Time to Make Your Own Life Choices

A Comparison between the Taming of the Shrew and Coming to America

Social justice is a thing that most people strive for. This includes everything from equal rights among different races to equal rights among different genders. The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare is the story of two different couples going down very different paths to find love. One man needs to fight other men off to win his future bride, while another has to fight his own bride off to earn her respect and adoration. It was written during and about a time where men were thought of and treated as superior beings to women. Since then, times have evolved and so have love stories. Coming to America (1988) is a story of a prince fighting tradition and attempting to find a mate who loves him for who he is on the inside. It is a story of love, deception and comedy. It also displays a strong female lead who knows what she wants and isn’t going to let her father stop her from getting it. Women no longer feel like they need men to be their whole world. This is evident by examples such as those present in the movie Coming to America. Many traditions that used to exist are no longer valid. Even men have more say in their relationships as the parents have a smaller role than ever before. As shown by the differences between Coming to America and Taming of the Shrew, over time, women’s and men’s control over their own lives have become more equal.

The main character in Coming to America is Prince Akeem, played by Eddie Murphy. As the movie opens, Prince Akeem is about to be married to a woman he has never met and is very distraught about the situation. Instead of following tradition and marrying this woman, he decides to take his friend and servant Semmi to America where he can find and earn his bride. However, he believes that any woman that knows who he is will act insincere because of his fortune.

In this early scene from the movie, Akeem and Semmi arrive in the “strange” land of America and realize immediately that they do not fit in. Akeem wants people to see him as a regular person and knows that his current attire is not the way to do it. He decides to put on a charade where acts as a poor person so that the person he falls in love with will love him for who he is. It is for this reason that I compare Prince Akeem to Lucentio from The Taming of the Shrew. Both are trying to earn their way into their future brides’ hearts by acting as commoners. This shows how traditions have evolved, giving kids more power in their own lives. Prince Akeem showed how times have changed by finding his own bride in the dating world. Lucentio, despite putting on this game, still had to have his servant interact with Baptista, the father of the girl he wants to marry, as at that time, the father played an unbelievably large role in the marriage process.

The girl that Prince Akeem will eventually find and fall in love with is Lisa McDowell. Lisa is the character with the most wide-ranging personality in the movie. When she first meets Akeem, she is romantically involved with another man named Darryl Jenks. Darryl is a rich man, but he is insensitive, slightly abusive and an all around obnoxious person.

In this scene Darryl is trying to charm his way into Lisa’s life. I would compare Darryl to the character Petruchio from The Taming of the Shrew. Both characters are very wealthy and use this wealth to try and control their mates. Another big similarity is that both characters feel the need to lock down their girlfriends or companions because of their beauty and wealth. However, at this time, both of their counterparts do not want marriage, so Petruchio and Darryl each lied to the respective fathers saying that they and their girlfriends agreed to get married. They both say this without their girlfriends’ (Katherine and Lisa, respectively) consent, but each is met with a much different result.

In the Taming of the Shrew Petruchio announces that he and Katherine have agreed to be married to which she responds with a lot of anger and sadness.

“Petruchio: ...And to conclude, we have ‘greed so well together that upon Sunday is the wedding day.

Katherine: I’ll see thee hanged on Sunday first.” (Act 2, Scene 1, Lines 314-316)

Despite Katherine’s obvious and severe protests to this potential marriage, no one seems to care. This is mainly because she is a woman at a time where they received little to no respect. Meanwhile, in Coming to America, Darryl announces the same thing about Lisa. At first Lisa is so upset that she storms out of the room, but when she talks to Darryl next she tells him off and breaks up with him saying that they will never be married. Her father supports the potential marriage because of what Darryl has to offer as a caretaker but Lisa does not care. This shows a huge evolution of the female character in a relationship. They have evolved from people that gets no say in their own lives and are forced to stay with whatever men will have them because they cannot provide for themselves, into real people with real rights who can take care of themselves.

Another aspect of relationships that has drastically changed is dating. As evident by the sudden marriage of Petruchio and Katherine, back then, as long as the father was on board, the woman got no say. There was little courtship of the woman, and a great deal courtship toward the father. In The Taming of The Shrew this very tradition occurs, or so Katherine is meant to believe. Despite the fact that it is not true, Petruchio tells Kate that her father agreed to marriage between them and there is nothing she can do about it. While cruel, this was not only possible, but common during this time period.

Petruchio: “Thus in plain terms: your father hath consented that you shall be my wife, your dowry ‘greed on, and will you, nill you, I will marry you. Now Kate, I am a husband for your turn...Here comes your father. Never make denial. I must and will have Katherine to my wife”. (Act 2, Scene 1, Lines 284–295)

In Coming to America the father figure is Cleo McDowell, an upper middle class restaurant owner and father of two daughters. Throughout the movie McDowell is trying to ensure that his eldest daughter, Lisa, not only ends up with the right man, but also ends up with a wealthy man so that he won’t have to worry about her future. It is for this reason that he pushes Darryl on her, and reject Akeem as a potential suitor (until he finds out he is a prince).

In this scene Akeem is shown working at Cleo McDowell’s restaurant as a common janitor. It is for this reason that McDowell rejects him as a suitor, he wants Lisa to have someone who can take care of her and doesn’t care about how she actually feels. This is quite similar to The Taming of The Shrew where the father figure, Baptista, is trying to find the right man for his desirable daughter (Bianca) and any man for his shrewish daughter (Katherine). Baptista talks with suitors seeing who can offer the most to his daughter Bianca, not caring at all for her happiness, and wants to make sure she has a rich husband to provide for her. Here Baptista explains his rules about selling off his daughters, he wants to unload his less desirable daughter before the bidding for his very desirable daughter can begin.

Baptista: Gentlemen, importune me no farther, for how I firmly am resolved you know— that is, not to bestow my youngest daughter before I have a husband for the elder. If either of you both love Katherina, because I know you well and love you well leave shall you have to court her at your pleasure. (Act 1, Scene 1, Lines 48-54)

The two fathers are very similar in both their tactics and their desires for their daughters. The key difference between the two stories is the result. Because of the social convention at the time, Baptista is completely allowed to sell of his daughters like cattle and they would have to do what he says. Meanwhile, during the time of Coming to America McDowell can push whoever he wants to push on Lisa, but she doesn’t need to rely on a man the way that she would have had to in a different time period. She is free to choose whoever she wants, and even be alone if she so chooses.

Tradition has changed quite drastically as time has went on. Coming to America and The Taming of The Shrew are examples of two love stories with the same basic types of characters, goals, and plot lines and yet they are two stories with such different outcomes. Civil rights have made such a huge difference on the way that people act and think in the 21st century. Thankfully women’s and men’s control over their own lives have become more equal.

Works Cited

Coming to America. Dir. John Landis. Perf. Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Shari Headley and James Earl Jones. Paramount Pictures, 1988. Online Movie.

Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shew. New York: Penguin, 1977. Print.

Sources Cited:

Not Cool. Dir. Shane Dawson. Perf. Shane Dawson and Cherami Leigh. Netflix, 01 Sept. 2014. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

The Tactics of the Shrewd

A comparison of The Taming in the Shrew and Amélie

Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew proves that deception has long been a tactic people use to find a romantic partner. Lucentio is the son of a rich man who has traveled to Padua and is determined to gain the love of young, attractive Bianca. He disguises as a tutor, “Cambio,” in order to get closer to Bianca while his servant, Tranio, disguises as him.

In Jeunet’s Amélie (2001), Amélie is a very shy young woman who falls in love with Nino, a man who collects and reassembles discarded photos from a photo booth. However, she is too shy to meet him, so she plays a cat-and-mouse game with him, leading him to various places all across Paris and dropping hints about her identity.

There’s a similarity between their motivations, but a difference in their tactics. Though the genders are reversed, Lucentio and Amélie have the same goal: to gain the love of their respective sweethearts. But, Lucentio has to work around Bianca’s father Baptista, who has said that Bianca shall not court any men until her older sister has gotten married, whereas the only obstacle Amélie has to overcome is her own reticence. Amélie and The Taming of the Shrew both support the message that a little deception in a relationship can be a beneficial thing.

“LUCENTIO, as CAMBIO

 Now mistress, profit you in what you read?

BIANCA

 What, master, read you? First resolve me that.

LUCENTIO, as CAMBIO

 I read that I profess, The Art of Love.”

(Act IV, Scene ii, Page 153)

In this quote, Lucentio is disguised as Cambio, a tutor, and flirting with Bianca while it appears that he is teaching her from a book. His line, “I read that I profess, The Art of Love” is a not-so-subtle way of telling Bianca that he is in love with her. Lucentio’s use of a disguise to get Bianca is similar to Amélie’s use of clues in order to reveal pieces of her identity to Nino and eventually meet him: they’re both acts of deception. Their tactics are different though, Lucentio is disguised as another person while his servant is disguised as him, whereas Amélie never actually disguises as anyone but keeps her identity clandestine. This also means that Nino and Bianca, despite the gender differences, are similar in one aspect: they are the targets of the protagonist’s affection and deception.

Here’s an example of Amélie’s deception.

In this scene, Amélie (center) leads Nino (left) across a local park with arrows in order to arrive him at his scrapbook which he had lost when it fell off of his motorcycle, all without revealing herself. She avoids communicating with her partner until it is necessary, unlike Lucentio, who disguises as someone else and then reveals himself later.

“Love wrought these miracles. Bianca’s love

Made me exchange my state with Tranio,

While he did bear my countenance in the town,

And happily I have arrived at the last

Unto the wished haven of my bliss.”

(Act V, Scene i, Page 203)

When Lucentio delivers this quote, it is near the end of the play and he has married Bianca. When closely examining Lucentio’s strategy, it’s surprising it worked. There are many things that could have gone wrong during its operation: Bianca might not have immediately fallen in love with Lucentio like she did, or Lucentio could have been found out by Bianca’s father, or Petruchio could have failed to court Katherine which would’ve meant that Bianca couldn’t marry, and so on. So, even though the scenario where Lucentio and Bianca marry isn’t realistic, Shakespeare chose to write it that way.

Amélie has a similarly unrealistic plan. She creates an elaborate path that will eventually lead Nino to her, but there are also many possible complications: she could lose track of him or he could lose track of her, Nino could lose interest, and so on. However, it worked out regardless and they ended up together.

Comparing "The Taming of the Shrew" to "While You Were Sleeping".

In the play  The Taming of the Shrew, Bianca is controlled by her father Baptista because her older sister needs to get married first in order for Bianca to get married. In the 1995 movie “While You Were Sleeping,” the main character Lucy does not have her family anymore until she saves a man that she fell in love with every time she saw him at the train station. His family believes they are engaged because the nurse at the hospital introduced her as his fiancé. She becomes a part of the family until the truth is revealed that she never met Peter.

          The Taming of the Shrew, has a viewpoint where the father decides who his daughter will marry, which will affect their relationship. The movie, “While You Were Sleeping,” shows a different way on how family acts to relationships, than the family from the “Shrew.” These two texts show that family involvement has changed over time because nowadays people pick who they are going to marry, and back then father or his/her parents decided for them instead.

Baptista:

"Gentlemen, importune me no farther, For how I firmly am resolved you know; That is, not bestow my youngest daughter. Before I have a husband for the elder: If either of you both love Katharina, Because I know you well and love you well, Leave shall you have to court her at your pleasure"

(Act 1, Scene 1, 48-54)

         In the “Shrew” Baptista is the father of Bianca and Katharina. Both of the daughters want to get married although there has to be a certain order of who is going to be first. The eldest, Katherina, has to get married before Bianca. The play shows that the family is affecting the potential engagement of Bianca and a suitor because Baptista is controlling who is going to get married first. Katherina does not have any suitors for her bitter attitude, therefore for Bianca to get married, it seems as though it will be a while because nobody wants to marry a witch.

Similar but not exactly like the play, “While You Were Sleeping” also shows that family has an influence on relationships. Lucy, the main character does not want to deny that she is not going to marry Peter because Peter’s family thinks they are engaged, and in love and doesn’t want to upset the family.

  Lucy does not have her family anymore and she decides who she wants to be with. Every morning she works at the train station where she sees a man named Peter. He takes the train to his work and Lucy fell in love with him right away. She never met him, but in her opinion it was the love at first sight. He was just perfect. When he is pushed on the train tracks by other men, he is not at first aware and Lucy saves his life. When he gets to the hospital the nurse heard Lucy talking to herself about her wanting to marry Peter. When Lucy walked into his room they told her he was in the coma. His family came to the hospital and they did not know who Lucy was, but the nurse introduced her as his fiancé. Peter’s family did not know what was going on, but when they heard from the doctor that Lucy saved his life they were happy and approved of the “engagement” immediately.

         His family became like her family while Peter was in the coma, and they treated her like their daughter. Lucy did not know how to say “no” to being engaged to Peter so she just went along with it. This scenario shows that his family affected their “engagement” because they were inviting her for family gatherings and accepted her because she saved his life without knowing her before.

         This scene is similar to the “Shrew” because it shows how even Peter’s family controls their ‘engagement’ because they accepted Lucy for what she did. The family was so kind that Lucy didn’t want to break their hearts. The only difference between the movie and the play is that Lucy does not have a sister that affects if she has to wait for to get married or not.

Baptista:

"Content you, gentlemen. I will compound this strife. ‘Tis deeds must win the prize, and he of both that can assure my daughter greatest dower shall have my Bianca’s love. Say, Signior Gremio, what can you assure her?"

(Act 2, Scene 1, 361-365)

         Baptista also wants to make sure his daughter in this situation finds someone who is good. He want the best for his kids and in the play, Baptista wants to make sure their daughter will have a good life and not worry about making sure they have things to survive. The play shows that the man should be able to provide for the family. In order for the father to agree on his daughter getting married he needs to make sure the suitor is the right man for her. 

          The movie is a little bit different because the play was written a lot of years ago. The movie was produced in 1995 and shows more of a modern relationship.

Work Cited:

Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew;. Washington Square, 1992. Print.

50 First Dates. Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment :, 2004. Film.  

Of the billions of people on the planet, all of them have different experiences. Eventually, unfortunate things happen to them. Something as simple as a new, inconvenient class schedule at school, or something as serious as the death of a loved one. When these things happen, some sort of lifestyle change occurs. Maybe, as a result of the schedule change, a student has to wake up earlier. Or maybe, as a result of a spouse’s death, a man has to live without a wife. People can change, but change isn’t easy. All people have and need a coping mechanism in order to survive their changing world.

In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, Jimmy Cross is a platoon leader in charge of O’Brien and a group of American soldiers in Vietnam during the war. Cross is still infatuated with a his teenage crush, Martha, from years ago. This quote on page 1 shows his obsession: “he [Cross] would dig his foxhole, wash his hands under a canteen, unwrap the letters, hold them with the tips of his fingers, and spend the last hour of light pretending. He would imagine romantic camping trips into the White Mountains in New Hampshire. He would sometimes taste the envelope flaps, knowing her tongue had been there.” Cross is still attached to Martha not just because he can’t help it, but because it’s his way of coping with being a soldier in Vietnam. Each day, their troop wakes up at dawn, walks practically the whole day, then sleeps for a few hours. Day in and day out. It’s understandable that Cross needs to remember Martha to remember what home was like and to remember that if all goes well, he can get back to her.

On page 239, O’Brien explains the importance of storytelling during wartime to the reader: “We kept the dead alive with stories. When Ted Lavender was shot in the head, the men talked about how they'd never seen him so mellow, how tranquil he was, how it wasn't the bullet but the tranquilizers that blew his mind. He wasn't dead, just laid-back.” By telling each other stores, O’Brien and his comrades can, for a little while, escape the war, socialize, and have fun. A good story engages the listener and takes him or her into a different world. Without them, it would be much harder for the soldiers to deal with the gruelling daily routine. Storytelling is another coping mechanism that O’Brien and company utilize to survive the ever-changing war.

On page 33, O’Brien describes the character of Ted Lavender, a fellow soldier: “Like when Ted Lavender went too heavy on the tranquilizers. ‘How's the war today?’ somebody would say, and Ted Lavender would give a soft, spacey smile and say, ‘Mellow, man. We got ourselves a nice mellow war today.’” The tranquilizers make him sleepy and happy but still able to walk, so they’re the perfect mechanism to make the world a little more tolerable. Soldiers in Vietnam, particularly O’Brien’s crew, had to walk miles and miles every day. Without a coping mechanism like tranquilizers, they wouldn’t be able to deal with the drudging routine of war.

Here’s a quote from O’Brien in an interview published in the New York Times: “Storytelling is the essential human activity. The harder the situation, the more essential it is. In Vietnam men were constantly telling one another stories about the war. Our unit lost a lot of guys around My Lai, but the stories they told stay around after them. I would be mad not to tell the stories I know.” Again, the soldiers tell stories to other soldiers so that they can briefly escape the war they’re in. “The harder the situation, the more essential it is,” implies that O’Brien has been in plenty of difficult situations and probably has experience where storytelling was necessary at varying degrees to tolerate and get through the situation. His account confirms that having a coping mechanism, such as storytelling, is necessary to survive a changing world.

Tranquilizers, stories, and even dreaming, are all coping mechanisms. When people go through tough times, such mechanisms are essential to carrying on with their lives. Coping is simply a part of human survival. Change arrives in some form, and something has to be done to adjust to that change. That’s what coping is, and it’s how change happens in a person.

Works Cited for Analytical Essay:

• Bruckner, D.J. "A Storyteller For the War That Won't End." New York Times Online. The New York Times. April 3, 1990. Web. October 20, 2009.

• O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990. Print.

Narrative Essay:

One morning, two and a half years ago, my dad gave me an ultimatum. He told me that I had to take up some sort of physical activity. The options he recommended were sports and crossfit. I wasn’t a fan of the competitiveness of most sports and I had never heard of crossfit, so I asked him about crossfit. He explained that it was a fitness regimen for all ages designed to increase cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, speed and strength. I thought that sounded interesting, so I acquiesced.

At the time, I was really skinny for my age and height: 78 pounds. For some reason that I still don’t really understand, I wasn’t hungry often. Even when I was, I usually found whatever I was doing more interesting than food. Though I was told by parents that my weight was unhealthy, I had a bad tendency to ignore them. It didn’t seem unhealthy to me - I was never in pain, and except for occasional pangs of hunger, there weren’t any repercussions.

I started crossfit at the Sweat gym on Main Street, just a few blocks away from my house. I went two days a week to get personal training from Jim, who has been awesome throughout the whole session. I was an awkward kid and I remember saying very little for the first session we had because it was new and scary to me.

Over the next few weeks, I learned a lot of techniques and forms. Deadlifts, presses, front and back squats, cleans, jerks, snatches, and so on, became like second nature to me. Still today they’re embedded in my muscle memory. Knowing form sped up the training process - now I was really doing crossfit. Jim started assigning me actual crossfit workouts. They included a strength and a WOD (“workout of the day”) portion. The strength portion was dedicated to getting PRs (personal records) and the WOD portion was dedicated to completing an amount of exercises as fast as possible or completing as many exercises as possible in a given time.

After a month or so, I was gaining weight. Slowly, but surely - as a kid, I was always growing, but it was happening faster now. My dad had to tell me before I noticed, but when I did, that got me excited. I noticed that I was enjoying crossfit more than I used to. Two months after I started, I went to see the doctor for a checkup. I was now above the eighth percentile in body weight. This is about the time when my trainer opened up his own gym on Ridge Avenue, which is where I worked out from then on.

That’s my favorite part about crossfit, or any sort of exercise regimen. The more you do it, the more accustomed you are to doing it, and the better you get at it, and it’s uphill from there.

Soon, summer ended, and I went back to school - my first year at SLA. Things got complicated pretty quickly. When school ended, I had to take the train to the gym, which made my schedule hectic, given that I get out of school at very different times each weekday. I would walk up the hill on Ridge to the gym, then get driven home by parents. Fortunately, I settled into the not-so-routine routine well enough, and eventually, I went to the gym three times a week.

I did this for about a year and a half. I was gaining weight and increasing in body weight percentile, and the doctor told me during a checkup that my resting heart rate was lower than average (which is a good thing). When 2014 came, Jim bought a new gym. It was this huge, spacious building with a high ceiling just a few blocks away from the previous, and much smaller, location. It was also closer to the train station I got off at, so it was perfect. I went a solid three days a week for months.

Unfortunately, in the recent months in junior year, school caught up with me. I’m still doing crossfit, just at a slower pace - two days a week instead of three. But, crossfit has been immensely helpful in my weight gain process. Two and a half years ago, I was 78 pounds and around the eighth percentile for my weight. Now I’m 128 pounds and nearing the 40th percentile. Crossfit has been the perfect mechanism for me to change myself.

The relationship between self and and the changing world could be very simple or very complex. In a changing world you have 2 types of people the people who adapt to the new changes of the world and the people who decide not to change through all of the changes the world offers and it is a struggle deciphering which of the two is the better choice.

In the changing world  the decision to stay in the behind the world or stay with current times is essential. This is important because this decision could affect your lifestyle with no turning back. I people who tend to make this decision are making the wrong one with the exception of some. A good example of this is the movie “Kickin it old school.” This movie is about a 13 year old boy in 1988 who break dances then slips it coma after a performance. After 15 years he makes the decision to keep breakdancing and make a living off of that. this decision only works for some like him. Another example is a ex-convict getting released from a 10 year or plus sentence and doesn’t really know what to do since he is out. Him not trying to catch up with current times will make him live a life a crime and he is eventually going to be resentenced in jail. So sometimes that decision could change someone's life in a negative way.

In the changing world you have to envision your future at a young age that way when you have to make this decision you will not have a hard time choosing if you rather keep up with current times or to just be left behind by the world. A model example of this are athletes. I say this because athletes can’t just become athletes in the spot. It takes years of practice and training to become at least mediocre at whatever sport you are playing. Sometimes even when you keep up with the world it isn’t a good decision. A excellent example of this is in the book “The things we carried.” In one chapter the pack of soldiers are traveling through a water filled farm and one of the soldiers gets shot the wound was not fatal but they still left him there to die. They did this because they knew they would be shot to if they went back to help the wounded soldier.

In the changing world you must make the decision the decision to be different or to be like everyone else. Both of these decisions could make you miserable. For example say you go to school for being a lawyer being like everyone else you will finish law school but will be very unhappy with the career with choice you have made. Another example is going to law school and you are trying to be different from the rest of the students so you drop out and become an art student you realize that this isn’t going to make you any money to support your self therefore leaving you to drop out and find a minimum wage job and struggle through life.

So in a changing world you have to stay true to yourself or you are going to change your life in a negative way. So in the changing world change for the better.

Works Cited for Analytical Essay:

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/thingscarried/

SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2015.

http://www.metacritic.com/movie/kickin-it-old-skool

"Kickin It Old Skool." Metacritic. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2015.

The relationship between self and and the changing world could be very simple or very complex. In a changing world you have 2 types of people the people who adapt to the new changes of the world and the people who decide not to change through all of the changes the world offers and it is a struggle deciphering which of the two is the better choice.

The changing world has effected my life in many different ways. I say that because I live in an urban inner city area. In my area there are a lot of gangs and drugs around in parks and other public area’s. In changing world being the same will help you survive because if you are not like all the other people around my neighborhood you will be confronted and easily in danger.

A good example is one time i witnessed someone almost get jumped. A gang crowded around him and ask where he was from and he said he was from “7 duce” . This relates to my thesis because since he is like everyone else he avoided being hurt.

The changing world has affected me in a positive as well. In 6th grade we used to have a lot of vocabulary quizzes. Only 2 out of 40 students passed these quizzes. So everyone started to cheat and got great results after cheating. I was the only one not cheating on these test. After going over my grades and seeing that the vocabulary quizzes was bringing down a significant amount of my grade i decided to cheat. The next day we had a quiz and i was ready. I cheated and came to realize I received a 10/10 on the quiz. This relates to my thesis because In a changing world I followed what everyone else was doing and it worked out for the better.

In a changing world there has been some negative decisions that the changing world influenced me to do. Since i choose to be like most people the  changing world i followed thing that were trending. A really vivid example is when a certain shoe was very popular. I when i was about 12 years old a certain of shoe called fubu was very popular. Everyone was wearing them which was ironic because to be different you had to have a pair. So after a couple of weeks of begging my mom for the shoe she finally brought me a pair. Funny thing is I never actually liked the shoe but since everyone had a pair i convinced myself these were something i wanted. When I finally got a chance to wear the shoes the style was already played out. So I got no recognition for the sneakers on my feet and they were actually very uncomfortable. This relates to my thesis because trying to fit in with the changing world got me a bad pair of sneakers and disappointment.   

In a changing world being different is an option as well as being the same. Sometimes it doesn’t work out for someone who is different to be normal. Also sometimes we need to be normal to realize that we are different inside. We only know what’s good for ourselves and this is why this decision is so hard for people because we only know what is best for us. So Internally only we can decide what's best for us in the changing world.

Narrative

The things they carried were what was needed to survive. Carrying them around made the soldiers feel safe, secure, and in some cases comfortable. This shows that there are two types of soldiers. Ones who carry keepsakes and things with meaning to them, and ones who strictly carry weapons to be brought onto the battlefield.  Each individual soldier had to decide if protection or comfort was more important. Each was given basic weapons, but some decided that extra was needed. Pocket knives, steel helmets, fatigue jackets, flack jackets, .45-caliber pistols, and M-60’s were carried for protection. The ones carrying these may have been viewed as brave and war ready, but in reality were the ones who were likely the most scared. People who carry around weapons don’t do it to fight with them, but instead to intimidate their opponent. Soldiers who do this lack courage, and eventually are the ones who become paranoid on and off the battlefield.

Other soldiers decided to carry other things on their journeys. Carrying love letters and Bibles gave the soldiers the motivation to make it back home. It reminded the soldiers that there was more to live for in life. Love and religion are just two of the many things that gave the soldiers hope. This motivation and hope eventually turns into courage. When enough courage is built up a soldier is now able to make it through the war. "They were tough. They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing--these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight. They carried shameful memories . Soldiers in the armed forces are taught and trained to believe fear is a weakness. If fear is spotted in the heart of a soldier, they are considered cowards and have to live on with this reputation forever. In battle, if a soldier sees fear in the eyes of his opponent they are almost certain that they will be victorious. Fear is not something soldiers will admit to, but it is a feeling that is inside of them. This shows that soldiers covered there true feelings by acting brave and heroic, when in actuality they were scared.  These men were put in a situation where they were most likely to die. This would put fear in the heart of anyone. The courageous and confident soldiers were the ones who survived. The determination kept them mentally able to handle the situation and survive the war.  

Courage can be the best weapon on the battlefield if it is used correctly. This is why it is that that It's not the size of the dog in the fight; but the size of the fight in the dog. Courage and determination are stronger than any weapon that can be used on the battlefield. I survived, but it's not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war." This quote shows that when in war, you must not show any emotions of fear towards your opposition. This also proves that having courage and not being afraid are two separate things.  

Soldiers who carry around things inspirational to them are more likely to survive than those who don't. This is because they have spunk. Courage is a soldiers best friend. It’s not always easy to have courage though, thats why imagination is needed to keep sanity.

Citations - 

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

Analytical

I would sit and stare at my plate for as long I can remember making sure I did not accidentally touch a piece of one of the slimy beans on my plate. My mom would start off by telling me that they were good for me, and I needed to eat them, but as the night progressed she would find herself telling me I couldn’t leave the table without eating them or that if I got up it would be my dinner for tomorrow. I would sit there for hours and eventually begin to poke at my food hoping somehow this would make it disappear. Some nights, after an hour of sitting I would just begin to doze off.

I used this time to imagine. I would think of floating in space on a N.A.S.A spaceship, or being a knight in a jousting tournament. I would block out everything else that was going on around me and focus on my daydreams. It was like I had my own little world, one where I did not have to eat vegetables. In these worlds, I could be whatever I wanted to be, and had no one who could stop me. Those times seemed like the best in the world. I was i my happy place and did not want to leave.

On nights when I would be given spinach, I would daydream about eating it and becoming Popeye the Sailor. Often times, I would enjoy doing this and would end up eating my vegetables. Not because I liked the way it tasted, but because I my imagination overpowered my reality. It was like I would eat the leaves of of impulse. While chewing the leaves, I would taste a sugary flavor and begin to enjoy the food. I think my imagination made me think that spinach wasn’t all that bad after all. My mom would come downstairs and say “see, that wasn’t bad at all. You could have been done hour ago”. Most times, I would ignore her and try to get back to my imagination. It was better than anything else around, and unlike TV the episodes were always new and original.

Now that I look back, I see that mind over matter actually works. This all comes from imagination. Tricking your brain into thinking something is actually happening. When you do this you may be able to do things you never thought were possible. If you try it one day it might work out for you.