CREATIVE PIECE

The boy could tell that his father was nervous. They had experience road rats before, but there was something around them that seemed to be communicating with the boy. Was there someone else around? Not yet. The boy already ruled that out. What was it? The boy soon began to hear the sounds of heavy footsteps coming from the tunnel. Footsteps coming from multiple people. The boy didn’t have to read his father’s expression to know that the road rats were getting closer. But something else was catching the boy’s attention: Everything around him began changing. The leftover leaves in the trees began to dance in the wind. The wind began moaning and groaning. The leaves on the ground began to shiver with fear. Everything around him was sounding like it was dying a second time. The boy still didn’t think the trees were afraid of the road rats. He looked at his father. Somehow, the boy knew when to look. He glanced at the man’s pocket, even though he was extremely tire from the traveling. The silver gun was now visible. He wouldn’t do that, the boy thought. Why would he kill them? The army of footsteps began more distinct. The man never broke eye contact with the tunnel entrance. The boy knew that they would be getting out of the car soon, but all he could watch was the gun slowly making its way out of the ripped pocket. He wouldn’t actually kill, would he?

RATIONALE

The piece that I have written would be inserted into page 61, when the man and the boy first encounter road rats at the entrance to the tunnel. This piece is essentially supposed to represent a couple of small things. I wanted to write from the boy’s perspective since in the book, we hear a lot from the man’s perspective. The boy is probably from eight to ten years old, so I wanted to take a closer look at how he would react to surprising elements in a broken environment like this. The boy, in my piece, is very curious about what his father is capable of doing, and if he’s actually going to try to kill the road rats. The boy has just been following the man’s path in the journey, and audiences never really get to read about the boy’s thoughts, opinions, questions, or fears. The boy is a very important character, and that’s why I think McCarthy Another element I wanted to add was sound. I have read enough of the visual aids in The Road probably by the end of the first few pages. I wanted to take the story and tell it an another, interesting way. I wanted to describe now only what the environment looks like, but also what it sounds like. The trees creaking and cracking, the leaves rustling and shivering, the wind “moaning and groaning.” A theme that I think should be considered is the idea of murder. Even though the boy is in a state where anything could die, he’s never actually seen somebody get killed. When the boy finds out that his father has a gun, he automatically guesses that he is planning on killing the road rats. I wanted to explore this topic, especially since murder would be soon witness by a small child. I also wanted to tackle the idea of knowing the difference between a good guy and a bad guy. When the man and the boy hear the road rats coming, the man is already getting ready to jump out of the car and later pull out his pistol. The boy is trying to understand that the road rats are bad guys, but that is only because of how the father is reacting to only the sound of footsteps. In a world like this, it would be automatic for someone to not trust anybody, as they are afraid of being backstabbed. However, I wanted to use my piece and describe the boy’s confusion as to how the man knows that the road rats are, in fact, bad guys.

Petruchio and Buddy the Elf may have goals that are somewhat the same, but the tactics they use are quite different. Petruchio throws himself at Katherine and acts aggressive with the support of his friends. Buddy the Elf, however, is very silly, especially when he eventually asks his interest out on a date. These two situations show the different kinds of humor that love and romance have, but they also show the differences in which men treat women.  

“Thou must be married to no man but me. For I am he am born to tame you, Kate, And bring you from a wild Kate to a Kate conformable as other household Kates.”

(Act 2, Scene 1, Lines 290 - 293)

In this quote, Petruchio is confronting Katherine, demanding that he will marry her with nothing getting in his way. He is stating that he will eventually tame her, going from a “wild” Kate to a normal Kate. No other man will marry Katherine but Petruchio.

Another Petruchio, Buddy the Elf, finds himself in a somewhat similar situation, although the way he handles himself is very different.

In the middle of the movie “Elf,” Buddy meets a beautiful employee in a little christmas store while wandering in the mall, and instantly develops a crush on her. Unlike Petruchio, Buddy doesn’t have the desire to ask someone out on a date until he meets the girl. Also the girl, Jovie, is similar to Katherine in this scene because she tried to avoid talking to anyone, including Buddy. She does this because she is “just trying to get through the holidays.” This fuels the humor in the movie, especially showing how innocent Buddy is.

“Now must the world point at poor Katherine and say ‘Lo, there is mad Petruchio’s wife, if it would please him come and marry her.’ “

(Act 3, Scene 2, Lines 18 - 20)

In this quote, Katherine is complaining to Tranio (disguised as Lucentio) that she cannot do anything to stop the marriage. She feels ignored and that no one wants to help her, and instead congratulate Petruchio for marrying her. In the time when the play was written, women were not treated with the respect that they deserved and were given little say in major decisions Katherine is treated like that in this scene.

However in Elf, Jovie seems to have been tamed much faster than Katherine.

When Buddy attempts to ask Jovie out on a date, she actually says yes to him. He takes her all around New York, looking at christmas trees and ice skating. It is somehow these little things that cause Jovie to like Buddy back. It makes Buddy so happy that he runs into his father’s workspace and shouts, “I’m in love and I don’t care who knows it!” Not only does this moment compare to most modern relationships, it also compares to the way Petruchio treats Katherine. He forces himself on Katherine, destined to marry her, while Buddy treats Jovie with respect and has fun on his date.

Analytical Essay:

When people talk about fate, their first instinct immediately tells them that they are in control of their own lives and not fate. In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried,” many soldiers show their interactions with one another by opening up to each other and trying to work together as a team. The relationship between the self and the changing world is that the the world is aware of individuals and revolves around them.

O’Brien uses a certain small character, named Curt Lemon, in one of the chapters of The Things They Carried to show how the character handled one of his fears in front of his fellow soldiers. In a small chapter of the book, the soldiers are scheduled to have their teeth cleaned by the dentist. When Curt Lemon finds out about this, his attitude changes completely. He switches from being “the tough guy” to spending some time alone in silence. “No way. Count me out. Nobody messes with these teeth.” (pg. 87) Curt Lemon was always playing the “tough guy” role, always bossing people around. But Lemon also kept mostly to himself, which made most of the other soldiers feel confused. Curt Lemon was one of those kinds of people who are good at hiding their true emotions. He used authority to hide his fear of the dentist from the others. The changing world set up the situation with the dentist in order to help Lemon cope with his feelings and open up. Though he didn’t actually admit to being afraid, it was clear to the others that the dentist has caused Lemon’s “assertive” role to disappear.

When soldiers return from their service in war, they usually have many wonderful stories to tell. Some of the stories may sound small to others, but these stories will stick to soldiers for a very long time. The main character, Tim, is reflecting on the stories that get passed around by their friends, and from generation to generation. “Vietnam was full of strange stories, some improbable, some well beyond that, but the stories that will last forever are those that swirl back and forth...between trivia and bedlam...” (pg. 89) The Soldiers who return from war do not realise that war can actually help them discover new traits about themselves, since the war is part of the changing world. The stories that they tell may sound small and meaningless, but in reality, these stories mean a lot to them. War is one of those rare places and situations that causes the soldiers to not only work together as a team, but to also discover hidden traits about them.

Tim O’Brien, the author of The Things They Carried, was actually drafted into Vietnam, which was most likely where his inspiration for the book came from. He based many of his characters on his fellow soldiers who fought alongside with him. “After all, I lived with them for five years while I was writing. In Vietnam people were being rotated constantly, so men you served with you would know six or eight months. These characters are the people I know best.'' (Tim O’Brien; ‘A Storyteller For the War That Won’t End’) The changing world sets itself up to allow people to open up about themselves. Because of this, the people will never forget their true personalities. After O’Brien returned from being drafted into war, he never forgot the “characters” het met during his service. His fellow soldiers inspired O’Brien to create the characters in The Things They Carried based off of them, because their traits and true emotions always stuck with him.

Soldiers play a big part in this novel to prove to some people who may not believe that fate exists. Everyone has their own little world revolving around them and is aware of every move they make. Although fate may not seem important or alive to lots of people, it should concern anyone that wonders how they got to where they are in life, especially soldiers returning from war.

Works Cited for Analytical Essay:

• Bruckner, D.J.R. "A Storyteller For the War That Won't End." N.p., 3 Apr. 1990. Web. 8 Jan. 2015. https://scienceleadership.instructure.com/courses/862/pages/tim-obrien-article-number-1?module_item_id=66183

Narrative Essay:

Every person likes to believe that they have the world revolving around them, but many of them do not believe in fate. Lots of people do not like the idea of not being in control of their own life, but they do however believe that everything happens for a reason. I am one of those people who prefer to keep their emotions hidden. People keep their emotions hidden by either acting like a jerk, or being the “funny guy.”

When I entered high school, I wanted to be mature and responsible. So, I hid all of my true emotions – my sadness, my anger towards others, and my love towards others. I hid my feelings by acting very funny, so that no one would believe that I have feelings besides happiness. However, looking back on it, there were still some moments in the last few years where I believed that fate exists. I believed that every situation I’ve been in with my friends was set up in order to get me to open up about my true emotions. Or, the decisions I’ve made helped me get to where I am today.

I was eleven when I became interested in filmmaking, and now I am learning more and more today. Whenever I have time, I stop what I’m doing and remember the journey to how I got here. The day I was interviewed to see if I would get accepted to Science Leadership Academy, my current high school, I presented to the teacher a short film I directed when I was thirteen. They looked very impressed with the final product.

“What was the process like? What was the most challenging part of production?“ they asked, desperate to hear my answers.

Every answer I gave them probably increased my chances of getting accepted, and I indeed did get accepted. I keep reflecting on what I said to them during my interview. I explained thoroughly what the process was like with my small film crew and the equipment we used and how we shot it. A lot of my friends presented science projects in their interviews, which were very interesting, but I think that in a school where there are usually a lot of science projects, it was one film I directed that got me in Science Leadership Academy. And now, When I look at the amazing friends I have here, I now treasure the film I made a few years ago, as it is what got me to be close friends with a lot of awesome people in high school.

The stories do not end there however, because now I’ve had moments with my friends that have caused me to think that maybe fate actually exists. It is as if there is a schedule that I don’t see, but it is there. In my sophomore year of high school, I met someone at school who had somewhat similar interests as me, thought I thought he was really annoying. In the beginning of this year, we ended up in the same video elective class. We were also in the same group to produce a short film for an assignment. I was not looking forward to working with him, but much to my surprise…I was right.

Filming took a long time when it could’ve taken much less time, and he kept bugging me about the editing process. However, now that the assignment is over, I now realize that this project actually gave me new tips on film techniques. I already knew a lot of what my partner was doing, but now I make sure to have pre-production finished before filming begins. This made me think that fate made me work with him in order to increase my filmmaking skills.

Whenever people ask me if I believe in fate, my first instinct would be to say no. Once I have a few seconds to analyze the question, I would turn to saying that it does exist. The changing world that I am characterizing is my growing friendships. They are the ones that move my story forward. My world is aware of me and creates these “scenarios” that create the path of my life. Everyone has their own world that revolves around them, and it shows clear situation examples of how fate can exist.

“The moment we saw each other, we knew it was meant to be.” Almost everybody has heard this phrase on TV or in the movies, but does this happen in real life? Because of this small sentence, lots of people ask how someone could fall in love with someone just by looking at them. Many people assume that people can choose who they fall in love with. However, brains are actually controlled because of the powerful force love has, so they can’t force themselves to love someone – it just happens.  

Looking at the science of it, there are many small components that make someone fall in love with their significant other. For instance, their face. An Australian scientist discovered that women prefer a man with a symmetrical face, which is often considered a sign of good health. In an interview, Dr. Grossman, a physiologist, said, “It’s a survival of the fittest thing. We subconsciously look at their face and say, ‘That’s a great face -- our kids are going to look awesome.” It is a form of judgment, which is a quick one. It takes even less than a second for their brains to make the decision when they first meet someone. This has turned into people calling it “love at first sight.” People, when they meet someone of the opposite sex, tend to visually fixate on the face to see if they will see any signs of any romantic love.

This basic concept of love at first sight has been used in many stories, such as Romeo and Juliet, and West Side Story. However, one of the most popular TV shows, The Big Bang Theory, began with this simple experience: In the pilot episode, two physicists return home from work when they notice a woman moving in across the hall from their apartment. The moment one of the physicists, Leonard Hofstadter, makes eye contact with the woman, Penny, he instantly becomes nervous and begins stuttering when he speaks. At the end of their conversation, he turns to his colleague and says, “Our babies will be smart and beautiful.” Love at first sight is always looked at in a curious manner by most teenagers and adults. They used this concept in the show to send the message. This is a general example of how it only takes within five seconds for someone’s brain to analyse the person they’re meeting and make a decision on whether or not they like them. It is like saying they only get one chance to make a good first impression of themselves.

But love at first sight is not the only example of how we could suddenly end up loving someone. People are most likely to fall in love with people they hang out with every day: Their friends. They can choose their friends, but they can’t choose which of them they are in love with. The love force always starts small, and then it slowly gets bigger, making it more clear to the person as time progresses. It usually takes a few months, but at some point, someone will begin to think of their friend (opposite sex) more often than they’re used to. Specifically, there is such a thing as two lovers with completely different personalities. A professor of physiology said that, "Based on what research evidence shows, similar people are more likely to get together in the first place -- and are also more likely to find satisfaction in their relationship." (Prof. William Ickes) It may be most likely that mismatched couples may not stay together for long, but it is how they loved each other in the first place that makes people curious. It’s like needing a positive charge and a negative charge to make a battery or needing peanut butter and also jelly to make a sandwich. Opposite people who fall in love have brains that somehow attract to each other. It is one of the ways that show how love can happen at any moment, without people knowing.

If people stopped to think about it, they would realize that love is not just about "love at first sight," but also opposites attracting as well. People assume that love is as simple as meeting someone, and then developing an affection towards them. Actually, the powerful force of love is running through their systems every day without them knowing.

Works Cited:

Scott, Jennifer A. "8 Secrets (From Science) For Falling In Love." The Huffington Post. N.p., 2014. Web. 21 Sept. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/07/12/why-do-people-fall-in-love_n_1667527.html>.

DiLonardo, Mary Jo, and This Article Was Originally Published on Upwave.com. "Do Opposites Really Attract?" CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 21 Sept. 2014. <http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/07/living/opposites-attract-upwave-relate/>.

Throughout the course of the year studying in World History, I’ve learned overall how important it is to stay together as a whole community, and not as separate countries. If we fail to contribute to a safe, respectful, cooperate community, then how will we ever have the power to stand up for ourselves? We’ve learned this broad statement over the course of the year by learning about sweatshops, bill of rights, revolution eras, and even colonialism. All of these small topics reflect on the idea that although the world is going through a rough stage of poverty, discrimination, segregation and more, we still need to represent our community by acting as a whole.

When we started the class in the first quarter, we learned that a method (not the best) to stand up for what you believe in is to simply protest in to stop something from happening. It also begins because there are many people out there who want to protest for the own rights, sometimes discrimination rights. In this monologue, I took the role of a boy trying to stop a construction worker from helping out with the recent Keystone XL Pipeline. It showed that people protest because they do not think that some things will turn out to be beneficial for the community.

In the second quarter, We were starting to learn about different cultures, if they are different or not, and what we could do to stop the discrimination. In a journal entry prompt given to us in the beginning of the year, we were asked if it is ever okay to criticize another culture. This relates back to the idea of teamwork and communities because it explains why it is never okay to make fun of somebody else just because of where they come from and what they believe in.

We’re halfway done the year now? Good lord! When we reached the third quarter, we had a big unit focusing on revolutions. We learned that people mostly protested in front of their own government because they heard of recent laws that did not satisfy them. However, instead of finding a way to safely inform the law that they have rights that should be heard, they led to violent protesting. In this digital story, I compared two very important revolutions on how they started and what effects they both made: The French Revolution and the Arab Spring Revolution.

In the final quarter, we worked on a playwriting unit. Basically, we spent several months writing our own plays and have been making stronger every day. Then we got into small groups and rehearsed our plays to perform in front of classmates. The pictures show our performances. What I took from this was that It is very important to listen to instruction so that when you perform the play, you can do your absolute best. I also personally learned that if you feel a little uncomfortable with what your lines say, you can just keep telling yourself that they’re just words on a piece of paper and nothing more. Here is my finalized play.

[construction worker is about to enter gate; son runs up to him]

Oh my god, where is he? Dad? Dad! Hey. I’m fine. Listen, I need you to do me a huge favor. You absolutely have to quit your job. No, really. You need to stop working on this pipeline. It’s not going to help the world. It’s going to pollute everything. Dad! Dad! Look, you need to listen to me. This is important. I did research at home, (yes. Yes, I did research) and I need to tell you what the pipeline will do to us.

Don’t walk away from your own son! I’m serious. Look, just listen. There are a lot of consequences, and I mean a LOT, that’s going to affect the economy. What happens if the pipeline spills? Don’t laugh at me! I am serious about this. You could be part of the construction that’s going to ruin the US. The pipeline is going over, like, 70 streams of drinking water. What happens if it spills? There goes our water! Plus, some researcher in Nebraska estimated that there’s going to be about 90 more spills in the next 50 years, depending on how you construct this monster. Also, (Dad, shut up) the pipeline’s going over the Ogallala Aquifer. Do you understand what’s going to happen there? It spills, and that large amount of water supply is polluted. You need to listen to this information. If this is going to be one of the most longest pipelines in the US, then the oil will probably pollute, like, a hundred fresh water streams. 180,000 oil barrels….into the water supplies.

Oh yeah! You know how there’s going to be 20,000 new construction and manufacturing jobs once the pipeline is finished? Well think again, dad! Those “new jobs” are only for short terms. They’re not going to help anybody. What do you think about that?!

Now, I think I am done here. The tables have turned, dad. You need to listen to me. See those protestors gathering right now? Well, I’m joining them. That’s right. I’m protesting against this pipeline. Your own wife could be out there. And you know what? I don’t care if I get arrested, because that’s going to be me proving a point. Think about it!

Listen, officer. I’m not gonna fight, I’m not gonna argue, but you need to listen to me...can you just watch those handcuffs of yours, they’re scraping my arms. You see? Just taking my though the front doors is not gonna solve anything. More and more people are going to end up here, you know that, right?...not gonna listen to me?...Not at all? Fine, but this time, you don’t tell me to stop, I tell you. Yeah, that’s right. You! So, while you explain to the nice gentlemen up front why I’m here, I’ll explain my side.

Do you have any idea...any idea at all, what everybody was doing at the construction? The pipeline construction! That’s all I need to say. The pipeline construction. (okay now we’re walking) That new one that’s being built right now. The one that’s already surrounded by hundreds...maybe thousands of protesters! I suppose you don’t know what I’m talking about….I’m pretty sure that everyone in this neighborhood knows that the pipeline is totally bad for the environment. That keystone pipeline….how many times did it leak already? One, two, three, four, five, a DOZEN! a dozen times it has already leaked! And this one? It’s going over, like, 70 rivers, streams! Who knows how many times it’s gonna leak! Do you also know about the Ogallala Aquifer? Yeah, that’s right. The pipeline is going to go over that. The Aquifer has a large amount of water supply for about, I don’t know, about 2 million people? No, I will not be quiet. I don’t care if “anything I say can be used against me in a court of law.” The courts need to hear this. Let’s say that the pipeline is constructed over the Ogallala Aquifer. Then what? It leaks….and they lose their drinking water. Boom! gone! You know what else? some researcher from the University of Nebraska is saying that there’s going to be more than 90 spills in the next 50 years.

Oh look. Here we are. My jail cell. I hope you know what you’re doing. It doesn’t matter if you put me in here. There’s going to be more people coming through those front doors. There’s going to be more. Just remember to what I said. Just wait and see what that pipeline of yours does to our country. Just wait and see.

[a man is sitting in the living room, going through tv channels]

Oh, lord. These channels are so boring. Honey! Did you see anything good on tv yesterday? No? Knew it. Hmm….Huh? What’s this? Hey, the keystone pipeline. Oh my god! They already started working on it. Wow! I’m am impressed. Honey, the pipeline is in progress. You know, I’ve been looking stuff up on the internet, and I actually found a lot of good things about this. You know what? I gotta call my friend.

[he takes his phone and dials a number]