Tuesday, May 10, 2011

So as I was looking through the documents on my computer...

Kelly Krill
4th hour
Analysis Paper
Rough Draft

It’s by nature that humans are people pleasers; even if they say they aren’t, he or she may secretly go out of their way to put on a front accepted by society. In other cases we go out of our way to be different and stand out. It’s built into humans from small infancy need to please, be accepted, and become noticed. The things we do may seem wild or out of the ordinary. This being said, while both characters had their own struggling identity issues, Rowdy his urge to fight the world and Jordan her recklessness, the two share the common habit of hiding behind another face.
Meet Rowdy, the problematic, struggling teenager who has a knack for getting easily frustrated. Said frustration immediately leads to violence whether it be vocal and/or physical. [“‘What’s wrong with you?’ he yelled. ‘Everything!’ Rowdy yelled back. Rowdy fought everybody. He fought boys and girls. Men and women. He fought stray dogs. Hell, he fought the weather. He’d throw wild punches at the rain.” (pg. 18, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian)] It’s a common thing for someone who deals with a lot of emotional pain to try to hide it with a mask of malice. He or she refuses to show weakness, for fear it may destroy them. Rowdy’s mental mind set is to not show any sign of a soft spot inside. His friend Junior succumbs to his emotions and hormones and is constantly being beat up because of it. Rowdy knows that to stay in one piece on the reservation, he needs to be has hard as rock. Sometimes he finds himself slipping up, letting his true self peek through, before impulsively slamming shut and spitting out some profane action or retort. [“‘I ain’t crying,’ he said. ‘You’re crying.’ I touched my face. It was dry. No tears yet. ‘I can’t remember how to cry,’ I said. That made Rowdy sort of choke. He gasped a little. And more tears rolled down his face. ‘You’re crying,’ I said. ‘No, I’m not.’ ‘It’s okay; I miss my sister, too. I love her.’ … I reached out and touched Rowdy’s shoulder. Big mistake. He punched me. Well, he almost punched me. He threw a punch but he missed.” (pg. 210, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian)]
Jordan Baker, champion golf player and old money, finds herself a reckless driver. She plays a game of pretend during her time, stringing lies and cheating. [“Jordan Baker instinctively avoided clever, shrewd men, and now I saw that this was because she felt safer on a plane where any divergence from a code would be thought impossible. She was incurably dishonest. She wasn’t able to endure being at a disadvantage and, given this unwillingness, I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young in order to keep that cool, insolent smile turned to the world and yet satisfy the demands of her hard, jaunty body.” (pg. 58, The Great Gatsby)] On the outside she is beautifully arrogant, in the way she holds herself, to the way to treats the others around her. Her chin is tilted up with superiority in m cost cases. [“At any rate, Miss Baker’s lips fluttered, she nodded at me almost imperceptibly, and then quickly tipped her head back again-the object she was balancing had obviously tottered a little and given her something of a fright. Again a sort of apology arose to my lips. Almost any exhibition of complete self-sufficiency draws a stunned tribute from me.” (pg. 9, The Great Gatsby)] It comes from the old money. What people expect her to be, and what she shows them.
Both Jordan and Rowdy refuse to let people in and show them what they’re really like. She hides herself behind a veil of arrogance while he has built himself a wall constructed out of unyielding bricks.


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So Kelly... um, what?

2 comments:

Kelly Renée said...

Bahaha, that was my paper I did months ago for English comparing characters from The Great Gatsby and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Terrible books. You can delete the paper off your computer. XD

Heidi Rose said...

Thanks. I was waiting for your permission.