The Desert Sun

Clouds of dust follow the speeding car as it bursts through the hot desert air. In the comforts of his nice cool car Ronald doesn't have a care in the world. With a full tank of gas and enough chewing gum for a school full of kids, he is going somewhere, doesn't matter where, but somewhere. He cranks up the radio. The blaring music and the engine running at its highest capacity is not a good combination in the heat and it takes its toll. The car engine whines to a halt. The engine is dead, his phone is dead, he is dead. He stands around trying figure out what he is going to do.   He paced around his car. What could he do? He was no Macgyver, but he had to do something. He popped up the hood of his car and looked at what might be the problem. He looked around and found a stream of smoke coming from the radiator.  With that he also saw the engine near the front of the car had a snapped band. He walked over the back seat overlooking he bountiful stock of gum. He looks to his left and then his right. No signs of civilization exist, urging him to hurry. He has no drink except his empty can of Rockstar in his front seat cup-holder; he grabs the can and gulps down the remaining drops of flavor. He still is thirsty; the can didn't help but it was something. He grabs a few packs of gum. He walked up to the engine of his car with the gum in hand. He thought about how to fix the radiator. He shoved a few pieces of um in his mouth and began chewing. The sun was beginning to set. With no water his mouth was dry making it difficult to effectively chew his sticky sweet sensation. He kept chomping on the gum with more force and effort every chew. Eventually he had chewed the gum to a very sticky state. However, it was now dark and he couldn't see a thing. He was unprepared for this and had no light. He sticks the gum right onto the hood of his car due to a lack of better placement He put his hands out to feel his way around. He felt the cool metal of the engine. It was just a tad cooler than the air around. With the sun setting it was actually beginning to be chilly. He continued to move his hands around the car. He slid his hand against the smooth outer plating of the opened hood. He followed this surface to the bottom of the windshield. From this he worked his and to the driver's seat door. He felt around for the handle and slowly but reassuringly found it. He grasps the handle and pulls. The handle comes forward but the door doesn't open. He pulls again, this time harder, nothing. He leans back and pulls even harder, his hand slips and he falls on his butt into the sand. He pushed himself up with his hands. Re-orientating himself with his locations, he found his handle. He tugged... more delicately this time. The door opened, as he stepped into the vehicle he his head on the door frame. He pulls himself into his seat and slams the door shut, he can still feel a breeze. He turns his head towards the left and can see the open passenger door. He takes a second look but decides it would be to tiring to attempt to close it. He slouches down into his seat and takes a deep breath. The light cool breeze begins to whip his hair sideways but it's no matter to him. As his eyes begin to shut, he slouches forward onto the steering wheel. He shifts his body weight unconsciously and makes the horn begin to blare. The sleepy bundle of Ronald jumps to a startled state but the sounds stops when the pressure on the wheel was released. The sound resonated through the empty desert wasteland and transitioned back into an eerie dead silence. He crawls over the center console and into the back seat where he falls asleep. He wakes up just as the sun starts to rise to the left side of his car. With no water he knows that he won’t last long in the scorching heat of day and begins to panic. He has no idea of what to do in this scenario, he doesn’t  know cars so he can’t fix the engine, he can’t survive on the gum and other belongings because he isn’t a survival expert, he is just Ronald. Ronald begins thinking if anyone would forget him or come looking for him. He is a graduate student, he really isn’t popular with other students and doesn’t really have any friends. His parents died when he was in middle school and his parents weren't close with their families. He was nobody to society and even more of a lost soul out here.                                                                
 He grabs a pack of the nearest spearmint pack of gum and shoves it in his pocket. Ronald grasps the inside handle of the left backseat door and tugs at the door. Its locked. He grabs the small pin on the inside ledge of the window and pulls it upward. His hand which was still pulling in the handle is tugged forward as the newly unlocked door springs open. Ronald shrugs it off clambers out head first and tumbles head first into the dirty and sandy road. His feet follow the rest of his body slamming themselves into the ground. Spinning himself around and spitting out the sand and dust in his mouth, he becomes parched and thirsty as ever. He gets up closes the car door and spins on his heels. He remembers that the last stop he made was about an hour before his car died and that was quite a ways back. He was at least hitting 80 most of the time on his drive meaning the stop was almost eighty miles away. He knows it is his really only hope because the nearest stop forward was over 100 miles away. Ronald begins walking away from his car and looks back on his only true pride in life. He looks back as the small car becomes smaller and smaller. 
He continues on, the wind begins to pick up as the sun rises of the horizon. The air becomes hotter and drier as the coolness of morning wears off. The sun imposing and bright makes Ronald turn his head left away from the bright rays of light. Slowly his car and any other remarkable features vanish completely and everything begins to repeat and look exactly the same. He continues minute after minute, hour after hour. His vision becomes less reliable and his mid begins playing tricks on him as he begins feeling the symptoms of dehydration. The sun unloads it reign of its    significantly warming yet harmful rays. Ronald not knowing where he is anymore collapses onto his knees. He looks up towards the clouds through the brightness of the sun and shouts the final of his words on this world, “I Quit.” Not acknowledging the knife before, knowing the temptation of it had been strong, he takes it out of his left rear pocket and quickly but surely ends his life.

Clean Well Lighted Place (Movie Critique)

As we watched the video version of Hemingway's A Clean Well Lighted Place I immediately began to see the differences between paper and film. The first major difference was the location of the old man. I n the story he was seated in the terrace under the shadows of a nearby tree's leaves, however in the video he is seated inside the cafe in a booth underneath a bright light. This makes the old man less mysterious and ruins the effect of the writing.  

The second main difference that I caught almost immediately was the way the old man acted. In the story is a polite almost subtle figure in the video.... he was an obnoxious and annoying man who would yell and repeatedly slammed his glass onto his saucer. I believe the filmmaker did his best to reenact the scenario but to me it was not very close to what Hemingway had written.

TURTLES

The homeless of the sea.

Unreliable speed racer of the reptiles.

Real honey badger of the water.

The not so cute raider of lakes.
Leaf eating lawn mower of fresh water.

Eggs of strength and power.

Seriously the greatest of animals.

Conflict in Guns

When looking up to one of the highest regarded armies in the world, it would not be surprising to be scared. However, in my book Guns For General Washington the continental army isn’t scared and will fight at any cost. This bravery does not stop all problems and this can be seen with the conflicts between soldiers. A highly ranked official Henery, is a huge and almost unobtainable role model  to compare to, this does not seem to matter to his little brother Will. This is definitely a big example of Person vs. Self.

During the beginning of the book the author introduces the scenario of Henery. It describes his importance to the fight for freedom and the plan that he has formulated for weapons. This part of the book also describes his brother Will. It explains the longing to be like his brother.

You can easily tell when the conflict is resolved later on in the book. The ending shows, and pieces together how Will became and achieved his goal becoming a great man along with a admirable soldier. For example he saved a boy from a falling cannon and also problem solved for some of the problems the army faced. His brother is very proud of this and it is apparent that Will has reached his goal of becoming like his brother.

Life...

Life… it is the magic that keeps us ticking. However it is taken for granted in almost every day of our lives, until it is on the line. Then we realize how much it means to be alive. When there is no hope, you discover that it is the most valuable thing you ever were given.

In almost every book there is more than one theme. In The Lost World, survival is one of the most obvious themes. Throughout the entire book the main characters struggle for survival on Isla Nublar. They fight greed, themselves, and the dinosaurs. During these struggles you are taken on an emotional and physical struggle, through which the characters find how important it means to be alive.

There is another example of this theme in the same book. Throughout the story many battles and struggles of the dinosaurs are described. As the dinosaurs try to protect themselves and their young they must compete with predators for life.

There are very many themes that can describe a story. And these themes can be shared between thousands of books. I myself wrote a small short story that actually displays the theme of survival. In this short story Earl the main character, struggles to survive in the cold rainy wilderness. At one point in the story he must overcome fear and escape a grumpy bear.  During this and many more points he is faced with life threatening situations and see how much life means.

This ticking magic is us. It is what makes the separation between background and foreground. The fight for this magic is a very common theme but it is a great one. 

Snow

Snow Plummets 

Radically Spinning and Turning

Out of control

Crashing 

Covering the ground 

Blanketing everything in its path 

Unrelenting 

Everywhere

Slippery

The Step

The Slip 

The Crash 

The Death

The All Seeing Eye

It was evening. The sun turning the sky into many shades of purples, pinks, and oranges. The cool temperatures of night begin to settle. The symphonic noise of crickets gives life to the dead evening. A soft breeze blows in off of the small lake in which swans begin their evening meals. The subtle thunder of cars on the road nearby gives a sort of whispering effect. You begin to hear a heated conversation of two men beneath. As if knowing you heard, there is a bang. One man is left as the other runs into the distance but you must not intervene with humans. You are a magnificent maple. You witness all events and actions of this beautiful dignified place.