I'm Opinionated

Author's Note: This is what I thought of the film adaption to Hemingway's A Clean Well-lighted Place.

I didn’t imagine the scenery to be anything like it was in the video version of A Clean Well Lighted Place. I personally felt the setting was far too modern and didn’t make sense in context due to the fact it was supposed to take place during World War 2. They didn’t make much attempt to capture that in any way except the soldier that passes by the window with the lady. I also felt they should have been outside. The fact the man was deaf and inside confused me due to the fact he was supposed to “feel the difference” in the area around him because it was quiet. However, it can always be quiet inside. Outdoors at night everything just seems to calm and kind of freeze, so I thought that would’ve been better. It should’ve been more open and He should’ve been further away from the waiters as well. Maybe at a table built for two, yet he was sitting alone. The tree branches hanging above him casting a shadow casted by the moon. The waiters could’ve been under some kind of light source like hanging lights. I think it just would’ve added to the affect.

However, I liked the metaphoric use of the glass not being completely empty that we discussed in class. The man never finished his entire glass, showing that there was so little left of him. That small bit of his Brandy left still at the bottom of his glass was him. I also liked the use of music to add affect to the scene. When the man got up and left walking away I feel the way he walked back into the darkness was clever as well, showing he was leaving where he could feel happy back into his depression, followed by a single light left. The darkness consumed him too quickly though. I don’t think it should’ve been that dark straight away.

Growing Up: Jem Character Analysis

Author's Note: This is my short essay on the character Jem in To Kill a Mockingbird and how he changes throughout the book. I feel his character is easy to have many relations to due to the fact we all have to grow up at some point.

Remember that teddy bear you hugged every day? How about those dolls sitting in the back of your closet? Remember that shirt you used to wear all the time when you were little? How tiny it must be now? We all have to grow up somehow sooner or later in our lives. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird lives a boy names Jem, who definitely changes throughout the book. At the ages of 10 through 13, a time in which children tend to begin to mature, Jem is put into different scenarios and exposed to the outside world. Through the eyes of his sister, Scout, you can definitely see how Jem matures and changes throughout the book.

Jem changes a lot through the course of the novel To Kill a Mocking Bird in this book. His ideas and experiences change his viewpoint on the word though. To begin,  Jem found that an ideal picture of bravery was simply touching the side of Boo Radley’s house. He is more immature and more unaware. “In all his life, Jem never declined a dare” (13). However, as he begins to grow up he learns more about the key terms of bravery witnessing his father shooting a mad dog, and battling a case for a black man. He witnesses first hand Mrs. Dubose’s struggles with drug addiction, Scout’s confrontation with the mob at the jail and so on. Each tapped into the real world, a part of the world in which he didn’t really see before.

As he keeps progressing throughout the book, he begins to make more of the right, yet more difficult choices. For example, when Dill sneaks into Scout’s bedroom running from home, all Jem says is “You oughta let your mother know where you are”(141). Following this is an even more risky decision, involving Atticus. You can see that his coping skills are still developing in the courthouse. When Scout overhears Miss Gates’ racist remarks, she tells Jem. At this point, Jem snaps in reply “I never wanta hear about that courthouse again, ever, ever, you hear me?” (247). Showing evidence of change once again, Jem has been exposed to experiences he’s not really used to.

Jem grows from being the trouble making young boy who dragged Scout along with him throughout his little adventures, to a more mature young man who tries to help guide Scout throughout her life, helping her understand the more complex situations that surround her.

It's Your Life

Author's Note: This is my point of view piece on the song "It's My Life" by Bon Jovi, along with the view point of our parents and the truth, in my opinion, of the situations.

Remember when you were a kid and your parents would always tell you what to do? They’d tell you what you had to do, when you had to and how? In “It’s My Life” by Bon Jovi, it portrays a man who is standing his ground in saying “It’s my life. I’m in control. I’ll do what I want to do.”  There are very different points of view that live within the song and could likewise rise from it.

Jon starts the song off in saying “This aint a song for the broken-hearted. No silent prayer for the faith-departed. I ain’t gonna be just a face in the crowd. You’re gonna hear me when I shout it out loud.” These few lines basically open the song saying he doesn’t want sympathy or anything like that, but  wants people to hear him out. He wants them to hear his side. He’s going to make them listen. He then continues onto the chorus: “It’s my life, it’s now or never. I’m not gonna live forever. I just wanna while I’m alive. My heart is like an open highway. Like Frankie said, ‘I did it my way.’ I just wanna live while I’m alive. It’s my life.” He’s explaining that he needs to live his life, and that he doesn’t need to live for or by anyone else; he needs to start now. Putting emphasis on It’s my life by repeating it three times throughout the chorus, and the saying “Like Frankie said, ‘I did it my way.’” he definitely puts a pressure on the fact he wants to be more independent. But, how do his and our parents feel?

We as teenagers long for the independence we’ve been searching and craving, but I don’t think we always stop to look at our parent’s point of view. They are the only true people who have known us from birth. They went through the good and bad times , struggling through hardships. They protected us from our fears and the outside world.

Now, you and I both know how teenagers are. Let’s face it: we think we know everything and can handle ourselves. Just imagine being a parent, or if you already are a parent then  think about it. You would want the best for your children or you currently do and you know that. All of this “YOLO” currently and things like that are just the stupid excuses people use to get drunk and be stupid. Just really think about it, our parents have lived through the same kind of years that we do now. However, everything around us has evolved and changed. Teenagers have access to a lot more using the internet, our cell phones, advanced transportations, etc. You and I both know the things that teenagers get offered, the effects their decisions have on them, and the things that can happen in their lives. Things like drugs they may do, death you may see or hear about in teen years. Parents just want to prevent us from falling into any of those traps. I could almost guarantee that if you were to ask a parent if they could think back to a time they wish they would’ve listened to their mom, their dad, their aunt, their uncle, their grandparents… anyone who knew more than they  knew, they could.  

Asking a few parents on their point of views, and reading different forums, I found a lot of the same responses falling into categories of wanting the best for their kids, wanting their kids to succeed, and wanting to prevent their own kids of making the same mistakes they had. “Well, I see myself in [my child]. I made a lot of the same stupid mistakes and those decisions still affect me today.” Stated an anonymous source. Another stated that their teenage kids tend to be more “reckless” than the people of her generation due changes in society and what is made available to them. It seems that what parents say reins true. They really do want the best for their children.

We as teenagers often take what our parents are trying to do for granted, and also often take it in the wrong way. Yes, it’s our life but we can always use some guidance throughout.  We don’t truly know as much as we think we do. The more we know, the more there is to learn. Parents will be parents and try to help us, but it’s up to us to learn and progress from ourselves and our parents. 

Two Views in the Same Situation

Author's Note: This is my evaluation on the two waiters in the story A Clean, Well Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway.

The younger waiter is naïve. I feel  that he may not be thankful for what he has and seems selfish in wanting to keep something by depriving another man of something that keeps him happy.  He seems to have a more negative approach to things as well. In the beginning he doesn’t really evaluate the situation of the old man in saying his problem was “nothing.” He also states "I wouldn't want to be that old. An old man is a nasty thing." This shows that he lacks knowledge and shows once again that he doesn’t look beyond the situations.

The older waiter seems to be more wise and seems to have a brighter look on everything. He sees the good in everything and has more of a positive outlook upon it. He notices the way the streets and everything is quieter at night, so the old man can feel the difference since there’s nothing to hear. He really tries to understand the old man’s perspective.