...It was once said “where there is light there is shadow.” Meaning, every element has an aspect of good and bad. However, it is up to us to determine what prevails. Like everything else in this world, technology has its pros and cons with each side being valid. Two pieces of literature in Unit 4 that coincide with opinion are “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury and “Nolan Bushnell” by David E. Brown. Undoubtedly, modern technology has become crucial for survival in this generation. From television, to video games, internet and smartphones; many humans don’t realize how dependent we are on technology. Author David E. Brown records important events that led to the making of a tech icon and the father of videogames, Nolan Bushnell. For years, Nolan has perpetuated the notion that videogames are great for the mind. Studies also agree with Nolan’s opinion showing that 73% of students prefer to play educational games opposed to traditional studying. His engineering and innovative inventions allowed him to watch a genius in the making, Steve...
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...In the short story of “A Sound of Thunder”, by Ray Bradbury, suspense is built through simile, conflict, and metaphor. The first way the author creates suspense through simile, to describes how things looked like. To begin with a simile describes what something look like. After the hunters find the t-rex, they open fire on it, and they kill it, and when and when the t-rex falls, they describe it by saying “Like a stone, like a mountain avalanche Tyrannosaurs fell “and that's how they use simile to describe what something looks like by saying it looks like that when it falls. The second way the author creates suspense is through conflict, and it describes what might happen to the characters. My evidence for conflict is when Eckles comes...
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...“It fell to the floor, an exquisite thing, a small thing that could upset balances and knock down a line of small dominoes and then big dominoes and then gigantic dominoes, all down the years across Time.” This quote from the short story A Sound of Thunder written by Ray Bradbury, shows how smalls thing can affect the world as we know it. The main character, Eckels, is so focused on his fear, he does not think about anything else, therefore starting a butterfly effect. He goes out hunting dinosaurs by time travel, while there, he is frightened of the dinosaur, and runs back to the time machine. In his journey back, he is careless and steps on a small butterfly, which creates a sequence of events that changes the world forever. Because Eckels is agitated, oblivious, and ignorant, he does change his life...
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...What if every choice you made, even the small ones, could potentially change the path of your future? Every action has a purpose. In A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury, there is a time safari that people can pay ten thousand dollars to go on. They pay ten thousand dollars, choose an animal, get taken to it, and you get to shoot it. There are many rules on the safari because even the slightest movement could change the future. Eckels has paid and chosen his animal and is going back in time to kill it. He chooses to kill a Tyrannosaurus Rex. When facing the T-Rex he gets scared, goes off of the path and kills a butterfly on accident. They end up killing the T-Rex anyways, but there was debate on letting Eckels come back. Everyone who went back in time, eventually all go back to 2055, but they all question Eckels on what he could’ve done. Upon return, things are different than they were before. The author shows that every action has a purpose through foreshadowing, repetition, and the change in setting. The first craft move Ray Bradbury uses is foreshadowing. He uses this in the text to show us that every action has a reaction or a purpose. On lines 81-84, it says “‘We don’t want to change the Future. We don’t...
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...Have you ever felt a personal connection to a character? An author counts on that when assigning traits to a given character. In A Sound of Thunder, Ray Bradbury, the author, makes Eckels, the main character, believable through the character's speech, his actions, and the reactions of others. Through Eckels' speech, we learn a lot about him. For example, when Travis is trying to explain the effects of killing a mouse, Eckels replies “So what if they're dead?”. This lead to Travis going more in depth with his explanation. This shows me that Eckels doesn't think about the facts in front of him, nor does he think of how his actions affect people. He didn't think about how killing a mouse in the past could have repercussions in the future. My...
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...The story "A Sound of Thunder", by Ray Bradbury, begins in 2055 A. D. When Eckels, Protagonist, wants to hunt a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The costly venture begins and they go back into time, the Jurassic Period, on an approved hunt. Through the travel, the hunters wear oxygen helmets when under way to the past. Travis, the guide, says that no one knows for sure if time can be altered, but it isn't worth the risk Furthermore he explains the domino effect that interacting with things could have upon the world. Further building the plot they step from the time machine Eckels is told not to step from the path, as they come upon the Tyrannosaurus Rex, marked with red paint you can hear thunder, Mr. Eckels gets frightened and strays off the path stepping...
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...Case Study: Sound Analysis The use of sound elements within a seven-minute sequence from Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice (2005). This case study will focus on the scenes in which Elizabeth and Colonel Fitzwilliam discuss Darcy in church, and the following scene in which Darcy initially confesses his love for Elizabeth, and is rebuked. In these scenes, sound is used to transfer information regarding the genre, tone, characters and setting. Pride and Prejudice is a typical “novel of manners”, period and romantic genre, drawing on classical music elements to set the film style. This sequence begins with Elizabeth Bennet speaking in hushed tones to Colonel Fitzwilliam whilst in church, discussing Mr. Darcy’s actions of separating a couple; briefly, Elizabeth’s pitch becomes higher and her voice louder, suggesting she feels strong emotions towards this information, perhaps outrage. That they are speaking in whispers proposes that they do not wish to be overheard, giving the idea that the subject on which they are speaking is something secretive and inappropriate given their current environment. At the discovery of new information regarding Darcy’s split of her sister from his friend, Elizabeth appears overcome with emotion, and gasps audibly when Darcy catches her eye. In these last few moments of the scene, the non-diegetic soundtrack slowly increases in volume, until it is suddenly at the same intensity as that of the diegetic sound within the film...
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...Final Film Critique– “The Help” Contextual Information Title: The Help Writers: Tate Taylor (screenplay), Kathryn Stockett (novel) Director: Tate Taylor Cinematographer: Stephen Goldblatt, Director of photography Major Actors: Emma Stone – Skeeter Phelan, Viola Davis – Abileen Clark, Bryce Dallas Howard - Hilly Holbrook, Octavia Spencer – Minny Jackson Release Date: August 10, 2011 Type of film: American Drama Based on a True Story Genre: Drama Black women raising white children, and the children loved them, and they loved them back, but yet were not allowed to use the toilets in their employer’s house. These are the moments of the black maids in 1963 in Jackson, Mississippi. Plot and Story The Help depicts the lives of black maids and their white employers exposing the racism that the black maids faced on a daily basis. The time is 1963 set in Jackson, Mississippi during the civil rights movement. The film that follows the lives of two black maids and a southern society girl, Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone), who returns home from college, eager to launch her dreams of being a writer. Skeeter wants to write a book to explain that racism doesn’t just mean withholding of education and voting rights. It is told from the perspective of the black maids so it is narrated through the movie as the voice of black maids that suffered the racism from their employers. The interviewing of the black maids, who spent their lives taking care of the prominent white...
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...Ford AP Language and Composition 13 October 2014 Poem Analysis In his poem “First Storm and Thereafter,” Scott Cairns depicts a memory of a woman through cogent vocabulary and phrases. Cairns uses a slow shift in tone and contrasting words to describe the effect this haunting memory has on his mind and how it engulfs his future. In the first section of the poem, Cairns focuses on certain parts of a storm: lightning, thunder, and rain. Creatively, each component is compared to a sensory detail; lightning is to sight, as thunder is to sound, as rain is to touch. He is reminiscing on the ravishing and captivating memories with his love. The author claims that “fixed in memory is the rare quality of its lightning, as if those bolts were clipped from a comic book” (First Storm and Thereafter, 2-5). At first this generates the idea that everything is perfect, unblemished. As if it could be formed into a comic book and sell millions of copies. Whereas directly after, he describes the lightning as “fashioned with cardboard, daubed with gilt then hung overhead on wire and fine hooks” (First Storm and Thereafter, 7-10). This implies that the seemingly appealing memories offered are actually rotten on the inside. He uses the phrase “daubed with gilt” like an ornament. The gold makes the cardboard look pretty, but in reality it doesn’t withhold the charming effect it is fabricated to have. When describing the thunder Cairns says now he hears “…its grief–a moan, a long lament...
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...Chapters 24-28 analysis Passage: “There are those who can be moved by the sound of the voice alone. There are those who remember the first day they heard it as if it were today, who remember their excitement, and the queer sensations of their bodies as though electricity were passing through them. For the voice has magic in it, and it has threatening in it, and thunder echoes in it over black mountains” (Paton 217) Paton uses analogies to give further clarification into his statements and show the difference between the feelings of the two kinds of people he is pinning. He separates the people who are feeling his voice and comprehending his words for the first time and the people who have heard this voice and felt that same feeling the...
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...Literary Analysis The short story, Harrison Bergeron, was written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. In the story, we see many uses of different literary devices that help us understand the world they are living in. Similes introduce us to the loud, distracting sounds that go off in George’s head every time he is about to take advantage of his brain. The handicaps that certain people are chosen to wear symbolize their strength, intelligence, and beauty. Vonnegut uses allusions to reference a Greek god and the Constitution. I chose this story because I was fascinated by this world where everyone was “equal” and by Harrison’s fearlessness in challenging the laws and his desire to be free. In Harrison Bergeron, many similes are used to describe the sounds that block George from thinking too much. When Hazel, George’s wife, asked what the transmitter had sounded like, he responded, “sounded like somebody hitting a milk bottle with a ball peen hammer.” At times when George remembers his son, Harrison, sounds “like a twenty-one-gun salute in his head,” will interrupt his train of thought. These sounds are used so nobody is smarter than anybody else. Some people in this story can’t even use their real voice because it would be unfair. When a ballerina spoke, “Her voice was a warm, luminous, timeless melody,” but she was immediately forced to apologize and use a voice that was uncompetitive. Vonnegut used a metaphor to compare the beauty in the ballerina’s voice to a melody. In Harrison Bergeron...
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...Meghan Tedder 4/01/2012 College Writing II Literary Analysis [Broken] Dreams The album Rumours by Fleetwood Mac is considered to be one of the best albums of all time by critics (Rumours). This album was the peak of the band’s success but also represented the end of several relationships within the group. During the time the album was made, drummer Mick Fleetwood was going through a divorce, band members John and Christine McVie were separated, and Stevie Nick’s eight year relationship with Lindsey Buckingham had ended. Through the tension, the band was able to produce a mix of emotionally charged songs. Within the album, “Dreams” received the best feedback. The song talks about how a guy that wants his freedom by being single, but also the inevitability of loneliness he will feel once he realizes what he’s lost. When analyzing the lyrics the complexity of emotions is apparent and familiar to many audiences. The first verse, “Now here you go again. You say you want your freedom. Well who am I to keep you down?” sets the stage for the breakup (Fleetwood Mac). The use of the word again shows the frustration Stevie felt when Buckingham was not trying to meet her needs and instead wanted the freedom to do things for himself. The wording, “keep you down” applies to the idea that Stevie felt she did not have the right to control his independence. With a more accepting tone Stevie sings, “It’s only right that you should play the way you feel it” but continues...
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...The Matrix Micro-Analysis (39:25-43:55) (Dir. The Wachowski Brothers) The sequence comes at a point when Neo is learning the truth about his existence in a world where humans are being controlled by machines, so it is used to show his disbelief to the truth, and to contrast the world he imagined, to the real world. The scene starts with high pitched violin sounds, which immediately put the audience on edge. It also gives us a sense of the danger Neo may be in, along with the pain he's feeling. This is highlighted by the extreme close up shot of Neo's face, which clearly shows pain in his face. The camera then zooms out whilst spinning, making the audience disorientated, and mirroring the feelings of Neo at this time. Once righted, the camera circles Neo, which shows that he doesn't know where he is, however the violin stops, so we know he’s not in danger anymore. There is a white background used, which has various impacts on the audience. Firstly, it makes the setting seem safe, because it causes a lack of darkness. It also gives a sense of nothingness, which makes Neo seem marooned in a world he had no idea existed. Finally, it contrasts the darker shots a bit later, where we see the outside world, so it makes a bigger impact on the viewer. The camera tracks Morpheus, and when in front of him, pans to face Neo. This is to shows the contrast between Morpheus's strength, and Neo's vulnerability, as a long shot is used to make Neo look small and insignificant, whereas the...
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...Hume claims that judgments of causality are completely constructed by the mind and they are a result of "habit" or "custom." We have a habit of thinking causally. But Hume does not say this is a bad thing, since without this habit we would not be able to function in everyday life. He even calls causality the "cement of the universe." For Hume, our judgments of causality are determined by three factors: 1) constant conjunction: we continuously see one event that follows from another event in experience. For example, I see that one ball hits another ball, and that second ball moves, and this has happened many times; 2) contiguity: the two things must be close to each other in space and time; and 3) association between ideas: I have an idea of one ball moving, and the idea of another being hit and moving. So, causality does not belong in the objects seen, but only in the mind. Causality is not a real feature of the world, but only a way we interpret events in the world. In this way, Hume's account of causality points to his broader position that we cannot have any knowledge of the world---or even be in a position to know that we have knowledge. Hume observes that while we may perceive two events that seem to occur in conjunction, there is no way for us to know the nature of their connection. Based on this observation, Hume argues against the very concept of causation, or cause and effect. We often assume that one thing causes another, but it is just as possible that one thing...
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...All Summer in a Day Multiple Choice Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question. Critical Reading Identify the letter of the choice that best answers the question. ____ 1. What are the children doing as “All Summer in a Day” opens? |a. |They are teasing Margot. | |b. |They are reciting poetry. | |c. |They are peering out a window. | |d. |They are pushing Margot into a closet. | ____ 2. What does this passage from “All Summer in a Day” suggest about the setting? A thousand forests had been crushed under the rain and grown up a thousand times to be crushed again. And this was the way life was forever on the planet Venus. |a. |Venus was a thousand years old. | |b. |Venus had rain most of the time. | |c. |There had never been forests in Venus. | |d. |There were no forests in Venus. ...
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