Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

1. I thought the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was very good. It had many humorous parts and was a very good look on what people experience and act like when they are on drugs. Johnny Depp is the only actor who could portray the character of Raoul Duke because of his quirky nature. Also, Terry Gilliam, who is known for his surreal direction, is the only director who could pull of a movie based on Hunter S. Thompson’s works this successfully. This is definitely a movie I can watch again and again.

2. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas begins with the line “He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.” Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo make beasts of themselves by (obviously) taking a lot of drugs, such as acid, cocaine and ether. In fact, when Duke trips out on the substance “andrenichrome.” he visualizes Gonzo as a hairy beast-like demon with horns. Although the drugs give the two characters temporary relief, the drugs in actuality affect them in negative ways. When they get high off the drugs, they start hallucinating and do strange things. For instance, at the beginning of the movie, Duke thinks he sees bats swarming around him and constantly keeps swatting the imaginary creatures away. In another scene from the movie, Gonzo, who is on acid, is seen in a bathtub full of water in an effort to kill himself. The drugs they take also affect those around them. The best example of this is Lucy, a sheltered girl from Montana whom Gonzo meets (and drugs) on a plane when he returns to Las Vegas after abandoning Duke. The drugs will have a lasting effect on them for the remainder of their lives. This constant use of drugs probably contributed to Hunter S. Thompson’s Hemingway-esque suicide on February 20, 2005.

The Importance of Being Earnest - Acts I & II

1. The first two acts of Oscar Wilde's play, The Importance of Being Earnest, were very humorous and quite enjoyable. The play is a very easy read, definitely easier to read than Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. Oscar Wilde was known for his humor through epigrams and witticisms, and this play was no exception. My personal favorite is "All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his."

2. The witticisms of Oscar Wilde's characters provide a distraction to the plot. To Wilde, the purpose of his work is not to impress with a story but to humor his audience using witty, yet truthful, sayings. Most of the characters in the play speak in epigrams and sound alike, so it is difficult to see how the characters differ from each other. No matter how distracting the epigrams are, a plot is in fact evident and is just as humorous as the witticisms that surround it.

Taming of the Shrew: Acts I- III

1. So far, William Shakespeare's play Taming of the Shrew is fairly enjoyable. The use of humor, such as wordplay and mistaken identity, and how they are used for comedic effect, works well. Obviously, this is used to the fullest effect when the play is acted out instead of read, but it is manageable. I am anxious to see how the play progresses and how it ends.

2. Most of the humor in Taming of the Shrew is based on romantic conflict. One of the best examples of this is when Petruchio meets Katharina for the first time. Humor is generated in this passage by how Petruchio responds to Kate's insults. His responses mostly take on the form of sexual innuendo. When Kate refers to Petruchio as a stool, he agrees and tells her to sit on him. When Kate responds by saying to him, "Asses are made to bear [weight], and so are you," Petruchio wryly responds with this rebuttal; "Women are made to bear (meaning children), and so are you." Later, Petruchio says to Kate, "What, with my tongue in your tail?" which implies oral sex. They continue going back and forth, until Petruchio sets Sunday as the wedding date. It seems that Kate is frutrated, yet aroused, by the fact that there exists a man who is equal to her in personality and wit. This is probably why she consents in marrying Petruchio.

Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"

1. Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" is one of the few pieces of literature that I will never get tired of reading. It was a very easy read because it is a story about everyday people and their traditions. The events leading up to the climax keep the reader on edge, and the surprise ending leaves the reader stunned yet marks a lasting impression on his/her memory. This is truly an American literature masterpiece.

2. There are many instances of foreshadowing present in Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery." At the beginning, the young boys of the town are seen picking up stones, either putting them in their pockets or creating a big pile for later use. The reader is left to wonder what the stones will be used for until the conclusion of the tale. Another instance of foreshadowing is the mood of the townspeople. All throughout the story, there is a sense of nervousness present in almost all the villagers. They laugh and smile at each other nervously, fumble the pieces of paper in their hands, and dart their eyes from one townsperson to the next in the hopes that the piece of paper with the black spot will not end up in any one of their hands. "The Lottery" is also a story about tradition. The village still adheres to the tradition of the lottery, even though the end result is the murder of the unfortunate victim with the black spot. The lesson that the author is hoping her readers to gain is that people hold tradition dear to their hearts and never let go. The story also reveals that humans, by their nature, are violent; although every villager hopes that he or she will not be the one who ends up with the black spot, they all have no problem carrying out the stoning of Mrs. Hutchinson. But the most disturbing part of the story is that everyone, even Mrs. Hutchinson's children, enjoy pounding her with stones, and that after the lottery is finished, since only a few hundred people live in the town, they will return to their homes to have their noontime supper, acting as if nothing had ever happened.

Bernice Bobs Her Hair

1. I thought that the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" was pretty good. It was a very easy read because it was a story of realism and familiarity. There were also some humorous parts in the story as well. All in all, it was a very enjoyable read.

2. What F. Scott Fitzgerald reveals about identity in his short story is that identity is a unique quality pertaining to everybody and should be treated with respect by everyone, including the individual who possesses his or her unique identity. Because of its special nature, identity is and should be static, but the person can also attempt to try and change it. Sometimes, other people will not accept someone's identity, and in order to be accepted, that person will change his or her identity and become a whole different person. But eventually, this transformation can cause problems because he or she pretends to be someone they are not, and that person learns to embrace his or her individuality. And in special instances, the person reverts back to his or her true identity while keeping some aspects of the fake one. In the end, Bernice does changes; she and her hair become one. In the 1920s, bobbed hair was a symbol of feminine rebellion and defiance. Bernice seeks her revenge on Marjorie by doing to her what Marjorie did to Bernice; Bernice gets back at Marjorie by cutting off her hair while she sleeps. She also takes revenge on Warren by throwing Marjorie's shorned locks on his front porch in the hopes that he rejects her in the same way he rejected Bernice. The original, long-haired Bernice probably would not have taken revenge on someone who would have embarrassed or wronged her.

John Updike's "A&P"

I though that John Updike's short story "A&P" was very enjoyable. Even though the writing style was strange, it is exactly how somebody the narrator's age would tell a life experience. The narrator was humorous as well; lines like "do you really think it's a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glassjar?" and "a really sweet can" and his nicknames for the girls (Queenie, Plaid, Big Tall Goony-Goony) are a few of these funny aspects. I would definitely recommend this short story.

The narrator of "A&P" is a nineteen-year-old boy named Sammy who works in a supermarket. He notices and is attracted to three teenage girls who are dressed like they just came from the beach. The manager scolds them for not looking presentable and tells them not to come in the store again until they dress properly. Sammy is angered by this and quits on the spot. What the narrator reveals about himself indirectly is that he automatically reacts to something he does not like or agree with without thinking about the reasons or consequences. It is not known if events like this happen often or if it was a first-time occurrence, but Sammy made up his mind that it was offensive enough to leave. He hopes that the three girls will view him as a hero for standing up for them. When he exits the store, however, they did not notice Sammy for they are nowhere to be seen. He also realizes that what he has done will also disappoint his mother and father. Hopefully, Sammy learned that one should calm down and think before doing something rash because the decision might be regretted later, and that sometimes the decisions you make sometimes go unnoticed by other people, even if you do it for their benefit.

Lena & The Swan

I thought that the poem was very sad. I also thought that it was difficult to read, because the attacker was likened to a swan, which is an injustice. Swans are beautiful creatures, and the perpetrator was nothing that could be considered beautiful. The helpless Leda was a true victim.

William Butler Yeats may have used this portrayal of a rape from mythology because it may have sounded less brutal. Using a swan as the rapist may make it more difficult for the reader to realize that a rape had occurred. If one read the poem and could actually understand that a rape had in fact happened, Yates may have wanted to soften the attack by using the swan as an example. Rape is a very difficult subject to talk about, no matter when it occurs, past or present. There are words that are used in this poem from the early twentieth-century that are still used today when discussing rape. "Sudden blow," "staggering girl," "terrified," "shudder" and "broken wall" are just some of these words. Violence is another theme hidden in this poem, and rape was and always will be violent.