Mentally and Spiritually Growing

             In the book "Into the Wild," by Jon Krakauer, the main character Chris, who's story is about a really person continues throughout the book to show what the real meaning of coming of age means to him and in general. Chris really makes coming of age understandable because you see it happening to him through many actually struggles that he gets through and also more common not so noticeable changes. As you follows his life in this book he grows from a very young man hating his wealthy brought up life to a man with a different idea of the world and the people he knows. Chris is very young man that through his very short life learns a lot and develops as a person in many ways.

             McCandless discovers his own ideas of life by going on a journey similar to a vision quest and before he dies has a major discovering and coming of age moment the whole book following along this journey finally reaches the peak of his understanding and then he dies. For example on pg. 134, "I want you to know you're a great man. I now walk into the wild." This sentence he wrote to a man he met along his adventures shows an earned bravery and strength in him. This is the last writing he sent out before ending his younger life/being trapped and babied by civilization. He now walks a free, grown man.

             The life of Chris McCandless is so unlike any others because you rarely ran across someone with so much wealth, brilliance, and opportunity that simply grows up into a life of spiritualistic thinking and want to leave everything he has behind.When doing this he encounters a lot of people and thoughts which are part of his process of growing. It shows this on pg.189, "Happiness is only real when shared." This is a quote found written by Chris while he was all alone coming up with his own ideas about life as his own went by. This quote is truly brilliant and shows a very smart thought about life which could only be thought of in time.

             In the end he dies though it is not necessarily sad or to show that life sucks. Quite frankly I think it shows the exact opposite that life is great and the struggles put in front of you are only to help you get a better understanding of your self and why things are the way they are. A lot of the problems of growing up he faces I understand really well because they are related to my life in a more subliminal way rather than directly related. This book and Chris' life really encourages me to experience life in different ways to really get the fullest out of growing up in my own way.

Developing and Making it Through

             Coming of age is something everyone has to deal with and the story "Into the Wild," by Jon Krakauer is a story that shows the choices and struggles of coming of age through a young man originally named Chris McCandless. This book powerfully shows growing up and experiencing completely new things because the character moves out to live on his own and have great new experience which are very noticeable in his life because there aren't distractions like civilization and people. Chris is a very interesting character and seems like he was an interesting person as he grew up and wrote very interesting quotes which he came up with over time alone. Coming of age can sometimes have terrible experiences and sometimes have amazing, great experiences but everyone goes through and experiences many common feelings along the way.
             McCandless' character implies coming of age has new and strange experiences which come up as life goes along. An example is on pg. 28, "But there was a way to avoid such aggravation: He could simply abandon the Datsun and resume his odyssey on foot. And that's what he decided to do." This is how Chris is coming of age and represents a type of experience that many people face. As time progresses you see that this decision he made was a good, growing-up decision he made which made his journey more of what he was looking for and by making this choice he developed luckily in a good way. Some choices may be forced upon you sort of like this one though there is a lot where it is simply up to you and you still can't really change what happens after the fact.
             Another coming of age event that happens to many people is as you feel and live through new things you develop new views on life and come of age more. Throughout the book in many different places Chris experiences something that changes his views of things. When he is there at his destination the lack of food and comfort give him visions like a vision quest which allows him to interpret life differently and how he wants to believe things. As time goes on peoples' visions and ideas become more solid and more of a change in the way you live. This is shown very strongly in the story because these examples of it happening are much more obvious and clear about what is going on.
             Coming of age has its ups and downs with everyone the main way to make it through the changes is to just try to enjoy what you have and what you pick up and learn as life goes on. I saw a lot of what Chris and people go through in my own life. I am also changing as I grow older and there are many changes that I like and also a bunch that I wish didn't have to happen. The main thing that I feel I have in common with a lot of people is that when things like this go on later on when you've accepted how your life is now it becomes okay. All of the changes people face are for the better in someway.

The Muffled Terror

             In the book, "Maus I: My Father Bleeds History," Art Spiegelman tells the story of all the horrible things his father and the rest of the Jews had to go through during the Holocaust. It is drawn with cartoon animals to make things less brutal because a few of the stories included are cruel and otherwise would feel a lot more gruesome to the reader. The way Spiegelman wrote the book was interesting because it is based on real events told by his father but he also makes the story a bit of a fiction book. Spiegelman uses a bunch of different ways to make the story more suitable for younger people and not as terrible.
             One technique Spiegelman uses to make the points of the Holocaust more soft is not using specific brutal words to describe things that happened. For example on pg.33, "and no one heard from him again." Here is when the narrating at the bottom is talking about a guy that the Nazis beat to death yet the author made the words a lot sweeter so that people could read the story without being completely hit with terrible facts. Another way the events his father told him about are less cruel is by making it a cartoon of animals. Even though you still know what is going on and see drawings of some of it, it makes it a lot less violent uses mice and cats instead of humans. It is amazing that Spiegelman was able to design the book this way so that it is enjoyable to learn about and also very fascinating by keeping the facts of the Holocaust straight.
             I am glad to be able to read this book as a kid to gain a lot of knowledge of this terrible historic event and not be to overwhelmed with hard writing or scary things happening. To start reading the book again is very great because a lot of things that are written in the book become a lot clearer and I get a better picture of how Spiegelman chose to write the stories. Hopefully things like this never happen again because they are terrible and ruin so many lives and families. Despite this kind of thing not currently going on things like dictatorship and bad power go on today and are quite a bit like the Holocaust. Maybe overtime people will show power up against this and it will not have to continue to ruin peoples' lives.

Books, Movies, and, Rock and Roll!

             In the article, "From Page to Screen: Hollywood Targets YA Fiction," talks about how the Hunger Games recently came out and was a big hit and how there has been a lot of movies within the past years that came from a book. Other great movies that came out that were based off a book and good or even great were Twilight and Harry Potter. Since movies like these were successes they are planning to and did make sequels with the final book split into two movies. People in this industry decided to make movies like this because it would hopefully make a lot more money and to attract mainly a teen audience to them.

             These movies weren't even big that far back and now they are normally a big hit that teens and many other people love to see. An example is, "It wasn't until the 1950s and '60s, when such stars as James Dean and Annette Funicello began being marketed to younger audiences." This is around when people started making movies more generalized to age and specifications were made. Awhile after this was when the "books to movies" movies started to rise into a roaring industry. If a movie was a big hit and the creators got a good profit then there would be question about a sequel based on a book they made. The Hunger Games was a very successful movie and now as it is written in the article they are planning on making sequels in the same way that Harry Potter and Twilight did.

            When I saw The Hunger Games I also thought it was very good though there may have been a lot of parts that were changed quite a bit and parts that were removed to shorten the movie. I like the idea of making books come out on the big screen because then a fan really gets to enjoy it visually and gets a much better picture. I hope as time goes on society finds even better ways to enhance our ways of enjoying entertainment.

The #@*king Annoying Bird

             In the poem, "A Minor Bird," Robert Frost use a continuous rhyme scheme and good writing devices to make the poem strong and beautiful. Frost makes such a small detail of his life into a descriptive analysis about the bird and his annoyance at it. The way the poem is written is very strong and makes you think, without him using strong words or talking about an overly fascinating topic. Frost uses a lot of literary devices in this poem to enhance the experience.

             Frost uses rhyme scheme throughout his poem a lot for rhythm and flow of the words. An example is, "I have wished a bird would fly away, / And not sing by my house all day." This is at the beginning of the poem when he introduces what is going on and his feelings against it. When reading those two lines it flows smoothly as you read instead of making you read it slow and methodically. There is a small amount of hyperbole because he says, "I could bear no more," when only a little bird is making noise throughout the day. This device enhances the writing because it makes the reader feel a little more interested with the over exaggerated feeling.

             This poem gave a strong impact on me because I can relate to it and see how it is related to the world. I definitely relate to it because I also get really pissed off at things that go on end for a long time and this makes me feel the annoyance he portrays in the character at the bird. It also can relate to the world as a whole because sometimes it is the little issues going on that can get people the most ticked off versus looking at everything as a whole and realizing how unimportant some things are. Like the poem at some point people realize why am I actually getting annoyed at this when really nothing is wrong with it or it is so minor compared to something else.

The Extraordinary Anger

             In the article, "Hug a Hoodie: What the U.K. Teaches Us About Making a Sweatshirt a Symbol," it talks about the sad event where Trayvon Martin was murdered for racist thoughts against him where the guy thought he was a threat. It still can't be taken into affect to prosecute the man because of Florida's controversial self-defense law. In respect of Trayvon millions of people wore hoodies to represent the anger against the law and their care for him. This has become such a big thing and people all over are sad about it and it will probably go down into history.
             People are angry because the state can't actually accuse him until they have set in stone proof, yet everyone knows that he still did kill him and that it was a hate crime. Over in the U.K. people still respect Trayvon and are angry at what happened but it is hated upon to where a hoodie over there. For example, "In the United Kingdom, the hoodie is also associated with low-income young people up to no good—but there, in response to public agita about crime, politicians from both sides of the political aisle—including former Prime Minister Tony Blair—have endorsed campaigns to ban hooded sweatshirts from public places in an effort to combat what the British call 'anti-social behavior.' " I find it absurd the it is such a big deal that it is actual enforced over there. It was a show of honor for the people there to stand up to the government and where the hoodies anyway for Trayvon.
             Certain events can strike big affects all over the world. This was an event that happened down in Florida and became an international issue that caused many reactions and feelings. This shows that there is still racial hate going on despite the years of fighting for rights. The fact that bad events need to happen for people to realize that there should be change is terrible. Even with that being true blacks and many other races still don't have their freedom and rights fully through all the horrible events that they went through. I am very happy to know that people in the U.K. took their stand and made it clear to the government and us that they care and are not happy with any of this.

A Great Beat

             In the poem "A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky," Lewis Carroll gives a lot of setting detail. He speaks about the sound of children on a nice sunny day and how he feels seeing what he sees. Carroll uses a lot of clear description in the poem to really emphasize imagery. The way he says everything makes it all feel a little dreamy and mellow. Lewis Carroll made the rhythm of the poem very slow and soft to portray a lazy feeling on a hot day.
             When reading this my mind took it at a slow pace because speeding through the words made everything unclear. An example of how he used rhythm to make it feel like a lazy summer day is "Ever drifting down the stream — Lingering in the golden gleam". Here he is giving a stronger image of laying out on a boat on a day where it seems like it is to hot to really do anything. Imagery isn't the only device he used to make you feel it because the word choices and the way he structured the poem all factored into the rhythm. This was definitely an intentional choice of his because the rhythm of the poem fits in perfectly with the message the actual words were trying to portray. I like the choice because it helped me get clearer with the feelings the speaker actually felt during this hot day.
              The rhythm of this poem really relates to my life because depending on the setting changes the type of reaction and ways I feel. For example a lot of the time when I am exhausted and beat from hot weather I am function very slow and drearily. Though when it is cold I might be very ecstatic and shivery because of the coldness. I feel like this poem gave a really good example that he must have observed from life and interpreted into literature. Regularly it is this type of writing I wouldn't like and skip over because it is confusing and hard though Carroll found a way to make me actually enjoy and appreciate the writing.