Category: Book Review

In chapter 3 of The Call of The Wild The dominant primordial beast was strong in Buck. And it was still growing. Spitz and buck had grown a hatred towards each other. A fight for leadership and dominance. Spitz took every chance he could to bully Buck or start a fight. It would have happened If it weren’t for unwanted accident causing them to make a bleak and miserable camp on the shore of Lake LeBarge. Buck had made a nest under a large rock so he could keep warm. Buck hated to leave the warm nest he made but he had to so he could get his ration. When he returned he found none other than his enemy Spitz had taken it for himself.

Buck usually would avoid fighting but this was too much. Buck sprang on Spitz which surprised them both. While Buck and Spitz were fighting a couple of hunger crazed huskies had crept into the camp. Perrault and francois sprang on the huskies trying to fend them off so they wouldn’t take more than they already had. Soon after the rest of the team had burst out to help them fight. They were heavily wounded. Billie with a sudden burst bravery quickly fled across the ice with the rest soon following after him. Spitz was still trying to engage in a fight with Buck. Soon the 9 teammates met together in the forest.

They all were badly injured so they had to rest for the night in the forest. Once it was morning they limped back to camp to find perrault and francois enraged. Their marauders were gone and fully half of the food supply was gone. The crazed huskies had chewed or eaten anything they could find, Leaving the team with low or damaged supplies. After 2 hours of fixing the harnesses francois finally got them ready for the team. They soon were harnessed up and went through the hardest trail they had encountered so far. It was painful and tiring. It took six days to get through those 30 miles of the river. By the time they made it to hootalinqua, Buck was completely worn down.

The rest of the dogs were in like condition. To make up for lost time perrault pushed late and early. Bucks feet had suffered greatly from all the running and rough terrain. His feet were softer then the huskies, So when they made it to camp Buck collapsed not budging. Not even moving to get his ration which had to be taken to him. The dog-driver rubbed his feet for him every night for half an hour and he even made him some moccasins for Buck until his feet got tougher. Bucks feet did get tougher over time, so he didn’t need the shoes any more. One morning dolly, one of the dogs, went mad and sprang after buck.

They fought until francois brought down an axe onto dollys head and that was the end of it. Buck had staggered back onto the sled exhausted. Spitz took this as an opportunity to attack him, so he did and got a harsh whip. From then on it was a war between him and Buck. It was inevitable that the fight for leadership would come, Buck wanted it, to be a leader He would openly threaten the others leadership. One morning pike wouldn’t show up even after francois had called him. He was under a foot of snow in his nest he made the night before. Spitz went into rage searching and digging for him everywhere. Once he found pike he flew at him to punish him only to be blocked by Buck. Buck quickly flew in between them. It surprised Spitz enough make him stumble back in surprise. Pike, taking an open heart to this mutiny, sprang at Spitz and so did Buck. Francois lashed down on Buck with all his might and Spitz punished pike for acting out. In the days that followed as they got closer to dawson Buck continued to interfere with Spitz and the culprits But he did it when francois wasn’t around. With the mutiny of buck thing in team no longer went right. Dave and sol-lek were unaffected, but the team was always bickering or have small quarrels.

Soon they arrived in dawson one dreary afternoon with a great fight still yet to come. Here in dawson dogs were put to do all the work instead of horses. They swung up and down main streets all day hauling our collecting different things. Seven days from when they pulled into dawson they dropped down the steep bank to the yukon trail for dyea and salt water. Perrault way hauling despatches of anything more important than what he had brought in. They made a sixty mile on their first day but due to Bucks little mutiny it caused the team to go out of line causing things to be a bit tougher than they had to be. They no longer feared Spitz as their leader.

Since the discipline in the camp had faltered more small fights broke out between all of them which caused francois to go into a rage. One night at the mouth of tahkeena, dub had spotted a rabbit and jumped after it but missed. Soon the whole camp was chasing after this rabbit in hopes of catching it. Spitz is the only one who noticed the shortcut they could to get the rabbit in their grasp. Buck didn’t notice so when he saw spitz jump out and clamp onto the rabbit he was a bit surprised. Buck drove himself upon Spitz, shoulder to shoulder. Missing the throat. They both tumbled into the powdery snow. Spitz quickly gained his footing slashed Buck down the shoulder. In a flash Buck knew the time had come, a fight to the death, a fight for leadership and authority. Spits was a practised and skilled fighter. This wasn’t going to be easy for Buck. Buck tried and tried again to get to Spitz throat but, each time he was blocked or attacked first by Spitz.

Conclusion

Buck was covered in wounds and blood while Spitz was untouched. It was getting desperate. As Buck got winded spitz started rushing him to get him off his feet but Buck kept his footing,recovering fast. Buck held a quality that helped give an advantage, imagination. He was able to use is head in different ways to win. Buck rushed again, acting like he was going for the shoulder again but he quickly ducks down clamping one of Spitz legs and breaking it. He did the same with another. There was nope hope for Spitz he had lost. Buck claiming the title of champion.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, there is Gilgamesh, half man half demigod whose ultimate goal is to reach immortality and then there’s Endiku, who was made from clay and water by Aruru who lived with the wild. The whole creation of Endiku was made to rid Gilgamesh of his arrogance and Gilgamesh quest for immortality is what ultimately led him to meet Endiku and the genuine kinship between those two is libertarian. Everything is shared, devotion to the fellowship is equivalent, and the premise of the brotherhood is entirely charitable. The companionship between the ruler Gilgamesh and the man of the steppe, Enkidu, was not a genuine and equivalent kinship. Loyalties and forfeits to that fellowship were unbalanced. Companionship is passed on in more than one path in Gilgamesh. The fellowship among Enkidu and the creatures of the steppe is the principal case of kinship. Enkidu lived with the creatures, as one of them. He liberated them from the devices the seekers set. Ninsun was correct, and the kinship among Gilgamesh and Enkidu was one of incredible dedication and trust. The development of the kinship among Gilgamesh and Enkidu was exceptionally unexpected. After gathering, they battled wildly, ceased, and grasped. This conciseness gives a quality of inventiveness to the relationship, yet that is later broken by their steadfastness to each other in the accompanying scenes. Furthermore, they were companions, they had grasped and made their promise to remain together in every case regardless of the obstacles but the flaws of this brotherhood will soon come to fruition as on sacrifices for the other.

As the story starts, King Gilgamesh of Uruk is portrayed to be in adult masculinity and better than every other man in both excellence and quality. There was nobody who could coordinate with him in the antiquated Mesopotamian culture. The unsatisfied longings of his diving being nature couldn’t locate a reasonable mate for him in adoration or war. What’s more, his unsatisfied daemonic vitality made the general population of Uruk is unsatisfied with his rule. Since he was deficient with regards to love and fellowship, Gilgamesh swung to overabundance and guilty pleasure, and he praised his triumphs with a lot of debased celebrating, which irritated the people in the city just as the divine beings in the sanctuaries. Due to his onerous principle, the general population requested assistance from the divine beings since they expected that some time or another Gilgamesh would request a larger piece of his awesome legacy, challenge the divine beings and even shake the mainstays of paradise in the event that he was not controlled.

In this way, to counter the risk, the divine beings concocted an arrangement of making Enkidu, who was the perfect representation of Gilgamesh. They trusted that the lord would redirect his perilous energies toward that rival in this way quit testing paradise. The divine beings at that point influenced Enkidu from dirt and left him in the wild to live to and eat as the creature

In Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, Andy (an innocent man) is sentenced to a double life sentence. There Andy meets Red, a prisoner who smuggles items from the outside world. As Andy is an amateur geologist he asks Red to get him a rock hammer for shaping rocks he collects in the exercise yard. Sometime later he asks Red for a large picture of Rita Hayworth (a celebrity). After 28 years, Andy disappears from his cell and when guards could not find any sign of him. Norton (the warden) discovers something behind the poster of Rita Hayworth.

In Apt Pupil, Todd, a Los Angeles teenager enters the home of an elderly German immigrant named Arthur Denker. Todd accuses Arthur of being a wanted Nazi war criminal named Kurt Dussander. He denies the allegation but eventually admits to his true identity. Instead of handing over Dussander to the authorities he blackmails him into giving him stories about his crimes. As their relationship continues, Todd begins to have terrible nightmares and finds that murdering several winos (homeless alcoholics) helps with his nightmares. Todd is not the only one that has nightmares and Dussander also murders several other homeless people to cope with it. One day, Dussander has a heart attack whilst hiding the body of one of his recent victims.

In The Body, Ray Brower disappears and is assumed to be dead. Gordie, twelve years old, and his three friends, Chris, Teddy and Vern set on an adventure to find the presumed dead body. The boys all come from abusive families and throughout the story they get closer together as friends. As they find the body, a gang of bullies arrives and threaten to break their arms, but the boys stand their ground.

In The Breathing Method, David (the narrator) joins a men’s club where the members read and tell stories, most of which are strange and bizarre. The Thursday before Christmas, a physician Dr. Emlyn McCarron tells a story about Jane Doe (we later find out that her name is Sandra Stansfield) , who is determined to give birth to her child, even though she has many financial problems such as a shortage of money and her family asking for her to have an abortion. Throughout the story, Mc Carron admires Jane for her determination to give birth. They soon get to know each other better and she tells her true identity and background behind her child. Her real name is Sandra Stansfield and she conceived her child from one of her younger employees and as soon as he found out about her pregnancy, he ran off never to be seen again. We move forwards to the birth, and it is a cold winter night and she begins to give birth in a taxi and as the driver does not want blood in his car, he increases his velocity. This is extremely dangerous as the road is extremely slippery and one false move could lead to a terrible accident.

Writing Style

‘Your dad is crazy,’ he said grinning. ‘Mad and up in Togus, that’s what. Crazier than a rat in a pile of garbage. Crazy. It’s not surprising you’re behaving the way you are, with a madman for a father.’

‘Don’t you say anything else about my dad. My dad was on the beaches at Normandy, you fat pussy.’

‘Yes, but where is he now, you ugly little four-eyed lump of puke. Up in Togus, isn’t he?’’(Pg 22)

‘OK, that’s enough,’ said Teddy. ‘Now I’m going to kill you.’ He started to climb the fence. ‘Come on and try, you dirty little rat.’ Milo stepped back and stood there, waiting and grinning.

Stephen King uses a conversational style of writing and vulgar expressions to show that the boys are not very educated. King uses the metaphor “you ugly little four-eyed lump of puke.” to demonstrate that Milo dislikes Teddy.

I recommend Different Seasons to others as it has a thrilling story with lots of suspense and action. The book is intended for anyone over the age of 14 as there are sexual references and violence. Although most of the stories told were interesting my least favorite was the Breathing Method as I did not feel a connection to the characters and King did not go much in depth about their background. The story was also very senseless and I did not feel like King put much effort into writing the story. I especially enjoyed The Body as it involved friends going out and exploring together. The most violent story was by far Apt Pupil as it involves the murders of several homeless people.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from antiquated Mesopotamia about a king who is two thirds god and one third man. The king does not fulfill his leadership expectations as he is selfish and often angry with the gods. Gilgamesh goes off on a quest to attain immortality when his companion Enkidu dies. In this quest he fails and eventually dies, but he came to terms with his own mortality and lived on his greatness through his travels. While the main characters are men, in Gilgamesh’s Epic women have small but important roles. The female characters in this epic reveal that ancient Mesopotamians appreciated the role of women as child bearers and civilization transmitters. They manipulate the story in keeping with their actions through their roles as harlots, mothers and goddesses. It is additionally shown that women within the tale have big influence over the male characters, and seem to be able to alter their decisions and even result in their deaths. The importance of their roles therefore stems mostly from their ability to reshape male roles.

People tend to argue that female roles in this epic are secondary and only serve to pave the way for males to execute their vital roles. The harlot’s role, Shamhat, is the most evident support for this argument. By using her sexuality, she had a main role of enticing Enkidu far from his undomesticated ways and to carry him into the civilized world. The trapper says to her: “There he is. Now, woman, make your breasts bare, have no shame, do not delay but welcome his love. Let him see you naked, let him possess your body”. The prostitute’s sexuality that served as an instrument to tame a man, suggests that her role is not of a character in her own right but instead a role of a phase prop.

However, whereas females in this epic play small roles, they are not secondary characters in any way. Their characters are primary, as they aim to support the male ones. It is essential to note that the vast majority of events could not have occurred without Shamhat’s role of subduing Enkidu and, showing him his way to kinship with Gilgamesh. Additionally, the power of a woman’s sexuality is featured by her ability to change Enkidu from wild to civilized as the epic says “And now the wild creatures had all fled away; Enkidu was grown weak, for wisdom was in him, and the thoughts of a man were in his heart. So he returned and sat down at the woman’s feet, and listened intently to what she said. This reveals the extent to which Shamhat’s character affects Enkidu’s. Carrying him away from his previous life and acquainting him with another one. The father of the trapper also tells the trapper to “let her woman’s power overpower this man”, emphasizing further the power that women hold over men. Shamhat plays a dual role as both a seductress and a mother, teaching Enkidu the ways of civilized men. This presence of two roles within a woman tells something about attitudes towards women. It suggests that women did not have a definitive role, but rather a variety of roles. It reflects a Mesopotamian society that has worshiped both goddesses and gods and has been rife with prostitution as well as women dedicated to marriage and motherhood. Shamhat tells him, “Endiku, eat bread, it is the staff of life; drink the wine, it is the custom of the land”. This scene recalls a mother teaching table etiquette to a child. Shamhat’s achievement in taming Enkidu exceeds the achievements of any of the tale’s male characters. In fact, instead of looking at her as a paving stone for Enkidu’s journey, she can be seen as the origin and creator of his new life, and hence as a central and almost goddess like character. She is at the center of a chain of events that make up this epic.

Her mothering role also reflects the Mesopotamian view of women as children’s bearers and life-bringers. Enkidu’s reliance on Shamhat to fulfill his role recalls the dependence of a child on his mother. The great masculine characters like Enkidu and Gilgamesh were unable to achieve greatness without there being a female influence or a mothering figure to nurture and guide them. Ninsun is the mother figure behind Gilgamesh, and she is his biological mother, unlike Shamhat to Enkidu. She has a major impact on Gilgamesh’s role as she interprets his dreams to mean he is going to make a friend, telling him that “That axe, which you saw, which drew you so powerfully like love of a woman, that is the comrade whom I give you, and he will come in his strength like one of the host of heaven”. This dream’s interpretation proved to be true as Enkidu searches for Gilgamesh. Ninsun’s words are also a driving force behind Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s initiation of friendship, as Gilgamesh says in response that he “shall befriend and counsel him”. She helps to make sure that it becomes a reality by foreshadowing their friendship.

Moreover, Utanapishtim’s wife’s role can be seen as more central than her husband’s role, as it is ultimately her who makes up his mind to help Gilgamesh. Her display of empathy towards Gilgamesh is a very feminine display of virtue that, in turn, enables Gilgamesh not only to find the plant, but also to learn a valuable lesson and come to terms with his own mortality after being stolen by a snake from him. She is another example of males being greatly influenced by females, as her good nature on her cold-hearted husband seems to rub off. Her decision is ultimately the final one, not her husbands. He even repeats to Gilgamesh almost her exact words, saying, “What shall I give you to carry back to your own country?” . This highlights how she can bend her husband’s will simply by speaking a few words. The control she exorcises over her husband is subtle, as her husband appears to be in control on the surface as he orders her to bake bread, and she does so. She uses her empathetic and mild nature, however, to make a plea to her husband to pity Gilgamesh, to whom he adheres almost immediately. The way she apprehends her husband to mock the sleeping Gilgamesh is reminiscent of a mother teaching a child moral rights and wrongs, as she tells her husband to “touch the man to wake him, so that he may return to his own land in peace”. Despite insisting on letting him sleep for seven days, Utanapishtim ultimately follows the request of his wife, once again emphasizing her influence over him and presenting her as an embodiment of the consciousness of her husband. By showing kindness towards Gilgamesh and her influence over her husband, she has a major impact on the story.

Another way that female characters play central roles in Gilgamesh’s The Epic is through their knowledge and wisdom. In ancient mythology, the female inherently knows what can only be found by the male hero through trials and quests. Tavern keeper Siduri would be the main example of such a character. She plays a major role in the story as she foreshadows the failure of Gilgamesh in his quest for immortality. She tells him that “You will never find that life for which you are looking. When the gods created man they allotted to him death, but life they retained in their own keeping”. She also says that temporary mortal existence “is the lot of man”. Her words carry the clear message that humans can never hope to attain eternal life, and should never. Eventually, all men are set to die, and death is as natural as breathing. Similarly to the female characters Shamhat and Ishtar who drive the journeys of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, Siduri makes a sound and wise prediction of how the path of Gilgamesh will unfold. This further underlines the idea that women play an almost puppeteer-like role in The Epic of Gilgamesh, with male characters simply walking the paths females set out for them. Gilgamesh chooses to disregard the advice of Siduri, leading him to misfortune, suffer, and ultimately failure. This shows that his judgment is secondary to Siduri’s judgment. Siduri also helps Gilgamesh by telling him where to find Utanapishtim, like the character of Utanapishtim’s wife, who helps him progress with his quest. This is another example of women enabling men to achieve their goals. They are not secondary or subsidiary characters; instead, they are the driving force behind male actions.

Ishtar’s character is an example of a powerful female character that imposes on male characters its influence. Unlike the other female characters, she destroys the two male leads instead of supporting or assisting them. Her actions lead directly to Enkidu’s death, showing her dominance over a primary character, and rejecting the possibility of her categorization as secondary. Moreover, the rejection of Ishtar’s proposal by Gilgamesh is based on his fear of meeting the same fate as her past lovers. He asks her, “Which of your lovers did you ever love forever?”, which suggests that she is a woman of fictitious nature who very easily falls in and out of love with men. He also compares her to “a battering ram turned back from the enemy”, a metaphor made in reference to her inclination to punish her lovers as she becomes bored of them. This highlights the way she uses her power to dominate men and ultimately destroy them, demonstrating that she is a powerful female character. Instead of supporting males, she causes them to fall. Her role in the tale is crucial as she uses this power to bring about the death of Enkidu, putting an end to his friendship with Gilgamesh, and leading Gilgamesh to find the key to immortality. Unlike Shamhat, who serves Enkidu as a giver of mankind and new life, Ishtar is Enkidu’s ultimate destroyer. The role of Enkidu is undoubtedly a major one, but two females with such strong roles to play in his very existence can certainly be considered as central characters. Unlike the other female characters in the epic, which by their female sexuality and mothering ways become central characters, Ishtar shifts gender roles by assuming the more male virtue of destruction. The goddess acts as a man, offering the hero marriage, a proposal he rejects. Then she responds in a manly fashion in search of revenge. She actually says, “Come to me Gilgamesh, and be my bridegroom” , a request that the male has traditionally made. This undermines the earlier view that women are merely supporting or subsidiary characters in the tale, as Ishtar makes a marriage request based on her own desires rather than any man’s desires. Ishtar shows that women can be centrally aggressive characters just as much as males can, if not more so, as she manages to punish Gilgamesh by killing his best friend. Ishtar may be the most central of all the female characters in the epic, as she plays the antagonist role. Gilgamesh and Enkidu would not be faced with a real trial without her destructive actions. She fires a fierce battle between Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven as she sends the bull down ‘to destroy Gilgamesh’. The role of Ishtar is crucial in the story as it marks the collapse of Enkidu-Gilgamesh’s partner. The roles of female characters in The Epic of Gilgamesh are also central to the development of the plot line in addition to their powerful influence over males. There are no major roles for female characters in Gilgamesh. Instead, they are important in moving the story forward. Indeed, the story would never have unfolded without the actions perpetrated by female characters. There would be no civilized Enkidu, for example, without Shamhat, but only the original, feral creature we see at the beginning. Meanwhile, Ishtar engineers the death of Enkidu, a very important plot event that leads Gilgamesh to seek eternal life after becoming highly conscious of his own mortality. The women in the tale are the plot’s creators, and the males act in response to these women’s actions. While the male characters appear to be at the center of the story on the surface, the presence of females supports the story. The story would collapse without the female characters.

In conclusion, the female roles in The Epic of Gilgamesh are small but also central. Characters like Shamhat and Ishtar act as driving forces on both the plot line and the roles of the male lead characters and the extent of the repercussions of their actions compensate for their lack of actual time in the epic. Women seem to have a great influence on men in the tale, using their sexuality to tempt them, to control them, while using their mothering instincts to teach and advise them. The female characters manage to refashion the activities and decisions of male characters through sexual temptation and mothering, making them central to the tale. Meanwhile, Ishtar becomes the tale’s central antagonist, playing the role of male destroyer. The tale depicts males being built up and destroyed and at the center of both processes women can be seen.

In, the poem “The Epic of Gilgamesh” the main character and hero of the story is Gilgamesh. In the beginning, Gilgamesh is not the fair and just king as the gods expected of him. Gilgamesh thought that because he was mostly god he could anything he wanted with no consequences. Gilgamesh caused an abundance amount of distress and pain to his people. He harmed and torched the causing them to cry to the gods for some to come and save them. When Enkidu was created he was put into the forest so he could be pure and unaware of the evil of men. Enkidu was just like Gilgamesh ⅔ god and ⅓ human. The moment Enkidu and Gilgamesh meet because Enkidu knew what he was doing was cruel, so he went after him. Enkidu was determined to put a stop to Gilgamesh, but when Enkidu was thrown by Gilgamesh he stopped fighting him. Enkidu saw that Gilgamesh that they were alike and let go of his anger towards him. The two became extremely close like brothers. Gilgamesh would tell Enkidu about his dreams, and what they would mean. One day Enkidu started to complain how he had lost all his strength just sitting around all day. Gilgamesh proposed that the both of them go to the cedar forest kill Humbaba and cut down all the trees. When Gilgamesh and Enkidu were going to cedar forest all of his people asked Enkidu to protect Gilgamesh and bring him home safely. After Gilgamesh and Enkidu killed Humbaba, the bull of heaven, they angered the gods. They decided to punish Gilgamesh in a way that would break him and cause him to question the meaning of his life. The gods killed Enkidu Gilgamesh’s brother and closest friend in a humiliating way. After, the death of Enkidu, Gilgamesh realized that his life would not last forever and someday he would die like Enkidu. But Gilgamesh didn’t want to die he wanted to live forever, so he went on the search for the man who escaped death. On this journey, Gilgamesh was still grieving his dead brother Enkidu. Gilgamesh wore the skin of animals as clothing and he didn’t bathe many were confused to why he allowed himself to look like this if he was the great Gilgamesh. When, he finally, reached Utnapishtim he was told a story of how he escaped the great flood the gods sent to earth to kill the humans. After he finished his story he gave Gilgamesh a gift of wisdom of a flower that if he picked it and ate it he would be immortal. Gilgamesh did as he was told, and he got the flower, but on the way home, a snake stole the flower from him. Gilgamesh became depressed because he felt as though he did all this for no reason, and Utnapishtim told Gilgamesh that he was not meant to live forever, he was destined to be a strong and protective king which he became in the story. When Gilgamesh returned home, his people praised him and greeted him with open arms. Throughout the story, Gilgamesh becomes the king that he was meant to be and leaves a long-lasting legacy that no other king could ever live up to. Gilgamesh and Enkidu were different in many ways, Gilgamesh was the more aggressive and always prepared to destroy nature. Enkidu saw that life was important and he wasn’t bloodthirsty. In the “Epic of Gilgamesh,” it shows a change in him it shows how even though he was cruel he made up for his cruelty with kindness. Gilgamesh showed strength and lived without fear up until the point he realized he could die. Gilgamesh also showed empathy towards his people and his brother was there for him through everything even when he was on his deathbed. In the end, Gilgamesh showed what a true king and hero should look, talk, and act like. He showed that he could be the man the gods wanted him to be.

It is commonly seen when a book is turned into a movie, to have significant changes and alterations. Some add up to the overall thrill movie-makers want to create for their audience, some fail to depict the writer’s thoughts when writing the book. The novel “Hunger Games” is among those books that have been incarnated in movie theaters all over the globe. However, Suzanne Collins, writer of The Hunger Games, would most certainly question several parts of her trilogy’s adaptation, as the movie has some inevitable alterations that differ from the original writing. Some parts of the book have been erased, while some characters have also been removed. What saves the movie from completely deviating from the original is that Collins herself has been the co-writer of the screenplay; therefore the core story is successfully depicted in the movie, regardless of the differences that are found on the screen, when compared to the book. The purpose of this paper is to define the differences between the two and evaluate whether the original message that the writer wanted to pass on to her audience is faded.

Hunger Games is about a young teenager, Katniss that is a tough hunter and brings food to the table, after her father’s death. She lives in District 12 in a city called Panem. Every year the Capitol of the city hosts an event called Hunger Games, where 2 civilians, called “tributes”, of opposite sexes are selected from each district to fight to the death in an arena. When Katniss’ sister was selected, Katniss offers herself to replace her sister in the arena.

As a quick summary, I would say one of the discrepancies between the movie and the book are the way they treat the relationship of Katniss and Rue, Katniss’ protégé in the game, and then the death of Rue, including the reaction of Rue’s district to her death. A second major discrepancy is a fact that in the book the Mocking Jay pin is given to Katniss by the mayor’s daughter and in the film it is given to her by an unknown old woman. In the movie there is also a third-person account of what is occurring outside of the games, including the game-maker and what he is doing and what is going on with Gale back in the district. This does not occur in the book. The last major discrepancy is the mutts that are used by the game-maker toward the end of the games. They are toned down quite a bit in the movie and look mostly like vicious dogs. In the book they have the eyes of the dead Tributes and are quite twisted. In the end, the film does distort the novel to some degree, but in many ways complements it as well.

Going over the discrepancies of the movie versus the book more thoroughly, one can tell from the start that the reaction towards Rue’s death is changed. In particular, in the book Katniss is the sole person aware of the dropped into the arena token that she was given by District 11 as a sign of appreciation for her noble acts, while in the movie there is a far greater fuss going on over the reaction of the District 11.

Rue becomes more of an iconic figure throughout the sequels of the movie, with the latest been released on November 22, 2013. Such is evident after Rue dies from a villain killer and people of District 11 start to form a revolution, opposing Capitol patrol officers. Of course, this fight between District 11 and the government is shown to a greater extent in the movie, probably for viewing pleasure.

Another major difference is that there is no Avox girl, as one can read in the book. Although one might say that it is a minor character that could as well be omitted from the movie, the Avox girl has an important back story with Katniss. While reading the novel, at the time when Katniss is getting ready for the Games, there are some Capitol people that she meets with and serve drinks and food to her. One of the Capitol servants is an Avox girl that has a distinctive place in Katniss’s memories. That particular Avox servant is remembered by Katniss as a girl that was desperately trying to escape from the Capitol but was eventually under arrest by the government and had her tongue removed after being charged with treachery. Katniss appears with feelings of remorse for not having attempted to save that Avox girl, which is a back-story never portrayed at full on-screen.

Another diversified illustration of death forms the next difference and involves Thresh. In the book, Thresh is implied to have been murdered by Cato, who is the wicked person that everybody accepts as a vicious cold-hearted man that has no problem breaking his ally’s neck if he needs to. On the other hand, Thresh is assumed to have been killed by some dogs that have been released in the arena, to kill some tributes that remain alive. That difference has affected the remaining tributes’ showdown intensity.

In the novel, Katniss volunteers and prepares herself for the Hunger Games, with Haymitch and Cinna helping her. Once entering the games, her only focus is on making them through. However, this is not the case when watching the movie, as there is a lot of backstage information passed on to the audience. For that reason President Snow and Seneca appear with largely bigger roles in the film. People also see how the producers of the Games try to manipulate the tributes to keep them closer to one another and what a tremendous amount of effort is needed to get the Hunger Games going and make them appealing to the world of entertainment.

Deriving from the pre-mentioned fact that some minor characters in the book have a more extended role on screen, the Game Maker gets his own big time in the movie, while he is barely showcased in the book. His games, however, bear the same confounded outcome in both the written and visual world and although the book does not give much extend to the fate of the Game Maker until the Catching Fire sequel, in the movie the Maker is faced with a one-way option: to kill himself by eating poisonous berries. Just like he had set death traps for other people to fall into, he had fallen onto his trap, and death was the only choice he could make, facing the consequences of his wrongdoings.

Katniss’ best friend is Gale (Hawthorne), based on the story as given in the book. They both spend much time together, hunting and having fun and Katniss appears on a constant evaluation of the feelings she nurtures for Gale. However, when she enters the Games, Gale seems like a forgotten character that lives in Katniss’s mind. I the movie, though, Gale is shown to have an active role even after the Games begin, as he is shown to closely monitor Katniss’ movements in the Games and her developed relationship with another tribute.

Rue’s relationship with Katniss is also demonstrated dubiously. In the book they share a strong empathy and appreciation for each other and form a kind of alliance in the Hunger Games. Rue becomes Katniss’ protegee because the former reminds the latter’s younger sister. That particular solidarity stays unrevealed on screen.

Last, but not least, Katniss gets several people she cherished and loved visiting her before she sets off to the Games fights. Some of them are Gale alongside her sister and mother and Peeta’s father, who comes with his hands full. In particular, he offers Katniss cookies that are later on thrown away by Katniss. Those scenes are excluded from the film and the connection between Katniss and Peeta’s family is suppressed.

Of course, many will claim that all those changes were inevitable. However, at the altar of enhanced and multiple viewing, which in turn means additional income, movie-makers loose essential aspects of the writer’s viewpoint. Fortunately, in Hunger Games, this is kept in low levels and deviations are not that serious, unlike other book-to-movie scenarios.

“Why do you think they always say never give up on something you want to be in life?” Life is all about how you make it, you will have to fight many battles just to be where you want. Some might be easy, and some might be hard. Reading many epics this semester, The Odyssey, Gilgamesh, and Sundiata are relatable to this phrase. Despite the timing and culture background of each epic, they all have a similar story and multiple differences. The Odyssey, Gilgamesh, and Sundiata are all categorized as epics, but all have a different type of journey. Odyssey and Gilgamesh were both kings and heroes who were well respected who held high power. Sundiata was a young male whom was trying to one day have power over the twelve kingdoms of Mali. All three epics are telling a story about a male who is trying to find a scheme of living and trying to figure it all out. One as well as the other had to go through a journey enduring challenging situation, which they had to find a way around.

The Odyssey had a purpose he wasn’t just doing the journey just for his sake, his motive was to fulfill a greater life of fate, determination, and fidelity. Odyssey started off his journey by leaving his home to go fight in the war at Troy. Odyssey had been fighting in war for years and this time he had to come up with a maneuver to get pass the Trojans and figure a way to get back to his family. Odyssey didn’t go on the journey alone; he took some of his men to accomplish the journey with him. Through the entire journey he remained loyal to himself and his family, regardless of any obstacle he had to face. Determination was conveyed for his eager rush to get back home to his family.

Gilgamesh also had a goal; his purpose was to find a way to forever life and how to learn to know his worth of treating others and refraining from being a cruel king. He was always described as brave, driven, and strong. Gilgamesh faces traumatizing situations in life to make him realize how to value what you have before its gone. Reality is faced when he loses a special person in his life. People come in your life for a reason and some leave your life for a reason, Enkidu came into Gilgamesh life at the right time and for the right purpose. Enkidu was able to help Gilgamesh see his ways of wrong and help him change as a person to realize that he wasn’t going about situations the right way.

When talking about Gilgamesh, Sundiata had a somewhat similar schema. Not only did he have to go on a journey and experience laborious hurdles, but he also had to find a way around them. Sundiata wasn’t just the regular human you would see every day; he was able to walk as a kid which people underestimated his greatness in him. Sundiata started to gain his power over people and the kingdoms. Sundiata wasn’t born into his power he had to fight for it, it wasn’t just granted easy to him he had to fight for what he wanted till he received it. Sundiata was very courageous and selfless, he knew at a young age that one day he will be greatness. Sundiata always held confidence in himself throughout his entire quest.

Sundiata one who experienced both fate and destiny. Unable to walk at the age of three, his fate seemed to be set in stone. Living out his destiny spoken by God, led Sundiata into his royalty. God stated in his childhood that, “You perhaps, will be a king. You can do nothing about it.” It was already stated that he would one day be king, and it was nothing that would hinder him becoming king. He knew what he was destined to be and the greatness he held. This destiny foreshadows, although with him experiencing many traumas in his childhood he overcame them. His fate overpowered his childhood traumas.

When it comes to showing heroism, they all showed it in some sort of positive or negative way. Having plenty of times to capitulate and never give up, Odyssey faught hard to get back to his family regardless of having to fight off plenty of the suitors. In book IX, odyssey escapes from the cyclops, Polyphemus. After leaving the island of Alcinous, Odyssey and his men approached the island of the cyclops believing the island is vacant. With them feasting on some of the farm life, Odyssey and his men are approached by a cyclops whom asked who he is, but Odyssey’s stands his ground regardless of who they are protecting his men. He protects his men by getting the cyclops drunk buoyantly, asking his name Odyssey responds, “nobody”. Blinding him, Odysseus uses this opportunity to bind himself and his men to the bellies of Polyphemus sheep as they go out to graze fully escaping. “…But the idiot never sensed my men were trussed up under there thick fleecy ribs. This shows Odyssey heroism using his intelligence to outsmart the great beast in sheltering his men.

Every human story could become a tragic story if that story is told as a tragedy.

According to Aristotle the protagonist of a tragedy has a flaw in character, a downfall of their own doing followed by a harsh realization of the tragic error before dying and this evokes a reaction in those who witness it, which is a pity. In the “Tragedy and the Common Man” essay, Miller explains that there is a misconception that only people of nobility and royalty are properly represented in tragedies. He says that the common man can be shown to face just as much tragedy in life as the highest of kings. There is an expectation in the tragedy that the main subject must be of high standing in life. It is likely that when these rules were established by Aristotle, highly-ranking nobility and monarchs, were the only characters in any play or novel. They were the only people who could write or pay others to write about them. Most of the audience were people who watched the plays. Most of them were very poor, and they probably couldn’t read or write and they got to watch plays about wealthy, powerful people facing great pain and suffering.

Today it is different. The common man is still most of the audience but people are seen as just people now. The “leaders” are now seen as human and not superhuman as they once may have been seen. There are countless tragic protagonists in literature and film who are tragic even though they are common people. A flaw and a downfall of one’s own doing and a painful realization leading to a final devastating consequence can occur in any life and in any author’s story. Tragedies with common people as protagonists prove this is true when the cathartic effect in the audience is achieved as it is in the film of John Steinbeck’s ​Of Mice and Men, or in Sheakespear’s play​ Romeo and Juliet, and also in personal real-life events.

The film, ​Of Men And Mice, written By John Steinbeck,​ is about two men, George Milton and Lennie Small. This movie shows an example of a common man tragedy. George and Lennie share a dream of buying their own piece of land and turning it into a farm. They are migrant farm workers who travel together. George is small and shrewd and Lennie is strong, large, and has a mental disability, but George takes care of Lennie. George complains that his life would be so much easier if he was on his own. The reader knows that George truly loves Lenny. When Lennie kills a puppy by accident, it leads to a lot of unfortunate things that end in a woman’s death caused by Lennie. When the woman’s husband, Curley, finds out that Lennie killed her, he wants him killed immediately. George takes a pistol from the farm and knows exactly where to find Lennie. They sit together and talk about their future at the farm, George makes him happy with his words and he doses off into a happy state of mind thinking of the future farm. George pulls out the pistol and shoots Lennie in the head. George knows that Lennie would die either way and does not want him to suffer at the hands of Curley. This movie shows an example of common men and tragedy because it is about two poor men working on a farm. Lennie’s tragic flaw is his inability to express and control his temper and his childlike personality due to his mental disability. His downfall is from a strong, capable farmhand who is well-liked to a murderer. He realizes his mistake and runs away. George took his life but it was an act of mercy and the tragic result of the downfall and the tragic flaw within Lennie. Arthur Miller says that the kingly are often thought to be interrelated with tragedy because their characters have so much more to be defeated. This was usually the usual subject matter of the literature of the time when a tragedy became known as a tragedy. The common men of this modern world fit perfectly into the tragedy. In this imperfect world, human weaknesses and flaws are just as capable of bringing down a simple husband and father as it is a Mayor, a Premier, or a Prime Minister. There is no need for kingly traits in a tragic character. There only needs to be a flaw, a downfall, a realization, and an unfortunate end for that character that causes a feeling of pity for the subject within the audience or the reader.

Another example of a common man in a tragedy is found in the play, ​Romeo, and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Romeo has a tragic flaw of acting impulsively and emotionally without thinking. Romeo falls for Juliet at an event he should not have attended. When he finds out she is part of the Capulet family it doesn’t stop him from going after her. He ignores the family feud between his family, the Montagues, and hers, the Capulets, and lets the love take over. Romeo knows the damage that it could cause but he continues anyway. Juliet ends up falling in love with Romeo and this story ends as a tragedy because of Romeo’s flaw of being reckless, emotional, and overly romantic to the point of weakness. Juliet fakes her death so she can run away and be free with Romeo, but when Romeo sees her, lifeless, he drinks the potion and dies. Juliet then wakes up and kills herself with Romeo’s dagger. The audience is left shocked and horrified but then very sad and pitiful at such a conclusion. This play demonstrates exactly what Arthur Miller is trying to prove because it includes both, a common man and a woman of nobility.

Personally, the death of a beloved family member is a result of a tragic flaw. A flaw that is courage without fear, or perhaps bravery without caution. It was perhaps selflessness and arrogance to think that he could save a young man who had broken through thin ice on a lake and that he could rescue him. On that day, these tragic flaws lead to the death of a young husband who was also a loving and responsible father, a wonderful son, a cherished brother, and a very special uncle. He certainly would have quickly realized his tragic error and his downfall before his shocking and deeply unfortunate death.

If a character has a flaw in their character, a downfall, and a realization of their error and then meets a terrible ending that creates an effect for the audience then it is a Tragedy. Pity and sadness is the effect and it is called catharsis. That is what a tragedy gives an audience at a play or a movie theatre or the readers of a novel. It probably leaves the audience feeling fortunate in the end because they feel warned about what not to do. This is why tragedies are popular. They allow the audience to feel better about their life when they see others needlessly fail. Arthur Miller states, “I believe that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were.” (miller P. 2) This quote explains one of the main themes of Arthur Miller’s essay.

The tragedy now can have any character that is admired or liked by the audience for whatever reason but it does not have to be a character that is rich or powerful or royal. Literature in this modern age is not all written about the highly privileged of the world as it once was. Stories of the common man and his downfalls are countless in modern entertainment. Arthur Miller was probably just among the first modern writers that wanted to use the classification of Tragedy for his modern-day characters, and people who like to resist change did not want him to do that.

Very long ago the Yukon Territory many people used to live there in the age of the 1800’s. Long ago there wasn’t a mailbox so those people would rely on the mailman with sled dogs. The book and the movie “ The Call of the wild” are both similar yet different. Like any movie based on a book the movie The call of the wild presents different characters and events than the book so it can be more enjoyable and unique in a different way. In both the movie and the book Buck first lives in Miller’s estate and is kidnapped by Manuel, the gardener.

To initiate, in both the book and the movie Buck is sold to the sled owners and we learn that Spitz feels threatened by Buck because he is a larger dog. As the team moves throughout the story Spitz and Buck fight for leadership of the sled which leads to Spitz losing. In the book, Buck kills Spitz in the fight and becomes the leader, however, in the movie, Buck is a nicer dog and lets Spitz run away rather than dying after the fight. The book puts in detail that the owners of the dogs know the dogs are fighting and don’t interfere, while in the movie they had no clue why Spitz ran away and why Buck wanted to be his replacement on the sled lineup.

In my point of view , the movie shows us John Thornton’s friend, Pete more than in the book. In the movie John is attracted to a girl in the bar. A man named Black Burton doesn’t like John so he has his team stolen by some of his thugs. They then take the team to a town. On their way one man fell and he was killed. When the dogs get to town the only guy left on the sled is frozen and killed. A man later claims the dogs on the spot and passes them to Hal, Charles, and Mercedes. They plan to take the team to Dawson City where John is. On the way a dog named Dave is shot by Hal because he can’t go on. They come across John Thornton’s camp, John takes Buck and the other dogs drowned.

Lastly, the movie and the book have many similarities and differences that help set the two apart and tell the story in unique ways. The movie portrays a nicer version of the story with less violence and more sympathy while the book doesn’t hold back on the violence and detail. Both stories are told by a narrator in third person to help give detail and explanation to each event. It would’ve been nicer to hear the vision of the dog Buck to see what he felt and think about what had happened and what he had gone through.

In conclusion, the Yukon territory became Buck’s new home which wasn’t what he was used to and he had to learn how to fit in and be a part of a group. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the movie rather than reading the book because of the visual representation of the story and you are able to see and feel the emotion. The theme of the book and movie is when survival is the only imperative. And how everything contributed to the main idea, while the book and the movie had differences and similarities both shared a survival story with us.

Both ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ and ‘Exposure’ deal with the topic of war in vastly contrasting approaches. ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ details the account of the six-hundred and seventy cavalrymen and officers that were given an ambiguous order to attack Russian troops armed with cannons during the Crimean War. Tennyson accentuates the cavalry’s bravery and heroism against the seemingly immeasurable enemy in ‘noble six hundred’ and ‘boldly they rode.’ Alternatively, Owen describes a different aspect of war in his poem, ‘Exposure ’ where he delineates the egregious conditions of the soldier’s trenches during the First World War. ‘Exposure’ focuses less on the combat area of warfare and more so on the severe effect of nature on the troops; the lines ‘rain soaks,’’ and ‘mad gusts’ demonstrate the conflict between man and nature and proves that despite the incessant bloodshed of war, natural forces still remain a heinous threat. Throughout ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade,’ Tennyson is shown to commemorate the soldiers for their valiant efforts.

They are described as brave, bold, and having ‘fought so well.’ However, in the second stanza, his stance on the attack is revealed and Tennyson shows a slight disdain for the commanders leading the charge in ‘someone had blundered.’ Tennyson recapitulates the ideas on war that most people at the time held despite this and he admires the soldiers’ sacrifice. Conversely, Owen uses ‘Exposure’ to highlight the unsettling barbarity of war to the civilians at home. He defies the conventions of warfare by displaying weather as attacking the soldiers instead of the enemy forces in ‘merciless iced east winds that knife us,’ and clouds sag stormy.’ Owen’s opinion on war was one of criticism due to the countless lives lost and seemingly small benefit; as a soldier on the front line, Owen witnessed the horrors of war first-hand and was unimpressed with the generals behind the lines living in comfort while their armies fought courageously. Their opinions differ so much due to their different roles, Tennyson as a poet and Owen as a soldier. Additionally, another reason could be due to the fact that Tennyson experienced a vastly different war than Owen, one that had weapons such as cannons and muskets, which in comparison to the First World War, would be considered somewhat primitive and outdated.

In addition, Tennyson’s position as the Poet Laureate that was tasked with documenting the sacrifice of the Light Brigade meant he had to be somewhat in favour of the government and in turn the military. This caused him to not explicitly criticise the mistakes of the command as shown in ‘someone had blundered.’ The vagueness of the word ‘someone’ highlights the fact that Tennyson couldn’t be direct in his condemning of the leader’s actions. On the other hand, Owen is substantially more critical and utilises a rhetorical question in ‘what are we doing here’ to directly denounce the flaws in the General’s approach to warfare.

Moreover, Owen employs sibilance in ‘silence, sentries whisper’ and “sudden successive …streak the silence” to not only capture the noise of the bitter wind but also to present the striking sound of gunfire present on the battlefield. In addition, Owen also applies the fricative ‘f’ in ‘flowing flakes that flock’ to emphasise the harsh blanketing of snow that was viciously layered upon the troops. Tennyson also makes use of alliteration in ‘horse and hero’ to venerate the soldiers and uses the obscurity and singularity of ‘hero’ to make the men seem like symbols of bravery and valour as opposed to real soldiers. Furthermore, Tennyson utilises religious allusion in ‘the valley of death’ to exaggerate the opposing forces by making them seem biblical. The valley of death is equally a reference to the Christian Lord’s Prayer that contains the line ‘I may walk through the valley of death.’ Tennyson realises that his highly religious Victorian audience would be familiar with this reference and uses this to give the odds that the Light Brigade faced, an epic and paramount quality; this is another example of Tennyson glorifying the six hundred. In contrast, Owen refers to religion in the penultimate stanza of his poem in ‘love of God is dying.’ This enhances the feeling of despair and desperation that the soldiers felt to the point where they no longer had belief in God who they believed abandoned them. He continues to use verbs to describe the battle in ‘winds that knife us’ and ‘brains ache’ to portray the devastating weather effects.

The verb ‘knife’ likens the wind to a weapon and demonstrates to the reader the severity of their exposure to the harshest conditions. In addition, Owen employs a clear example of assonance in the sound of a long ‘o’ in the verbs ‘soak’, ‘know’ and ‘grow.’ This emphasises the tedious wait for something to happen and increases the sense of tension for the reader. Alternatively, Tennyson’s use of alliteration in ‘storm’d at with shot and shell’ creates a visceral effect for his audience which in combination with the sibilance of the words ‘shot’,’storm’d’ and ‘shell’ reflects and amplifies the viciousness of the attack. He also utilises repeated examples of onomatopoeia in the deep ‘un’ of ‘thundered’, ‘blundered’ and ‘hundred’ to mirror the boom of the cannon fire present on the battlefield. This reminds the reader of the perilous attack the soldiers had to undertake and further highlights their unwavering courage in the face of danger. Additionally, Tennyson makes use of a rhetorical question in ‘when can their glory fade?’ yet after five stanzas the answer is surely evident to the reader – their glory will never fade because their sacrifice is symbolic of all who lay their lives down for their country.