|
|
|
|
|
Contents
- Bradbury Bio
- Character analasys of Mercutio (Romeo+Juliet)
- Catcher In the Rye, book report
- The Stranger, book report
- Dune Journal, in depth
Bradbury Biography- Heff
Ray Douglas Bradbury was born on August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois.
He was the third son of Leonard Spaulding Bradbury and Esther Marie
Moberg Bradbury. He began writing short stories in 1931 at the age of
11. Little did he know that through writing these stories he would make
his mark on the world.
In 1934 Ray and his family moved to Los Angeles. Ray attended Los
Angeles High School, and graduated in 1938. This was the end of his
formal education, but he did not give up on learning. He spent long,
late hours at the library and days writing on his typewriter. He sold
newspapers on Los Angeles street corners between 1938 and 1942. His
first published work was "Hollerbochen's Dilemma." It was published in
"Imagination!," an amateur writers magazine, in 1939. In 1943 he gave
up his job selling newspapers and went on to write full-time. From then
on Bradbury dedicated his life to his writing. Some of his most famous
works are "Fahrenheit 451", "I Sing the Body Electric", Dandelion Wine
and Something Wicked This Way Comes. He has won many awards for his
writings, including 3 awards for the Best American Short Story
Collections, the World Fantasy Award, and the Grand Master Award from
the Science Fiction Writers of America. He even has a crater on the
moon named after one of his novels. Most of his works were science
fiction and suspenseful stories. To this day he is still continuing to
write and lecture in his home state of California.
The short story I read, "The October Game," was one of his earlier
works. It was first published in 1948, in a short story magazine. I am
not certain exactly as to why he wrote this story, because it is one of
his less publicized works. My best guess is that it was just a
suspenseful short story of a Halloween game gone terribly wrong, and had
no deep meaning to him. It has been featured in several magazines and
short story collections, such as 13 Halloween Horrors, and continues to
send chills down the spines of its readers to this day.
-------------------
Chris Heffner
Character Analysis on Mercutio
I selected Mercutio for character analysis because of several reasons.
For one, I played him in our group's puppet show. I also find him to be
one of the most interesting characters in the play. He is very amusing,
yet at times serious. He strongly cares for his friends, and even pays
the ultimate cost of his life for them.
I believe Mercutio's main role in Romeo and Juliet is as the comedian,
but he also is a brave companion of Romeo. I liked his humorous
personality, and how he always poked fun at as well as enemies. However
he is more than just a joker. He is a brave companion of Romeo,
Benvolio, and the Montagues. He is willing to fight for his friends.
In the scene shown in our puppet show, the fight scene, Mercutio duels
with Tybalt. He does this to stand up for Romeo, Mercutio's good
friend, who Tybalt is calling a villain. Though Romeo and Benvolio try
to stop the fight, Mercutio is stabbed by Tybalt, and falls. As he lies
dying he says my favorite line of the play, "Ask for me tomorrow and you
shall find me a grave man." His sense of humor sticks with him until
his death.
Mercutio never really changes his ways through out the play, until his
death. As he is about to die he calls for "A plague o' both your
houses." Finally realizing that this pointless feud has gone on to
long.
Mercutio makes himself known early in the play for his nonsensical
ramblings, and constant ridicule of those around them. He pokes fun at
everyone, including Romeo, Tybalt and even Juliet's nurse. However a
fact less known until his death is that he is a kinsman of Prince
Escalus.
--------------------------
Catcher in the Rye report-
I read the book, "The Catcher in the Rye," by J.D. Salinger. It takes
place in and nearby New York City in the mid 40's.
The main character in this book is Holden Caulfield. A troubled teen
attending a private school. He is constantly depressed by the world
around him and, at times, he is very strange and irrational. In the
part of his life this book covers, he lives day to day in New York.
Holden has a sister named Phoebe, who is in elementary school. She is
very smart and amusing, says Holden.
Holden's main problem in this book is what he should do in the few days
between when he ran away from school and when his parents are expecting
him home for Winter Break. Holden decides to leave his school for many
reasons, such as he is flunking out of almost all his classes, his
roommate is going out with his old friend, and he is just sick of going
to Pencey Prep. He ends up going into New York City for a few days.
Holden's problem is solved when he meet's with his little sister on her
lunch break. They decide to go to the zoo. While they are there they
talk about what Holden is going to do with his life. Holden is
convinced by his sister just to go home, rather than to go out west into
an uncertain future.
I enjoyed this book because of all the interesting, funny and
depressing thoughts and experiences that Holden has all in a period of
just a few days. It also paints a good picture of New York in the
1940's. I thought that Holden was a great character, and I wish that
J.D. Salinger had written more books about him.
--------------------
Book Report on The Stranger-
The Stranger By Albert Camus
The book was first published in 1942 as L’Etranger. The Vintage version has
154 pages whilst the Gallimard (French version) has 188 pages.
The book is written in the style called existentialism. At first there were
a set of rules in a set society, there was a status quo. There was a way of
being. But then a foreign element chimes in and shakes those rules. In this
book the foreign destructive element is the main character who commits a
random murder is caught and pleads guilty, he is then sentenced to die by
the guillotine. But the whole trial focuses not on whether or not he
committed the crime but on why. And an additional focus point is his
reaction to his mother’s death. The prosecution’s case is that at his
mother’s funeral he did not shed tears and that he did not she tears.
Overmore, the day after, he meets a woman and goes too see a comedy. All
this serves to upset the social standards and revolts the society’s stuck up
members. As to the murder he feels slightly awkward. He finds the whole
procedure- the judicial system, the jail, the murder and the attention spent
on it, as- interesting. "’Did I regret it? . . . I said that what I felt was
less regret than a kind of vexation."’ This man, a man without a face, a man
who could be you, me or anyone else, had a pleasant life, he was on the
verge of getting married to a beautiful young lady getting promoted to his
company’s Paris offices. He had everything in his future, his friends and
acquaintances liked him. The only thing even close to being bad or
depressing that had happened in his life was that his mother had recently
died. Then while on a pleasant weekend with his fiancée and his friends he
shoots someone- seemingly without a reason.
‘The Stranger’ plays upon human emotions and apathy towards life. How we as
humans sometimes fail to care about our surroundings and we phase out into
our own little world and we become observers of our own lives- "I already
felt worlds away from this courtroom and its tedious ‘proceedings’." The
Stranger shows how many of our social standards are absurd, and how they are
meaningless masks set upon our faces by others, for their own show. How
these masks aid ourselves evade the truth, as well as provide a shield for
others to use.
The setting, hot, summer beach in Algiers, leads to the crime: "But the
light hadn’t changed; it was pounding as fiercely as ever on that stretch of
sand that ended at the rock. . . the sun seemed to make no progress;
becalmed in that sea of steel"
The book makes you see his life through his detached, vaguely interested
eyes- it throws you in his shoes and it makes you feel as if you’re the one
who had committed the crime, as if you’re the one in jail, on trial, as if
you’re living his life. The Stranger is written in a light interesting
manner which completely avoids any touch of boredom, or disinterest. When I
read it forgot about eating and sleeping.
The novel is a quick read, partially due to its shortness (150 some pages)
as well as the gripping story and the way it was written. The Stranger is
very well written (translated actually), very pleasant and interesting.
This book is well worth the sleep loss caused by it.
--------------------------------------
---------------------
In depth journal of Dune-
Dune
by Frank Herbert
6/1 pages 250-350
Inside the Book
In this section of the book Paul and Jessica run into a Fremen party
searching for water. The Fremen try to take them captive but are not
able too because of their combat training. Paul knocks out a Fremen
named Jamis. When recognized by the head of the sietch or community, a
Fremen known as Stilgar, they are taken to the sietch where Paul is
Challenged to a fight with Jamis. Paul knows if he refuses the Fremen
will not accept him and Jessica. Paul ends up having to accept
responsibility for Jamis's wife and children.
Inside Me
I was surprised to find out that Kynes was really a Fremen and even
more surprised that Stilgar was his brother. I thought that he was just
some human paleontologist hired by the empire. I think that it must
have been really hard for Paul-Muad-Dib or Usul ( Paul's Fremen names )
to kill Jamis both physically and mentally. He was trained for shield
fighting and had never fought without one before, so he did not try to
take Jamis out with sharp, fast blows because to penetrate a shield he
would of had to get through using slower attacks. He would have another
disadvantage in that he had never killed a man before, and Jamis had
never done anything really wrong against him knowingly. I predict that
later in this book there will be a confrontation between Usul and
Feyd-Rautha, Baron Harrkonen's nephew and heir.
6/3 pages 350-450
Inside the Book
In this section of the book Jessica is transformed into a Reverend
Mother by drinking a substance called the Water of Life. She drinks
this liquid before the birth of her daughter. When her daughter is born
she knows things many adults don't. The tribe does not except her until
they see that it is a good thing. Paul marries a Fremen woman named
Chani. They have a son named Leto II in honor of Paul-Muad'dib's late
father. While Usul is being tested to become a sandrider they meet up
with his old teacher and friend of his father, Gurney Halleck. After
the combine forces Usul tries to drink the Water of Life which no man
can drink. He survives after a three week coma to find that he is the
Kwisatz Haderach and the Fremen's messiah.
Inside Me
I think that all the people of the Tabr sietch have right to find Alia
, Jessica's daughter, strange. I would think it to be very strange if
my two year old brother were to start talking about things that I
couldn't understand. I have found a similarity in the last three books
I have read. This is that they all have someone who is older giving
their memories to a younger person. The shade of Allanon gave his
memories to Walker Boh so that he could become a druid in The Talismans
of Shannara. The Giver gave all his memories of the old world to Jonas
in The Giver. The old Reverend Mother gave her memories to Jessica now
in Dune. I now understand why swords and daggers are used in combat
instead of guns. This is because if a Laser hits a shield it creates a
nuclear reaction around it.
6/3 pages 450-489
Inside the Book
In this short but exciting section of the book the Harkonnens and the
Saraudakar launch an attack on the Fremen. They do this by setting up a
settlement right behind a rock wall with the Fremen civilization on the
other side. During a great storm Paul-Muad'dib orders his troops to
launch atomics at the wall to destroy the rocks. After this the troops
fire at the settlement. After the storm the troops fight in hand to
hand combat but the Harkonnens and Saraudakar are at two disadvantages,
They have less troops after the attack and they are not used to fighting
in the desert. The Fremen win the battle and take many prisoners
including the Imperial family, Thurfir Hawat, Duke Leto's advisor and
general, and Feyd-Rautha, the Harkonnen Baron now that his uncle was
killed. Feyd-Rautha and Paul-Muad'dib fight in a no shields knife
fight. This fight doesn't just determine which family is stronger but
how the future will be. If Paul loses then the Fremen will go across
the universe killing in his name. Luckily for both present and future
Paul wins.
Inside Me
I thought that this section was the best part of the book. It had the
biggest battle and the biggest dual. I thought that this was a good
book. Though it was slow at some times the exciting ending made up for
it. I liked how it didn't just tell the dialogue but went inside the
head of the characters to tell their thoughts. I think that this made
the book more understandable because at times the plot was pretty
complex and hard to understand. I liked the idea of the raging Fremen
crusaders attempting to conquer the universe in the name of Muad'dib in
Paul's visions of the future. I think that these visions also made the
book easier to understand. I also liked how the author made sandworms
into a mode of transportation though I don't think I would like to ride
one.
My Favorite Web Sites
Home Page
The Worthy Causes Lynx
essay links
Pictures and drawings and pretty flower on beautiful pink meadows . . .