In the novel “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, he is telling a story about a post apocalyptic time on earth. In “The Road” the boy and his father are roaming the road in hopes of reaching the coast to where there is supposed to be safety, shelter, and food. Although traveling down the road isn’t easy due to the lack of food, very hard traveling terrain and weather, and all the bandits that travel the road in search for food and there food tends to be people. With cannibalism soaring through the road, horrible weather conditions, and scarce food and water; you can only imagine how terrified the kid is and how horrible the father must feel. McCarthy claims, “ [a]re we going to die?” (87). What would you say if your young son asked you that? The fact that the boy fears death it around the corner just shows how bad the situation must be fore them. The man and his son had recently just ran into some bandits on the road and after their confrontation not to long down the road the young boy sees another boy in what seems to be like an abandoned community. The boy tries to run to other boy to be able to play with him and maybe bring him along with him and his dad, but then his father stopped him and said that it was a trap to lead them in. So the father grabbed his son and ran as the boy began to cry as he lost a chance to have a friend his age again. McCarthy states that “[t]he boy was sitting on the steps when he saw something move at the rear of the house across the road. A face was looking at him. A boy, about his age, wrapped in an outsized wool coat with the sleeves turned back” (84). They may be humans but maybe they’ll humans disguised as monsters now. The hard times are getting to everybody including the boy and his father and everyone is starting to loose their ability to choose from right and wrong. The line that was drawn between human and monster is getting thinner and thinner by the day. These people exhibit how people will always have the ambition to live and how they will stop an basically nothing to keep living and will do whatever it takes to live.
In the novel “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy it tells a story about a post apocalyptic time on earth and what it is like to be stuck and stranded without anyone. The story is told through the eyes of a father and his young son. In the novel the father and son are the focus seem to be the only ones left wandering as they follow the road in hopes of reaching the coast because that seems to be the safety and tranquility that is left instead of having to roam the wasteland that is left of America and have to be living in fear and terror of what is still alive and out there. They seemed to have been the only people left until they heard something, and that something was a diesel truck roaming through the road. The father and son began to run and didn’t look back. Right when they thought they were safe from harms way they were face to face with one of the masked bandits from the truck who was on patrol. The man and the father came face to face as the boy stood to the side of the father frozen by fear. The father drew his pistol and had the bandit at gunpoint. Once he had him under control he gave the bandit commands as to stay quiet and to not look back at the road and to keep his eyes on him. After a couple of questions and answers the man got tired of following what the man was saying and broke away from his gunpoint. McCarthy claims, “[h]e dove and grabbed the boy and rolled and came up holding him against his chest with a knife at his throat” (66). After he grabbed his son and had a knife at his throat; the father took the shot straight at the bandit’s head. The kid was once again left there frozen by fear when his father grabbed him and told him to run and not look back.
Poular culture changes the way we look at everything including ourselves, and that goes for both men and woman. We constantly compare ourselves to whomever we see on TV, at the gym, or just somebody walking down the street. A lot of people out there are not content with their own bodies, and yes that goes for both woman and men. Although woman tend to deal with the problem of not being satisfied with there own body more than man, times are changing and so are the way we think and see ourselves. In the short story “Venus Envy” by Patricia McLaughlin she goes deeper into how times are changing and so are the way we see ourselves. McLaughlin states, “[f]or more men, self-regard has come to hinge not just on what they do, but on what they see in the mirror.” Men tend to always be the providers of the family while the wife would stay home and keep the house clean, take care of the kids, and make sure to have dinner ready for the husband when he got home. That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore; now we are seeing either both the husband and wife working and making equivalent wages or even the wife being the main provider while the husband might stay home or just works a job that just doesn’t make enough. This is where men don’t just worry about what they look like but also what they do; however, it is becoming more popular to find men who are okay with the wife making the money where as before that was very uncommon. While men are starting to worry more and more about there looks; it seems that woman are staying the same or if not worrying less. Woman are begging to forget about how they look and are starting to worry more about what they do; nevertheless, this isn’t the case with every woman. Some women find comfort in putting make-up on every morning and going to the gym. While there is nothing wrong with that and it is perfectly normal; what isn’t normal is when they begin to have anorexia behaviors and or symptoms. When dealing with anorexia the patient will never be comfortable in there own body and that is exactly what you don’t want. Both men and woman need to learn to be comfortable in your own skin. It is your body and it is up to you on how you treat it and how you take care of yourself. If you don’t love your own body you wont believe it when someone else comes along and loves it for you. Honestly I don’t feel that looking good is all that important; however, feeling good and being healthy is and should be an important aspect to everyone. You don’t have to work out everyday, have rock hard abs, or watch every calorie you digest to be healthy or comfortable in your own skin. Don’t let looking good control life but instead let being healthy decide some choices for you. Works Cited: Mims, Joan T., and Elizabeth Mahn Nollen. Mirror on America: Essays and Images from Popular Culture. Fifth ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. Print. What is “popular culture”? Dictionary.com defines “popular culture” as “cultural activities or commercial products reflecting, suited to, or aimed at the tastes of the general masses of people.” For my popular culture icon I chose Spider-Man. The superhero Spider-Man was created by Marvel comics, and started off as a comic book. He later went on and got his own TV and now even has movies. Spider-Man has the powers of a spider such as spider senses, walking or crawling up walls, shooting webs, and all the other things spiders do. While during the day behind the mask his name is Peter Parker and he is your average teenage nerd who goes to high school, gets picked on, but cannot do much about it cause of his fear of revealing his superhero identity. So during the day he lives his average teenage boy life while at night he lives a life of excitement and adrenaline while fighting crime. He lives with his aunt May and uncle Ben since his parents passed away in a car accident. Peter gained his powers on a school field trip on a tour of a science laboratory where he was bit by a mutant spider that gave him his mutant powers. He hadn’t plan on doing much with his powers except use them for the childish games he had going on in his head and for cage fighting to make a quick buck; however, that all changed when his uncle Ben became a victim of a shooting from robber that basically helped get away. When Peter found out the news he was devastated and felt that it was his fault. That was when he swore to use his powers for good and was when he became Spider-Man. He went on the hunt for his uncle’s killer to swear revenge but when he finally found him he couldn’t do it. Knowing that it wasn’t right, that it wasn’t what he was given those powers for, and knowing that it wasn’t what his grandpa would have wanted, he stopped and left him for the police. Spider-Man’s intended audience was more towards teenagers and kids, but if you’re an adult who likes Spider-Man well there is nothing wrong with that what so over. I have always been a big fan of Spider-man, but not only because of his powers but also cause of how smart he is without the mask. "popular culture." Dictionary.com's 21st Century Lexicon. Dictionary.com, LLC. 04 Mar. 2015. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/popular culture>. In the book “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on writing and life” by Anne Lamott it gives great writing advice that all writers either already do follow or should follow. One thing he motioned that caught my attention was first drafts. We all have had to write them before and we all know what its like to re write them after writing them; however, Lamott has a different and a more unique way to approach your first draft. Since our first draft, nine out of ten times, always turns out “shitty”, why not make it “shitty” from the begging? Lammot says, “[t]he first draft is the child’s draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later” (6). We always end up re-writing our first draft anyways so we shouldn’t worry so much about what we write down but more about how much we write down. I found this helpful and a new way of looking at things maybe from more of a writers point of view. Lammot explains, “[a] friend of mine says that the first draft is the down draft––you just get it down. The second draft is the up draft–– you fix it up” (7). These are wise words that I think every writer should be following and spreading the method as well for other beginning writers. I feel like this can improve my writing by really getting everything out of my head and onto the paper. Once that is down I can work with what I have and sculpt it into a great piece of writing. Of coarse everything is easier said than done, so it’s going to take some practice to master a new method of writing, but it is worth a try. I’m just going to have to take it “bird by bird.” Works Cited Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New York: Anchor, 1995. Print. “It is harder to intervene than not to,” (10) says Jonathan Safran Foer in his commencement address “How Not to Be Alone” at Middlebury College. I chose this quote from the reading because it is extremely true and easily relatable. It is a lot easier to just ignore any situation that is going on around you than it is to actually do something about the situation. It’s like when there is a fight in school; it’s a lot easier to record them or just keep on walking than to get in it and break it up. Although my question is why is it easier to not intervene when someone needs help? Why is it easier to keep on walking? If you see somebody needs help why not help him or her? We may not all know each other; however, I’m sure we all know pain. We all know what its like to be embarrassed, what its like to feel alone, and what its like to feel sad. So if we can understand each others feelings and know what it’s like to be in those situations; why not help each other get out of these situations. It shouldn’t be harder to intervene it should be harder to not intervene, and it should be easier to help someone you see struggling or in need of a helping hand. I think it is possible and of coarse it wont be easy because anything that lasts wont be easy to do; however, I do know it will all be worth it in the end. In George Saunders’s “Advice to Graduates”, he gives a remarkable and persuasive speech to the 2013 class at Syracuse University. Right from the beginning his speech caught my attention by making fun of a long lasting tradition while still respecting it and carrying the torch. His speech gave advice and humor at the same time, and I personally found it amusing and inspirational. He spoke of lessons that you can learn from school, but also about qualities you can only gain through life experiences, he said there’s no limit to your success, and last but not least always be kind to those around you. Although education is an important key in life; without those life experiences you can never really achieve true success. In his speech Saunders states, “success is like a mountain that keeps growing ahead of you as hike it”. I found this quote extremely fascinating, relatable, and true. So there is no real limit to success; you only reach your peak when you decided you’re done. Saunders wants us to be kinder to each other; however, to achieve that goal wont be easy to accomplish and he knew that. We have many obstacles we must go through and many ways we have to change before we can truly reach the stage of being kind to one another. One of the biggest obstacles that we must overcome is one that is inside all of us, “selfishness”. Although Saunders says, “[b]ut there’s also a cure. So be good and proactive and even somewhat desperate patient on your own behalf –– seek out the most efficacious anti-selfishness medicine, energetically, for the rest of your life”. Although there is one cliché that Saunders forgot, treat people the way you would like to be treated. Not only did I find this speech persuasive but also inspirational. It persuaded me to be kinder, reach out for success, and the importance of an education; however, you can’t learn everything in school. I can honestly say that this speech motivated and persuaded me to do better, become better, and try to be the best that I can be.
Works Cited "George Saunders's Advice to Graduates." The 6th Floor George Saunderss Advice to Graduates Comments. N.p., 31 July 2013. Web. 15 Feb. 2015. <http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/31/george-saunderss-advice-to-graduates/?_r=1>. In the article "How to Read Like a Writer" by Mike Bunn, it explains how reading can improve your writing. Reading and writing correspond well with one another; they got together like peanut butter and jelly. Bunn states, “You are reading to learn about writing.” (72). So as we read we learn about writing, and the more we read the better writers we will become. With that being said no body is the perfect writer which means there is always room for improvement for everyone. I never really read anything as the prompt explained; however, when I did read I would always found myself asking questions about the reading. Although the questions I asked never went into as much depth as the questions from "How to Read Like a Writer" went into, I feel like I have at least the hang of what the article is trying to get across. It still wont be easy to apply to my readings right away, but with time and practice it will become possible. The only way to get better at anything is by practicing, and the only way to practice in this case is by reading. I was never a big fan of reading or writing; in fact, I usually never read before College so annotating and asking questions about readings were out of the picture. My Eng. 081 professor was the one to familiarize me with annotating and asking questions as I read, and was the one who got me into the habit of doing so. I also learned in that class the importance of reading, and what needs to be done to be a good writer and reader.
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