I Have More Control

By Ilker Erkut

I am comparing both Taming of the Shrew and the movie Hitch.

In the movie Hitch, the main character Alex Hitch is like a love doctor.  He is called when guys are in need of help when it comes to women.  He plays a character who thinks he understands women.  He finds a woman of his intellectual match, and instead of showing his true feeling, he uses his generic women tips to get what he wants.  In the play The Taming of the Shrew, the character Petruchio is in a similar but different predicament.  He sees Katherine, one of the king’s daughters and declares that she will be his.  Katherine and her sister, Bianca are on the road to marriage.  Petruchio uses his manipulation and cockiness to trick winning her over.  He tricks the king and everyone around him, getting what he wants.  All the events up until the marriage between Katherine and Petruchio has led the book to be called The Taming of the Shrew.  

These scenarios are similar because the male feels that they have a more dominant role in these situations.  Both Alex and Petruchio act as though they understand the women more than they understand themselves.  The women in the situation just sit back and watch it happen, until the end where they show that control is not always the path to take.  Sarah in Hitch, makes Alex realize that she wants someone who is themselves and she wants someone with insecurities and imperfections.  Katherine kisses up to Petruchio making him feel in control, but she is secretly has a plan to get him back for the fake marriage.  According to the play and the movie, control matters in relationships and because of that the characters, like people in real life, learns that control ends badly for whoever has it.  

Quote #1

“Father, ‘tis thus: yourself and all the world that talked of her have talked amiss of her.  If she curst, it is for policy, for she’s not forward, but modest as the dove; she is not hot, but temperate as the morn.  For patience she will prove a second Grissel, and Roman Lucrece for her chastity.  And to conclude, we have ‘greed so well together that upon Sunday is the wedding day.”

(Act 2, Scene 1, Line 307-315, Page 97)

In this scene Petruchio manipulates Katherines father.  The king is definitely believing every word that Petruchio is saying because it seems as though he wants it to be true.  Katherine is having a hard time finding a man because she rubs off as being very nasty to people and shoots down all the men.  The king was desperate for her to find a man.  Petruchio makes it clear to her that something is going to happen between both of them.  Then the father comes in and Petruchio states that Katherine was very lovey dovey when it was just them two talking.  The king accepts and Katherine is furious.  This scene was a prime moment in the play because Petruchio figured out a way to take control of the entire situation.

Alex is the man listening to the conversation.  He was supposed to be that guy who is talking to the girl behind him.  He had it all thought out until this guy shows up.  He had to figure out a way to gain control of the situation considering he is the relationship expert to others.  Alex Hitch walks up behind the man and acts as though he is her boy friend who had to run an errand.  Alex finally gets rid of the guy so he can have a stab at this women.  He played the situation to the point where Sarah, the woman, was already impressed.  After he gets her attention he goes about his conversation in a very “in control” tone of voice.  He explains what every other man would have done in this scenario and he starts the relationship off in a controlling way.

Quote #2

“I am ashamed that women are so simple to offer war where they should kneel for peace, or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway when they are bound to serve, love and obey.”

(Act 5, Scene 2, Line 177-180, Page 219-220)

In this scene Katherine swallows her pride and gives this long speech about how women should be loyal and do what men ask.  It clear that she is tricking Petruchio for later.  She realizes that the only way out of this is to go through with it.    She can take control of the situation later in the marriage and make Petruchio realize he should have never conned her into the marriage.  This little speech of her almost seems scripted considering all the hatred she had toward him in previous conversations about it.

Allegra Cole, the women with the blond hair, thought Albert Brenderman was tricking her and instead of sticking with him like Katherine would have done, she left.  She continued her life without him.  Alex hitch agreed to meet with her to explain that Albert truly loves her and that he was not tricking her.  Albert just needed someone to guide him around his own insecurities.  Petruchio had so much self confidence that everything he said was cocky and always sounded like there was more behind what he was saying.  It almost as if people like Petruchio are the only one who can get the best women because he is cocky and great guys like Albert cannot because they are nice and always scared to make a bad impression.  This is what the world has come to.

Quote #3

“I know not what to say, but give me your hands.  God send you joy, Petruchio.  ‘Tis a match.”

(Act 2, Scene 1, Line 338-339, Page 97)

At the end of both Taming of the Shrew and Hitch, the men with the control are in predicaments.  Hitch realizes in the last scene of the movie that control was able to get him, women and the respect but never allowed him to connect with the girls on a personal level.  He was never able to fall in love with them, it was a game that he always had to win.  Now he is chasing the women he tried so hard to impress.  In Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio is mind blown to see that Katherine is so satisfied with the idea of marriage even though she doesn’t remotely like him.  The ending throws people off because it is not as expected.  The controller's are being controlled.

Hitch realizes that he needs to make up for all the acting he was using before by showing, Sarah, he truly loves her.  He chases Sarah out of the building and sprints until he gets close enough to jump.  The things that people do for love are crazy.  Sarah gets out of the car and makes sure he is ok.  In the end she explains that she loved him too but wanted him to work for hers.  Petruchio grows more of a liking toward Katherine because she has lightened up so much at the end.  He is ready for the best life, while she is planning how she can get the most out of her arrangement.  

In both The Taming of the Shrew and Hitch, there are a lot of problems with love and relationships.  They both beg you to ask the questions; is love real?  In Taming of the Shrew, it dwells more on the fact that you grow to love someone if you have control over them.  Getting the love and satisfaction they need will not be hard to get because have control.  In Hitch, Alex Hitch is a man who believes in control and being perfect but he realizes near the end of the movie that to truly love there needs to be no control games.  Alex needed to lose his barriers and open up and in the end he almost dies just to show his true feeling toward the women he loved.

Sources -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvbZsDZRBWk

"Hitch (2005)." YouTube. YouTube, 2005. Web. 21 Apr. 2015.

“The Taming of the Shrew”

Holderness, Graham, and William Shakespeare. The Taming of the Shrew. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1989. Print.

Changing World Essay

War is a life changing experience.  People go to war as one person and leave as another; confused and unsure.  Soldiers are taught to kill anyone that is not one of them.  They make killing a second nature.  While in a war, there are various stages that people will go through to cope with the feelings of being  home sick or scared.  In the book “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’ Brian. The men go through the many stages of denial, hoping they do not become killing monsters like the war wants them to be.  They want to come home after war unchanged.  When in a new setting, sometimes it is hard to get comfortable.  Living a life in war, there are many opportunities where there has to be something that no one wants to do.  When alone if the same situation arises, it will go differently because people do not want to become monsters from their line of work.  They are breaking protocol to do the right thing.  There is a lot of adapting to new scenarios and trying to fit in.  People tend to make up their own rules to survive and feel better about themselves.

The first thing that is taught to people who are going into war, is to kill.  It becomes muscle memory and happens constantly to the point where people are beside themselves, trying to put pieces of themselves together and not losing all normal aspects of themselves.  It becomes very hard to leave war unharmed mentally unless the soldiers use the denial to keep them sane.  “You’re right” he said  “All you can do is be nice.  Treat them decent you know?”(Page 123)   The last thing soldiers need is another dead body.  They go through so much hardship getting used to the fact that killing is okay.  The less kills, the better it is for their mental state of the mind.  It keeps them human.  The rule is that if a citizen is seen they have to be killed because they could go back to wherever they live and tell everyone that Americans are here with guns.  The man who was quoted is Henry Dobbins.  He is one of the characters in “The Things They Carried.   So Henry Dobbins sparing the two men in the church was risky but necessary.

          In some situations disobeying could have two positive reactions.  In “The Things They Carried Dave Jensen and Lee Shrunk were not very close, but they went through a series of events them allowed them to grow as partners.  They respected each other.  There agreement was that if one in a near death situation because they got shot etc, the other would kill them to put them out of the misery.  “In late August they made a pact that if one of them should ever get totally fucked up-- a wheelchair wound--the other guy would automatically find a way to end it.”(Page 66) Jenson disobeyed Strunk, but not because he was doing the right thing but because he was scared to kill his friend.  He was very lucky to find out that his friend was dead because that was Jensen's original wish.  He disobeyed him because he knew that if he survived he could still live with one leg.  But the fact that he died was still pleasing because Jenson’s wish was granted.

There are many symbols of respect in the world.  It real respect when its someone that there is no knowledge of.  When Henry Dobbins was in the church with two older men.  The rule is to kill anyone on site because they could report to others that Americans are in their territory.  Henry trusted these two men enough to risk the whole operation because of their hospitality.    The two older men gave the soldiers a place to stay for a little bit.  Out of respect he made a washing hands symbol.  “Henry Dobbins made the washing motion with his hands.”(Page 123)  Dobbins is given specific orders than any foreigners seen should be shot on sight, but he finds a spot in his heart for the people at the church for helping them even though the war is going on. It is as if he was cleansing himself for all the killings and crimes committed in Henry’s time as a soldier.  He shows them a sign of respect and spares their lives.

Many people will find it hard to read this book because of the lying and mixed memories.  Through out the book Tim tells stories.  He is constantly throwing in hints that he is not sure of the story.  But by the end it is obvious that he is lying for a great amount of it.  Whats real and whats not?  “A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth.” Throughout the book Tim O’Brien is lying about his life to the audience.  He writes stories that many people believe to be real until people realize that he is just writing stories that are made up.  It makes people feel that they cannot believe what they read.  Tim O'Brien cannot tell truth from lie.  He was doing this because he was trying to get the viewers to understand how he felt after the war.  His mind was fuzzy.  He had been through a great deal of danger and tragedy.  

There are stories about war and how many people were saved and lots of great things happen.  But when put under the scope, the way people turn out after war is more visible.  The pain, weakness, death and living standards are what makes it hard.  Death becomes second nature, a sixth cent and something to be used to.  Many soldiers feel the need to shoot themselves because they cannot handle the pressure and lifestyle.  These soldiers get dishonorably let go and become frowned upon by anyone that has met them in the war.  As great as it is to get away, it feels just as bad to be bullied because they aren’t tough enough.  The only way to stay true to yourself is to disobey and keep things as normal as possible where they can.   There is a lot of adapting to new scenarios and trying to fit in.  People tend to make up their own rules to survive and feel better about themselves.

Narrative

I remember one day, years ago in spring and I was getting ready for school.  As soon as I was finished and ready to go to the door and leave, I realized I should close all the windows just in case.  I was very skeptical about everything.  I thought about the worst.  It gave me a little sense of adventure.  I went back to the door after closing all the windows.  I was just about to leave when my dad asked “Who closed all the window?”  I told him that I did it because I did not want anything coming in while we were out.  I was a very skeptical kid growing up.  I did not want to be robbed, kidnapped etc.  I wanted to feel as safe as possible.  I always did little things like closing the windows or locking my bedroom door.  I put so much thought into everything I did because I knew one day I would be ready for anything.  He said in a very frustrated voice that he did not need me to do that and that we would be fine.  I found it interesting that he said that because he normally closes the windows himself.  I was not sure why he was mad but I apologized and left.  I went to school wondering what the big fuss was about leaving it open.  On the way home it started raining a lot.  There were things flying through the air.  It was like a mini hurricane.  Luckily for me I did not live very far so I ran to my house.  Once I stepped inside I panicked.  Every window was open.  At the time we also did not have screens because we were planning on getting new ones.  I calmed myself down and decided to close the window closest to the door.  Then I ran down to my living room.  It was like a pool.  I went to close all the windows.   I knew that all of our belongings would have been soaked.  I ended cleaning up the mess by myself for about 2 hours.  When my dad got home I did not expect an apology.  It really was not that big of a deal to him.  But I knew I did the right that and that if he just listened to me our house wouldn’t be so destroyed.  

Henry Dobbins is in a place where not following orders and or trying to leave the base is considered a wimp.  It is considered disrespectful to the service and he would probably be hated for the rest of his time there.  He was given direct orders to kill anyone seen, but the people at the church, he knew were harmless and he did not kill them because of that.  The old men that knew the Americans intentions gave them shelter and food to live.  It was very noble and risky chance to take.  But in the end it worked out.  There are many experiences where I broke the rules and cut corners for the right reasons.  No matter what people said I knew I had the right intent and that in the end it would be fine.  I felt a connection with that he did and I agreed with his decision to keep them alive.

Works Cited for Analytical Essay:

http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/2330.Tim_O_Brien

"Tim O'Brien Quotes." Tim O'Brien Quotes (Author of The Things They Carried). Good Reads, n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2015.

The Book “The Things They Carried”

O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried: A Work of Fiction. New York: Broadway, 1998. Print.

Ilker Erkut

100% Percent Sure

Have you ever been in trouble with a group of friends and you know you are wrong and change the story to save yourself?  Well I have done that a good amount of times and I am going to be explaining the biases of objective truths. I know everyone has been here at one point in time where they did not want to get in trouble, so they would change what really happened so that the adult or person in charge couldn’t give punishment because they did not know who did it.  Also I have the point of view of someone telling the truth but still getting in trouble because of the other person lying.  Sometimes lying isn’t the smartest thing to do because certain people do not take the time to find the real culprit.  In the end everyone will get punished and then your strategy of using objective truth will fail.  There are many time where it is a good thing to use as well

One personal time when I had to deal with objective truth was when I was in middle school.  I remember getting into a little scuffle.  I did not start it or even really protect myself, I just wanted it to end before either of us got in trouble.  But we ended up getting caught and going to the deans office.  

“So tell me what happened”  said the dean

“___ attacked me for no reason.  I tried to get him off rather than fighting back so I did not get in trouble.  I never fought back” I said trying not to get in trouble again that year.

“Ok, lets hear your story ____” said the dean

“He said something racist to me and I was offended so I fought him” he said lying.

In the end we both got in trouble and his plan did not work.  I felt very mad because it was all very unnecessary.  But I knew either way we were going to get in trouble.  I took the punishment and we became friends a long time after that.  

I thought of this moment in my life again when I read the short story “In The Grove.” I thought it was very accurate to how many situations get played out.  If there are no witnesses than there is no case.  “Yes ... without taking his life. I had no wish to kill him. I was about to run away from the grove, leaving the woman behind in tears, when she frantically clung to my arm. In broken fragments of words, she asked that either her husband or I die. She said it was more trying than death to have her shame known to two men. She gasped out that she wanted to be the wife of whichever survived. Then a furious desire to kill him seized me.”  This quotes really spoke to me because it basically sums up my essay.  Its one of the quotes that I found in the story that came close to the topic of my story.  She made him choose whether or not to kill the husband or kill himself.  He decided to kill the man because he in the situation he did not want to die.  Also the women was not even known as a culprit in the investigation because the investigation was for her husband.  So they immediately looked at everyone else as the bad guys and her as the victim.

The main reason people lie is to not suffer the consequences of what they have done wrong.  It could be to save someone from an unwanted truth.  But most of the time its because they realize what they did was wrong and they know if they accept the punishment it will not be worth it.  Telling the truth does not always bring out the best result.  Also lying might save them from being judged.  If what you did affected someone else or a group of people than those people might judge you for it.  So why not just lie?  I even think that it is inviting and inevitable.  You almost know someone is going to change the story around to save himself.  Its ment to happen in almost every situation without a witness.  Thats when people start getting into race and stereotypes.  The spectators or people around the scene will most likely pick the person that looks like they would cause a problem.  The biases people have are towards clothes, race and language use, such as slang.  That is how a lot of people get away with things.  They act really nice and mature and trick peoples minds.  They make it seem like they are the victims.  These are some ideas of where bias gets put into play and some situations.

Have you ever been in trouble and did not want to get punished or judged because you did not realize how much drama your action would cause?  Well I have been through that a good amount of times and now you know one of my best stories.  I have also proved my point with a quote from the story that gave me the idea to write this essay. I know everyone has been here at one point in time where they did not want to get in trouble, so they would change what really happened so that the adult or person in charge couldn’t give punishment because they did not know who did it.  Also I have the point of view of someone telling the truth but still getting in trouble because of the fact that the other person lied.  Sometimes lying isn’t the smartest thing to do because certain people do not take the time to find the real culprit.  In the end everyone will get punished and then your strategy of using objective truth will fail.  There are many times where it is a good thing to use as well.  I hope that you have learned from my personal essay.  Do not judge anyone or believe anyone till you have 100% facts that you are correct.

Ilker Erkut

Creative Story

It started with a man, who spoke like everyone else.  Just kidding, he was the only person to live at the time.  His name was Monkemon.  He was not all human but had some animal in him.  What is the animal!?  It was a monkey.  He was what the people from my time called a caveman.  Before he was born, he lived in his egg which was under a banana tree.  It has not grown any bananas in centuries.  But one day a banana grew bigger and bigger, until it fell off the tree into a banana shaped cup.  The banana fit perfectly, just like when a basketball goes into the net without hitting the rim.  His egg slowly started cracking and... BOOM.  Monkemon jumped out of the egg and the sun rose and everything sparkled.  Next thing, the banana tree grew tons of banana’s and everything around him became full of life.  He searched long and hard for any other life form.  Later on he found a monkey; a girl monkey laying under a banana tree on the other side of the land.  Never in his life has he ever seen one, till now.  He could understand her and he felt comfortable with her.  They went on countless adventures till, one night they had been through a lot, and they were really tired.  The next morning they woke up together and did not say much but, they were not sure what happened that night .  

Later on in their adventures the monkey made offspring.  There were two babies,  that both spoke differently.  

“Uh Uh-Ah Ah” said the more monkey looking baby.

“Googoo Gaagaa” said the more human looking baby.

And thats when their imagination went wild and they started experimenting.  They guessed that since Monkemon is a “caveman” he gave one baby more human features and traits, while the girl monkey gave the other baby monkey features .  

They were intrigued by the idea of differences in their babies.  They settled on the fact that there were no more life forms, so they started making more and more babies.  After about a year of producing, they stopped.  They had about 400 children.  They had some older than others and some could understand better than others.  After a certain point they let them go on and adventure so that their kids could have a similar life as they did and produce to make new kinds of life.  One of our children are fortunate enough to find what we call now a “fish”  He was the only child out of them all 400 that found a new species and produced.  After years of producing and experiencing they finally had a full community of many different looking and speaking creatures.  It almost was a burden.  No one could really understand anyone.  You had some people talking like…

“Helluhuh-Ahah” said the monkey/humans.

“Hello” said the humans.

“Hello” the fish humans said very low.

Fish do not really talk, they communicate with each other differently, so when you have a fish and a human, then it is what we call a shy human.  

Everyone became friends with the people that they could understand.  They started living in different parts of the world with the people that they could communicate with and thats when the world started developing.  Hundreds of years later I was born.  My name is Moose.  I am just revealing my ancestors life story; as you can see I have a pretty big family.  But I had to tell you all of this so that I could reveal the big secret.  I AM THE MONK OF MY FAMILY.  I was given the power to understand every language, accent and noise coming out of a living thing.   Wherever I go I can understand everyone and can change the way I speak to match theirs.  I am not sure how this came to be.  I feel as though my people that each had different accents in their past, which made it diverse because they both understood completely different languages, which give me this power.  I walk around and see people being made fun of or reprimanded for not speaking right.  But honestly I think that people who hear a new language or different accent, are making fun of them so that they can add more people to their way of speaking.  Its like negative motivation.  They do not care for them but they are adding more to their “army” and have more people to carry on the language and extinguish the other languages.  But that will not happen with me around or anyone like me in the world.  I cannot travel like my ancestors used to, because we need money to travel rather than just walk and explore.  I have not been able to explore and carry on my parents legacy.  I have decided to stop what I am doing because  being a 26 year old man, I have a long life ahead of me.

Next thing I know I am on a flight to Asia.  I started from right and I am making my way left on the global map.  I can figure out people like me because they will speak to me similarly but with an aspect of an animal.  I finally get to Russia and start my search with nothing else in mind.  I go from country to country and have not found anything NEW or UNIQUE.  Then that gave me a thought, maybe I was the last of my kind and the exploring ended with me.  I had all the accents and languages so that it would cut out all the traveling.  As much I want to believe that is not true, that is the only logical explanation.  As soon as I catch the plain to go back to Greenland I meet someone that is very shy and has weird movements when not talking.  I instantly knew that, that was one of family descendents.  He had very fish-like speaking.  After meeting him on the plain and discussing each others opinions on our parents expectations I reflected on the day.  I had the craziest idea that people that speak differently might have animal features in them.  When I say that the man I met today was like a fish, I meant it as what my parents called them hundred and thousands of years ago.  He is not actually like a fish, but it made sense.  Some animals interact differently.  Some are more high temperament just like people with high temperament.  It was pretty adventurous thought that I did not want to get into.  I have found yet another member of my family and can travel the world with him, to continue our future .  We went back to Greenland...