on the joy Scrooge could have if her were to repent. 

“Yesterday is history.  Tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift, that is why it is called the present.”

-Alice Morse Earl