Comparative Essay

“Richard Cory” and “The Unknown Citizen” both takes into account what society views as successful and good. Robinson’s poem tells of a man who appears to have a blissful life due to his outward appearance of wealth. However, his outward appearance is deceiving because he actually has become a social outcast due to people distancing themselves from him. Auden’s poem shows how a complete stranger views an unknown citizen who was a “perfect” member of society. Both poems address societies cliche and meaningless perspective of outward appearance, as well as ironic outcomes and the inability of self assertion.

Both poets give examples of members of society who are perceived as good and well off people based on their outward appearance. In “Richard Cory” the “people on the pavement looked at him”  in awe and envy as they witnessed what they believe to be the epitome of a perfect man. These people are described as being on the pavement because they weren’t “clean favored, and imperially slim” like the idolized Richard Cory who was viewed to be like a demigod who walked on clouds above the “regular” and “average” people. As the story continues, it is told through the eyes of the people admiring htim therefore the reader only sees the physical appearance of Richard, how he is “clean favored, and imperially slim” as well as being “quietly arrayed”. This shallow opinion of him causes his  inner feelings to be disregarded and discarded. Due to the distance that everyone puts between themselves and Richard, he becomes unable to relate to anyone. This causes Richard to develop an emptiness. Despite this image that has been created of this “perfect man”, Richard never did anything to actually set himself apart from anyone. The same is true for the unknown citizen. The unknown citizen lacks a defining moment in his life that makes him more than a robotic drone that is honored by the government. “When there was peace, he was for peace:  when there was war, he went”, depicts how he was a “balloon” that moved where the “wind” pushed him. Both poems show how outward appearance is valued more by society than being a unique person.

Also, both poems address Richard Cory’s and the unknown citizen’s inability to assert themselves as unique members of society. In “Richard Cory” the citizens view Richard as “more worthy” and therefore decide to distance themselves from him. Even though “he was always human when he talked” everyone distanced themselves too much causing Richard to become a detached member of society. Also due to his inability to assert himself he becomes unable to connect with anyone on a personal level. This emptiness and lack of social interaction is ultimately the cause of Richard’s death. The same conflict is present in “The Unknown Citizen”, however, the outcome was different and less tragic. The unknown citizen wasn’t unable to assert himself among people. In fact, he “was popular with his mates” and “normal in every way”. While he seemed to have a good life, like Richard, the unknown citizen never asserted himself as a unique individual. In fact, the “researchers into Public Opinion are content that he held the proper opinions for the time of year”. He never did anything, or even THOUGHT anything different than the State therefore, he was a “perfect citizen”. However, while he may be a so-called “perfect citizen”, he is also an unknown citizen who has lost his identity. Now, instead of a name, he is “known” by JS/07/M/378. This code is used to signify his mediocre existence because no deed in his life was definitive or worth mentioning. He was so “perfect” that he lost his individuality and defining characteristics.  Both characters in each poem lack the inability to assert themselves, therefore causing physical death and the death of individuality.

Both poems have ironic outcomes for the main characters involved. In “Richard Cory”, the townspeople “on the pavement” look up to Richard because he seems to have reached the pinnacle of success. They see all of Richard’s worldly possessions and assume that he’s got life “in the bag”. However, they are blinded by their envy of his possessions into thinking that he has a perfect life when, in fact, the very thing that makes them think his life is great, alienates him from society. Ironically, in the end Richard Cory ends his life because he was alone in the world due to the townspeople’s unintentional alienation of him. The ending of “Richard Cory” is also ironic because as the townspeople “waited for the light” unaware of what they had unintentionally done to Richard, he ”went home and put a bullet through his head”.  “The Unknown Citizen” also has an ironic ending due to the citizen being “respected” for being the “perfect” citizen. This is ironic because the unknown citizen did nothing in his life that was out of the ordinary or particularly great. He especially did not do anything to be put on a pedestal as the “perfect” citizen.

Both “Richard Cory” and “The Unknown Citizen” address how society has warped views on outward appearance, as well as including ironic endings for both men involved and the characters inability to assert themselves.

May 7, 2015

Name Poem

 

Lucas

I was born with the name Lucas

I never thought

that I would be called anything

Different

It was all I new

simplistic

average

satisfying

Lucas

my name was simple

it was the chain that defined me as a person

I never wanted anything more

for it was all I knew

but one day

everything changed

the chain was shattered

and replaced with something

Unique

Uncommon

Rare

Yahnis

A Mysterious name

born in the swirling depths of a juniors mind

Unusual

Out-of-the-Norm

Yahnis

difficult to accept at first

the name was

but as it was repeated like a broken record

it became integrated

a new chain

by which my existence is known

Yahnis

a name had never heard of

or thought of

but somehow

I look like a

Yahnis

April 24, 2015

Critical Movie Review

When I started the book, I expected it to be moderately mundane just like every other book we’ve read in english class. However, the book ended up being really interesting and the movie was almost as good. While the movie strays from the original storyline that follows Mr. Utterson, it still succeeds in portraying the uncontrollable evil of Mr. Hyde.

 

Negatives:

• Due to old technology, the movie fails to portray how Hyde was detestable just by his appearance. Mr. Hyde, in the movie, simply looks like his eyebrows and jaw grew in size. In the book Mr. Hyde supposedly had a hunched back and a myriad of warts on his face, but the movie fails to portray this level of evil in Hyde.
• In addition to a less effective portrayal of Hyde, the movie, because it was made so long ago, is not allowed to show any actual violence on screen. This caused me much confusion because I wasn’t sure what had happened when Hyde strangled Ivy. I wouldn’t have understood it if Mrs. Wiersig hadn’t have informed the class that we were supposed to assume that the woman was dead. Also, this “ethical censorship” takes away some of the tensity of the scene and causes it to be less dramatic.
• The movie does not show Dr. Jekyll’s inner struggle with his evil half as well as the book does. While the movie does show Jekyll’s unwillingness to become Hyde, it does not show Jekyll’s conversations with himself.
• The movie follows Hyde’s story directly, which takes away the suspense and mystery that the book possessed by having Mr. Utterson investigate the suspicious happenings within the city.

 

Positives:

• The movie may not follow the written story exactly, but it still tells the story in a unique way. Instead of following Mr. Utterson as he tries to find out the truth behind Mr. Hyde, the movie follows Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde directly. This form of storytelling removes a large portion of confusion that the book contained.
• The movie has an advantage over the book because cinematic movies are often more interesting than books. The movie is more captivating because it moves more quickly through the storyline than the book, while the book draws out the story with immense amounts of unnecessary dialogue.

 

Overall:

• I would rate this movie a 4/10. I choose this rating because it strays from the original story-line and is also very passive. To be an accurate representation of this horrifying story, it would have to be made in modern times with better graphics, less censorship, and color.

April 23, 2015

 

Expository Essay – How Extracurricular Activities Benefit Students

 

In the movie Coach Carter, Ken Carter takes a job as a basketball coach at his old high school in Richmond, California. Upon taking this job, Coach Carter decides to help these underachieving students not only achieve heightened basketball skills, but academic skills as well. While the students are resistant at first, they eventually cooperate with their coach in order to preserve their only escape from stress. While not all students are involved in basketball, most students participate in extracurricular activities. These activities help students improve themselves by providing them with an escape from life and its complications, helping them focus better in class, and by increasing work ethic when they are passionate about something.

Extracurricular activities help students improve their focus in class by providing them with a break from their hectic daily schedule. To illustrate, imagine a freshman named Yahnis who wakes up at 5:00am every morning so he can balance his time between his many activities such as seminary, academics, and athletics. Throughout his day many things cause him stress, confusion, and anger, especially his intense English class that contains a massive workload. After school, Yahnis goes to the tennis courts, the only place besides his home he actually feels comfort, and every time his racket connects with the ball the wild mixture of emotions within him is released with the force of a nuclear explosion into the bright yellow tennis ball. Because Yahnis is able to release these emotions instead of having to store them up within himself, the raging river of confusion that resides in his mind evaporates, allowing him to think clearly. Students experience this form of relief in their chosen extracurricular events whether they have chosen FFA, band, or even debate, because through any activity that is chosen students can replace their turbulent sea of stress with a peaceful meadow that provides clarity to their thoughts and additional focus in the classroom.

In addition to increased focus and an escape from everyday life, extracurricular activities also help students better themselves by improving work ethic. For example, world renowned inventor Thomas Edison was passionate about science so he would often spend time after school as a child reading about energy and electricity. As he read he thought of new and creative ways to more efficiently accomplish everyday activities. This extracurricular activity instilled a strong work ethic within Edison which led to his many great inventions such as the light bulb, which took Edison more than 1,000 attempts to finish correctly. Now, Edison’s invention is used throughout the world. Without strong work ethic Edison would have never had the perseverance to see the project through. Similarly, modern day extracurricular activities help students develop work ethic by providing them with complicated problems that require perseverance to solve. Little by little their work ethic is strengthened, eventually reaching a point where they are undaunted by any task. Goals then become more easily attainable and the success rate is increased tenfold due to the increased amount of persistence put into attaining the goal.

Just like basketball benefitted the academically challenged boys in the movie Coach Carter, extracurricular activities help benefit students by providing them with an escape from the worries of life so they can be more focused in class and by improving work ethic.

April 10, 2015