Assignment 3: Hunger Games from Another Character’s Point of View

The third and final essay of our English 102 class requires us to re-write a scene from Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games from a supporting characters point of view. Since the information we have about the other characters thoughts and emotions is limited, we must also create a our own scene which will give a sense and significance to what the character is going through in the scene from the novel.

For this assignment I have chosen to re-create the night where Rue, the little girl from District 11 and Katniss, the main character become allies. The story (from Rue’s point of view) will be based on Rue contemplating her trust for Katniss based on a horrible experience she had in the past.  The scene I will be creating will illustrate Rue working in the orchards along with a very nice boy around Katniss’s age. Since she is the oldest of 6, Rue sees him, as the older brother she has always wanted, and begins to trusts him with everything. Sadly, this boy will betray Rue and make her and her family will suffer the consequences. Hopefully, this scene will create anticipation in Rue about trusting someone again and this time over something as great as her life. My greatest challenge other than creating my own story (maybe including dialogue) will be to capture Rues soft, sympathetic, gentle, simple, but yet intelligent demeanor in her voice, and to overall write like a twelve-year-old girl. I really look forward to this assignment and hope entering it with low expectations (since I have never written my own story before) leads to an outcome I feel satisfied with. 

Personal reaction to the online article "Racist Hunger Games Fans are Very Disappointed"

Jaspher Paras - “ Kk call me racist but when I found out rue was black her death wasn’t sad #ihatemyself “(“Racist Hunger Games Fans are Very Disappointed”). This is one of many reactions fans expressed on twitter, after finding out that some significant characters in the “Hunger Games” that they had felt an emotional attachment to were played by black actors in the film. The discrimination and prejudice taken place in the comments left by the fans personally makes me ill. As well as the fact that people in this world still have the ability to not feel for someone because of something so insignificant. While reading the novel, I have to admit that in Katniss’s description of Rue’s death in the novel gave me a really hard time, especially due to Suzanne Collins’s deeply descriptive writing voice. And the facts that someone else shared that experienced with me and then regret it due to skin color is simply disgusting. Furthermore, the actor playing the role of Cinna, is a globally known artist named Lenny Kravitz, who is loved by millions of people of every race. But, the fact that he was black severely bothered the senseless fans. With this said, I doubt any of these horribly racist people would dislike a kissing scene involving two white people and one of Lenny’s love song hits in the background. This reminds me of a quote I had read explaining the fact that every racist accepts what people they ‘hate’ have to offer, but still believe they are an inferior kind.

“ Dear racist,

Your car is Japanese. Your beer is German. Your wine is Spanish. Your democracy is Greek. Your coffee is Colombian. Your tea is Chinese. Your watch is Swiss. Your fashion is French. Your shirt is Indian. Your shoes are Thai. Your radio is Korean. Your vodka is Russian. And then you complain that your neighbor is an immigrant?

Sincerely, lets just all live and let live”

Works Cited.

Longley, Joe (@Joe_Longley).  “Racist Hunger Games Fans are Very Disappointed.”  Dodai Stewart. 26 Mar. 2012.   Web. 30 July 2012.

St Marks

I catch myself cursing quietly, 2 BROZ PIZZA
I struggle to find a solution for the oil stain on my shoe.

All the fat, sticky, disgustingly colorful people watch me

As I pretend to enjoy the bitterness of my cigarette drag

Why must we enjoy shit thrown in our faces?

Why do we pretend to enjoy it?

The connection lightly brushed my face

As the stench of garbage stuffed itself into my nose

Hot humid day on St Marks street

I stepped away from this filthy paradise

It finally hit me

Pocket sized Marlboro, Call Me Maybe

Why must we pretend?

2012. 

Response to Michael Vance's analysis of The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde.

In my first post I will be discussing Michael Vance's personal analysis on Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest, posted on May 2000. Wilde’s play was first preformed in 1895, with a purpose of satire of his age’s society and their customs, or in Michael Vance’s words “a caricature in its ability to point up flaws and distinctive features by enlarging and expanding upon them to the point where they dominate the portrait and give it a distinctly comic dimension.” (Vance). The play includes some issues which todays society still faces such as wealth, social class, and dishonestly. Michael Vance focuses on the central subject being teased, which is marriage.

The main plot of the play involves two men, who are in love with women that only accept them in marriage because they believe that both their names are Earnest. With this idea, Wilde clearly states his opinion about how people interoperate marriage, and what it really is. He also makes the brides seem shallow, childish, and a little foolish. For example, Cecily (one of the two brides) creates her wedding fantasy with ‘Earnest’ in her journal before she even has a chance to meet him. Vance also mentions that the one of the early signs of marriage being criticized is when Algernon (one of the two men) claims that he believes marriage is more business then pleasure. He continues to explain that romance ends when the marriage has begun.

Vance’s analysis of Wilde’s play is in my opinion quite accurate, I agree with the fact that Wilde does a great job pointing out the soullessness and simplicity of marriage in his time. What puzzles me though is the question of marriage still being this way in today’s world, although the lenience of class/race/ethnicity between two partners has grown greatly, has marriage really changed from what it used to be? Todays divorce rate in the United States is continuously estimated to be about 50% of marriages, wouldn’t that statistic apply to Wilde’s era if divorce was as socially acceptable as it is today?

(polished)