An Inductive Leap too Far (Shutter Island)

     In Shutter Island, Teddy found himself on an island which situated an asylum that a patient - Rachel Solando - had escaped from. As a detective of sorts he has been called in to investigate and find the missing patient with a man named Chuck that he had not met until he was put on the case. But Teddy had been wanting to go to the island for a while, to investigate for other reasons. First he believed that the island wasn't as much there to help as it was to experiment and second the man who killed his wife was supposedly imprisoned somewhere on it.
     The more time Teddy spent on the island, the more he believed that Rachel had never existed and that the evasive doctors there really wanted to keep him stuck there so he couldn't prove his theories of experimentation to the rest of the world. The most unnerving realization he had to begin with was that he didn't know anyone on the island and therefore they could all have been working to keep him there, including Chuck who he's been trusting whole heatedly up until then. He also found that it was strangely coincidental that he'd been the one chosen to investigate on the island he'd been trying to get to and that as far as he could tell there was every possibility that Rachel Solando never existed. As the story progressed things only became more strange, he found a woman in a cave who looked like Rachel, only quite a bit older. She claimed that she'd been one of the first doctors on the island and didn't want to be a part of it once they started using methods that she was uncomfortable with and was unable to leave after seeing what she saw. Since then she'd been hiding from them in that cave. Finally she warned that every time Teddy ate, drank or smoked something on the island he was being drugged with something that would make him lose his mind and that the headache he had was one of the first signs.
     Now, the end is a bit confusing and could be taken two ways. One, that Teddy was right in his inductive leap and that the doctors won. Or as I see it, two, that Teddy wasn't who he believed himself to be anymore and had actually been treated on the island for several years as a highly delusional patient. There's a lot more to the end than that but this post is already too long so I'll end it at that.

Concrete Poem (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)

Significant Characteristic (the perks of being a wallflower)

          "But I don't mind going at all because my Aunt Helen is buried there. My mom was always the pretty one, as they say, and my Aunt Helen was always the other one. The nice thing was my Aunt Helen was never on a diet. And my Aunt Helen was "corpulent.""(chbosky p.16) Aunt Helen is probably one of the most important if not, the most important person in Charlie's life. He has a lot of fond memories of her like how she was the only one who would give him a birthday and Christmas present (because the two were only one day apart,) or staying up late watching SNL when his parents were out getting drunk with friends. The way Charlie talks about her really shows that the two had a special bond. Of course when she died it made him go mental for a while and he ended up being held back a grade and by the end of the book you find out that she actually had a lot more to do with the way Charlie is than anyone originally thought.
          "Because I was standing in the tunnel. And I was really there. And that was enough to make me feel infinite."(chbosky p.213) This quote shows what I consider an important mood in the book. Charlie's just a kid who has a lot of emotions and a pretty normal life. All he's ever looking for is to find that perfect feeling, a kind of peaceful but still amazing and exciting feeling because so much of his life he feels panicked or confused. I think Charlie is a pretty peaceful but exciting and eccentric character so I guess I'm saying that those three sentences really sum up a lot of who he is.

Film Adaptation (Life of Pi)

          Life of Pi was a very descriptive book but the plot was pretty consistent. I wouldn't have to take out much just not go into as much detail as the book did. For instance the first bit of the book took up quite a bit of space but really was just there to paint a picture of a boy who was strongly devoted to multiple religions and was deeply fascinated with anything relating to zoo's and animals. While I enjoyed it in the book watching that I think could get a bit boring so I'd maybe open with the reporter walking into Pi's home and it would be in his point of view, all you'd see would be Pi and his family, all the religious paintings, books etc. and pictures of past experiences. Every once in a while a photo or object would trigger a small moment in Pi's past that would give insight into what his childhood was like and it would be narrated by Pi. Eventually the reporter would get to the picture of Richard Parker, by this point you'd be out of first person because I thought it was really cool how you didn't know who Richard Parker was until he was climbing on the boat. So Pi would say yeah and it would trigger another flashback to him on the lifeboat saving Richard Parker.
          He's disoriented and there's water splashing up all over the camera so you still can't really see what's happening until the tiger's on the boat, then there could be a short flashback with Pi's father saying that animals could be dangerous and the goat being butchered. From there the movie would follow the book pretty consistently throwing in more memories where necessary.

Suspense or Pathos (The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian)

          The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian has a lot of pathos because so many people end up dying and never of natural causes. So while I have had a pet and a grandparent die I can only sympathize because it's never happened the same way. For instance my dog got really really old and decrepit so I knew it was coming and I wasn't even there when we put her down so I was actually totally fine with the whole thing and haven't missed her since. Arnold's dog on the other hand suddenly got sick one day and because his family's poor they couldn't afford to pay the vet to fix it so instead his dad asked him to carry Oscar outside so that he could shoot him. It was hard to pick a specific moment in this because it all adds to the pathos so I'll just write it all.
          "Poverty doesn't give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor.
          So, poor and small and weak, I picked up Oscar. He licked my face because he loved and trusted me. And I carried him out to the lawn, and laid him out beneath our green apple tree.
          "I love you, Oscar," I said.
          He looked at me and I swear to you that he understood what was happening. He knew what dad was going to do. But Oscar wasn't scared. He was relieved.
          But not me.
          I ran away from there as fast as I could.
          I wanted to run faster than the speed of sound, but nobody, no matter how much pain they're in, can run that fast. So I heard the boom of my father's rifle when he shot my best friend.
          A bullet only costs two cents, and anyone can afford that." (Alexie, S. 13-14)

Point of View (The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian)

          The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is told through the first person point of view. I think the author chose to do it that way because he wants you to really be able to understand how the main character is feeling, how he sees his world. It makes sense because Arnold is a truly interesting person with a very unique view on the world. This also gives the author the chance to put this story into diary form which makes it seem more child like and innocent, kind of like he has no one to talk to, lonely. Personally I don't see why anyone would change the point of view it's really great the way it is now. If the point of view were third person I wouldn't feel as close with Arnold as I do now. 

Character Traits (The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian)

          My novel's protagonist is Arnold (Junior) Spirit. Arnold's main characteristics are self-doubt, ambition, perseverance and bravery. He's pretty doubtful of himself but not in an obvious way, he thinks he's not good enough but he goes ahead and tries anyway. It's kinda like his flaws aren't a bit deal to him because he's always focusing on the good in other people. "But I don't think I'll be a very good high school player. Rowdy is probably going to start varsity as a freshman, but I figure the bigger and better kids will crush me." then there's some stuff in between and he says, "But I'm more happy than scared." (Alexie, S. 28) In my opinion he's saying he's happy for Rowdy.
          Arnold is pretty ambitious and courageous, he does things that seem kind of insane or impossible because he does want a better future for himself. A really good example of that would be the fact that he went to Reardan (a white school) for a better education and stood up to the people who tried to stop him. ""I want to go the Reardan," I said again. I couldn't believe I was saying it. For me, it seemed as real as saying, "I want to fly to the moon."" (Alexie S. 46) "I was defending Indians, black people and buffalo. So I punched Roger in the face." (Alexie, S. 65) Roger's one of the biggest guys in the school but despite that Arnold punched him anyway because he was standing up for himself. Finally he definitely is someone who perseveres because when things take a turn for the worst he's always trying to piece it back together and get on with whatever it was he was doing, he's very optimistic in a weird, neutral kind of way. "Ninety percent of me wanted to take the break. But I knew if I took that break I'd never make the team." (Alexie, S. 140) So in that quote Arnold's trying out for the basketball team and he ends up playing one on one against Roger (who's now his kinda sorta friend but still very big and good at basketball) and he keeps messing up but eventually he manages to win and I think that his perseverance is what got him on the team.