Willa Cather in her novel My Antonia offers her view of life during the pioneer time. It told of trials and tribulations of many different people during that time period.
Through out the story, Jim told his stories of his friends and love for the towns people of his past. My Antonia would be completely different if the story were to be told by Antonia, herself. First off, I doubt that the book would still be called My Antonia because even though Antonia would be the one telling the story, her perspective on everything that she and her friends went through would be different than Jim's. Many of the stories told by Jim wouldn't even exist because Antonia wasn't there during them. Then again, the stories of her heart break and family would be much more in depth. Thus, the story would have completely changed had she been the one telling her side.
If Willa Cather would have been a man, instead of a woman, writing from the view point of Jim, then the story would not have been as nearly full of his feelings, but more about his actions and thoughts. Reading the book, I was connected to the idea of Jim telling his story, like Jim truly sounded like a man though out all of it even though Cather was a woman trying to speak through him. Cather, in a way, did an effective job at telling from the view point of Jim.
Jim changed the title from Antonia to My Antonia because the book was full of stories of Jim and Antonia. Even when Antonia was not even mentioned in a story, some how that story effected Jim and Antonia's story together. Thus, Antonia was not just someone who was randomly placed in Jim's life, she was his Antonia. Through everything that they went through, their relationship always ended more powerfully than before. Their lives were some how linked together. She was not just his, but Jim was Antonia's as well.
There are so many different twists that could have been taken just by the author and the narrator. My Antonia is an extremely unique book with stories that can not help but be related to by the reader. This book is a strong portrayal of how much people's settings can effect the character in life. Antonia and Jim would have never of become who they became with out each other in their lives.
Friday, December 16, 2011
New Orleans
After I have loved on kids for a week,
While I played games, sang, and danced,
When the end comes near,
Because nothing lasts forever,
I know that I must soon say goodbye.
If I only had more time,
Although the end has sadly come,
When I have said the last goodbye,
Before I arrive home once again,
I remember all the memories from the past week of New Orleans.
While I played games, sang, and danced,
When the end comes near,
Because nothing lasts forever,
I know that I must soon say goodbye.
If I only had more time,
Although the end has sadly come,
When I have said the last goodbye,
Before I arrive home once again,
I remember all the memories from the past week of New Orleans.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Eating Disorders Affect Our Society
Argument: Eating Disorders Affect Our Society
Assertion/Claim (Topic Sentence) = Main Idea
- Eating disorders show our society's problems with image and could maybe be prevented if everyone treated eachother with respect.
- Three main types of eating disorders that are causing pain in our world: Bulimia Nervosa, Anorexia Nervosa, and Binge Eating; Many different disorders are mixes of these. But out of all of these most 'arise from a combination of long-standing behavioral, biological, emotional, psychological, interpersonal, and social factors.'
- Commentary 1: All of these disorders seem to be caused by things that have tragically scared them. The way we treat people can serously effect their lives. You could make a joke even about them and it could scar them.
- Commentary 2: If people in life would treat eachother with respect, our world would change drastically! Less people would do things to hurt themselves in because they would feel more loved. They would find purpose!
- The media is sometimes associated with eating disorders because its images can 'help to create cultural definitions of beauty and attractiveness.'
- Commentary 1: Sometimes when people go through tramatic events, their image is what holds them together. When they see what the media calls 'beautiful', they think that they need to be that way.
- Commentary 2: This can lead to difficulties and they may feel they need to be skinnier or need to change themselves just so they can have that one security... But sadly they don't realize that the status of this beauty is impossible to get and they may never reach that goal. This sometimes leads to damaging their body.
Opposing Claims/They Say:
- Some may just be mental and need help in the first place, why blame the media for someone's thoughts and perspectives of their 'goals' that they must 'reach'?
- They shouldn't just think they need to change to be beautiful, because not everyone looks like a movie star. They should learn that they should become happy the way they are.
- Although I agree that they should learn to be 'happy the way they are', how can they possibly do that when the media is always showing ways to be beautiful? To them it may seem like the media is rubbing it in their face. So they may think they need to change so that they may be what the world calls beautiful, and it is really hard to change some one's perspective on the world.
My Paragraph
Eating disorders show our society's problems with image and could maybe be prevented if everyone treated eachother with respect. Three main types of eating disorders are causing pain in our world: Bulimia Nervosa, Anorexia Nervosa, and Binge Eating; Many different disorders are mixes of these disorders. Out of all of these, most 'arise from a combination of long-standing behavioral, biological, emotional, psychological, interpersonal, and social factors.' All of these disorders seem to be caused by things that have tragically scared them. The way we treat people can serously effect their lives. You could make a joke about them and it could scar them. If people in life would treat eachother with respect, our world would change drastically! Less people would do things to hurt themselves because they would feel more loved. They would find purpose! But sadly, the everyday people in our lives are not the only influence towards these disorders. The media is sometimes associated with eating disorders because its images can 'help to create cultural definitions of beauty and attractiveness.' Sometimes when people go through tramatic events, their image is what holds them together. When they see what the media calls 'beautiful', they think that they need to be that way. This can lead to difficulties and they may feel they need to be skinnier or need to change themselves just so they can have that one security... But sadly they don't realize that the status of this beauty is impossible to get and they may never reach that goal. This sometimes leads to damaging their body. Of course there have been questioning on these people's outlooks, like what if they had mental problems before they got disorder and that these people should not feel they need to change because the movie star look is hard to achieve. Although I agree that they should learn to be happy the way they are, how can they possibly do that when the media is always showing ways to be beautiful? To them it may seem like the media is rubbing it in their face. So they may think they need to change so that they may be what the world calls beautiful, and to change their perspective on the world's outlook may be extremely hard. Thus, we could most likely help prevent this disorder by changing the way we treat eachother and treasure true beauty instead of the fake movie star look.
My Thinking:
This paragraph is mostly inductive thinking because its more of a theory than a confirmation.
Source:
The Effects On Setting
Chunk #1:
Mr. Shamerda, in his old country, was a happy man who played instruments and danced all the time with his neighbors and friends. When he was forced to leave the only place he had every called home, he couldn't take it... So his new surroundings slowly led him to depression. His new setting changed him completely. He could never seem to have fun any more, and he never had the urge to play his music because of his sadness for missing his home land. The country land that they lived on, took him to so much sadness that he ended his life. Setting plays a huge part in his life because of his drastic change in personality and how he reacted to the move.
Chunk #2:
Every year during the holidays, my family and I always head to my grandmother's house. I love going to her house during the holidays because it always welcomes me in with soothing words that I always recognize. I can't help but feel loved by that house, mainly because its the only house that has always been in my life. With my family having problems staying in a place for too long, this house has always been a place of security. It is like that blanket that you sleep with at night, you always can count on it to keep you warm and happy even in the worst conditions. It is probly the one place that I consider my home.
Mr. Shamerda, in his old country, was a happy man who played instruments and danced all the time with his neighbors and friends. When he was forced to leave the only place he had every called home, he couldn't take it... So his new surroundings slowly led him to depression. His new setting changed him completely. He could never seem to have fun any more, and he never had the urge to play his music because of his sadness for missing his home land. The country land that they lived on, took him to so much sadness that he ended his life. Setting plays a huge part in his life because of his drastic change in personality and how he reacted to the move.
Chunk #2:
Every year during the holidays, my family and I always head to my grandmother's house. I love going to her house during the holidays because it always welcomes me in with soothing words that I always recognize. I can't help but feel loved by that house, mainly because its the only house that has always been in my life. With my family having problems staying in a place for too long, this house has always been a place of security. It is like that blanket that you sleep with at night, you always can count on it to keep you warm and happy even in the worst conditions. It is probly the one place that I consider my home.
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