The Notebook Essay Example for Free

The Notebook Essay The film The Notebook is a 2004 romantic drama set along the coast line of South Carolina in 1946, directed by Nick Cassavetes. This film is an American love story between two young adults, Ally and Noah, which had fallen for each other over a short summer break and was torn apart due to financial differences that were looked down upon by Allys parents. Noah Calhoun, played by Ryan Gosling, is a rural southerner who had fought in world war two after his beloved Ally had left him after their summer romance had come to an abrupt end. This film is set from Noahs point of view many years later after their love had been rekindled while his Ally is in a nursing home suffering from onset Alzheimer’s which is to whom he is reading this love story too. The reason Noah and Allys summer love comes to an end is because Allys parents are these rich, essentially, stuck up people, who are only in Seabrook for summer vacation. To their dismay their daughter falls for this you man, Noah, who is just a commoner in town with not a dime to his name that they consider trash. This is why they pack themselves up with out a moments notice and leave town the next day. Upon Allys departure Noah writes Ally every day for a year, three hundred and sixty-five letters. Noah does not receive, not even one letter, back from Ally due to the fact that her mother takes every single letter that wrote and puts them aside so that Ally would not receive them. A while after Noah lists to be drafted for World War II where he loses his best friend in action. After returning home from war, to Noahs discovery, his father has sold their home to but an abandoned house in town. This was which was Noahs dream to restore this home for Ally; it was something they had talked about during that summer. After not seeing or hearing from Ally for several years Noah crosses paths with her in Charleston where she witnesses her kissing Lon, her current fiance, in a restaurant. Shattered by this seen this is Noahs drive to finish restoring the house, thinking that once Ally realizes what he has done she will come back to him. Amongst doing so with his father’s help, Noahs father passes, which gives him more drive to finish the home in order to bring back the one and only thing he feels he has left. Once finishing the house a picture of the home and Noah are photographed and place in the newspaper, Noah had tried selling the house but no offer was ever good enough when he thought about Ally. Ally is at a bridal shop when her mother shows her the paper where it had talked about her wedding being the biggest event of the year. It is then that Ally opens the paper and sees Noah standing next to the house when she faints. This is when Ally decides to leave and go back to Seabrook to see Noah and the gorgeous home he has restored, which is the seen I have chosen to analyze. Upon Allys arrival Noah is shocked; they spend a couple of days together making dinner enjoying each other’s company. Noah takes her out on the row boat to a place that is filled with these beautiful white birds that look like swans where Ally feeds them. On the way in it starts pouring rain they make it to the dock and Ally starts to run up to the dock to the house while Noah pulls the boat in and she stops and yells Why didnt you write me? It wasn’t over for me! Why didnt you write? Noah pauses, looks at her and says, I wrote you, three hundred and sixty-five letters. I wrote you every day for a year. Ally, You wrote me? Noah, It wasnt over for me either. It still isn’t over. Noah pulls her into kiss her and picks her up and carries her upstairs where they make love. Here I think the rain symbolizes and adds to the drama and emotion that the script is portraying. It allows the emotion to sink in a little deeper and reach the viewers down deep. Also being tha t this scene is outside in a rain storm, it’s gloomy and hazy. I believe that feelings adds to the confusion between Ally and Noah of her not knowing that Noah had written her and Noah not knowing that Ally had not received his letters. The setting allows you to sympathize for the misunderstanding more. This setting is taken as a full shot which allows you to view the landscape around Ally and Noah as well as their entire figure. It allows you to view their body language from a distance standing in the rain and how it affects their wardrobe. The quick close up as Noah pulls her in to kiss her as he picks her up allows the viewers to witness the emotion and passion that Noah and Ally have for one another. The next morning Allys mother shows up, once hearing she returned to Seabrook, she knew exactly where she would be able to find Ally. Her mother knocks on the door and asks Ally to come with her. She takes her to a factory where man is outside working and points to a man. She tells Ally that was her Noah so to speak when she was younger. She tells Ally’s that she knows how she feels because she loves her father but still has never forgotten or lost feelings for this man. She also tells Ally that this is her choice and that she will now respect any decision she makes but to make sure that the decision she makes is the one that will make her happy. They return back to the house and her mother hands her all of her letters and apologized for keeping them from her. She also advised her that Lon, her fiance, was in town. Noah sees all of her with the letters he wrote her several years ago and asks Ally what she is going to do. Ally states that she doesn’t know. Noah becomes frustrated because he is upset that they are back to that same place where their relationship is unknown after the few wonderful days that they have spent together. He tells Ally that she is scared of not having security, meaning money. Ally storms out to her car and says she has to go. Noah tells her Youre bored and you know it. If there wasnt something missing you wouldnt be here. Will you just stay with me? Ally, Why? Look at us we are already fighting. Noah, Thats what we do we fight. You tell me when I am being an asshole and I tell you when you are being a pain in the ass. Ally, So what? Noah, So its not going to be easy. Its going to be really hard; were going to have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, everyday. You and me, everyday. † Noah tells asks here, Do something for me, just picture your life thirty, forty years from now. If its with him then go, go! I lost you once I think I can do it again if I thought it’s what you really wanted. But don’t you take the easy way out! For myself, I think the script has a lot to do with the way someone is going to react or feel about a film. In this scene, the script it so real and raw that everyone can relate to it and understand the emotion behind the feelings. The emotion behind the script is what engages the viewer to understand and keep them connected to want to watch the film and to continue being engaged. That is essentially one of the main ways of getting someone to connect with something, through emotion. Also in this scene they are outside but the camera view is focused on them, up close, personal. There is also not even a subtle back or outside noise which allows you to focus on the script. This scene also contains mostly an eye-level angle which puts the viewers on an equal footing with the Ally and Noah. This is one of the most commonly used angles in films to allow the viewers to feel more comfortable with the characters in the film. This setting being outside with Ally at her car wanting to leave after this romantic reconnection over the past two days I feel also adds drama, because the viewers at this point are not wanting Ally to leave Noah yet again. I believe that the techniques used in this film create such correlated cinematography. It allows you to create such a connection with the characters on such an emotional level. To do so and keep viewers connected and wanting more is what makes a good film. With these camera angles and shots, with the settings that they were in I feel were completed successfully and would not leave any viewer disconnected or un-oriented.

Judgment in the House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus Essay example --

People place judgment on one another every day based on differences. Sometimes it is done subconsciously; sometimes it is done on purpose. In the book The House of Sand and Fog, by Andre Dubus III, two different cultures were represented; Kathy represented the culture of the western civilization, whereas Behrani represented the culture of Persians. People judge one another based on unimportant things, and get judged based on those same things as well. Two cultures were used to amplify how different their cultures were from one another. Throughout the book cultures vocalized what they did not like about the other cultures by placing judgment on people based on ethnicity, appearance, and status; despite how different the cultures were, they had something in common, negative judgment. In a world where there is so much diversity, the only way for all cultures to get along is to place judgments aside and accept the differences. The book is introduced with Behrani placing judgment on the people he works with. He is judging the other people based on their race, and their status. Behrani refers to the men he works with as if they don't deserve to even be in his presence. "He is goh, the shit of life. They are all goh," (pg 16). Even though many of the men he works with do not deserve to be regarded so low, Behrani judges them as he would if he still maintained the position he had in Iran as a colonel. Behrani and his family also judge Kathy for being American. When Behrani explains to his son the situation their family is now a part of he explains it in a way that is judging of Americans. He says, "Remember what I have told you of so many Americans: they are not disciplined and have not the courage to take responsibility ... ...g, like it was in the book The House of Sand and Fog. Much of the outcome of the book was based on the fact that judgments were made, had judgment not been made about status, Kathy may not have cared so much about getting that house back, had Behrani not been judged based on status, he may have not bought that home. Cultures judge one another every day, and people within those cultures judge each other as well. This constant judging of others and of ones self is what causes people to be unhappy in the first place. The only way to live happily within ones culture, and in the world of many cultures, is to accept that each culture and person is different, which is what makes each culture and person so special; the only way to live happily in ones life, is to accept and embrace differences. Works Cited: Dubus, Andre. House of Sand and Fog. New York: Norton, 1999

Historical Criticism of Anton Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Dog”

Russian short story writer and playwright Anton Chekhov's The Lady with the Dog (1899) is a brilliant exposition of how society's laws and institutions hinder an individual's quest for freedom and happiness (RadEssays, n. pag.). According to the poet and critic Dana Gioia, the style in which the short story was written was consistent with the emerging trends in nineteenth-century short story writing (Gioia, n. pag.).On one hand, it was based on the â€Å"anti-Romantic realism of Maupassant with its sharp observation of external social detail and human behavior conveyed within a tightly drawn plot† (Gioia, n. pag.). On the other, it also mirrored the â€Å"modern psychological realism of early Joyce in which the action is mostly internal and expressed in an associative narrative built on epiphanic moments† (Gioia, n. pag.). Hence, Gioia considered The Lady with the Dog, along with his later works, as a turning point in European literature (Gioia, n. pag.).The short story 's main character, Dmitri Dmitrich Gurov, was a man whose life was trapped early by society and the institution of marriage (RadEssays, n. pag.). During the 1900s, Russian society, just like all other societies, believed that marriage is a sacred institution (BookStove, n. n. pag.). To go against this norm (by committing adultery) meant facing social condemnation and ostracism (BookStove, n. pag.). However, Russia's upper classes only paid lip service to this rule – marriage for them was more of a convennient way to establish and secure fortunes and bloodlines (BookStove, n. pag.). Therefore, while they paraded themselves in public as respectable and happily-married people, they secretly engaged in extramarital affairs to temporarily escape the harsh reality of being trapped in a loveless marriage.Gurov was no exception. Although his real interest lay in the arts (he graduated with a degree in this field), he was forced to take up a â€Å"dignified† job in a bank (Chek hov, n. pag.). To make matters worse, his parents had set an arranged marriage for him with a woman he described as â€Å"unintelligent, narrow (and) inelegant† (Chekhov, n. pag.) – simply put, a woman he did not love. As a result, Gurov was miserable, â€Å"bored and and not himself†¦cold and uncommunicative (in the society of men)† (Chekhov, n. pag.).But feminist critcs argued that the real reason for the scorn he felt towards his wife was that she was an â€Å"outspoken woman who considers herself an intellectual† (Answers, n. pag.) – Gurov was intimadated with assertive women and preferred a woman whom he could control (Answers, n. pag.).Just like many other Russian upper-class men of his time, Gurov found solace in extramarital affairs (BookStove, n. pag.). For him, these liasons were more than just outlets for lust – they were manifestations of his protest against the society which condemned him to a â€Å"pitiable† existen ce (BookStove, n. pag.). Although Gurov openly labelled women as â€Å"the lower race† (Chekhov, n. pag.), he â€Å"could not get on for two days together† without them (Chekhov, n. pag.). His treatment of and philosophy towards women reflected the hypocrisy of Russian society with regard to the issues of love, marriage and infidelity (BookStove, n. pag.).Gurov came across an ally in his latest mistress, Anna Sergeyevna. Just like him, Sergeyevna was also a prisoner of her marriage – she got married young (20 years old), but soon regretted having done so (ECheat, n. pag.). She no longer loved her husband, regarding him as a â€Å"flunkey† (ECheat, n. pag.). In sharp contrast to Gurov’s wife, Sergeyevna was â€Å"soft and childlike, weepy and vulnerable, even a bit ‘pathetic’† (Answers, n. pag.) – the ideal Russian woman of the 1900s (Answers, n. pag.). Eager to live a single and uncommitted life once again, she feigned il lness and went to Yalta, a well-known health resort in Russia (Answers, n. pag.).Free from the unhappy situation of their respective families, Gurov and Sergeyevna carried out an illicit affair in Yalta (Answers, n. pag.). Although Sergeyevna initially felt guilty after Gurov kissed her for the first time, she was already in love with him by the time she returned to S (ECheat, n. pag.). Chekhov used symbolisms to decribe the intensity of their passion for one another. The moon, a timeless symbol of fertility, symbolized the birth of Gurov and Sergeyevna's affair (Openpapers, n. pag.). Sergeyevna's pet Pomeranian, meanwhile, represented the dependency, loyalty and amusement that they were looking for in their respective spouses, but found in one another (Paperstarter, n. pag.).When Gurov and Sergeyevna resumed their normal lives, it was then that they realized how much they missed and loved each other (ECheat, n. pag.). After meeting again in a theater, they decided to continue their clandestine affair. They secretly met in Moscow (Gurov’s hometown) â€Å"once in two or three months† (Chekhov, n. pag.).But Gurov and Sergeyevna eventually got tired of hiding like theives just to maintain their relationship. When they had their usual rendezvous at Sergeyevna’s room at the Slaviansky Bazaar hotel, they discussed â€Å"how to avoid the necessity for secrecy, for deception, for living in different towns and not seeing each other for long at a time† (Chekhov, n. pag.). But they were unable to come up with a clear solution (ECheat, n. pag.).Indeed, Gurov and Sergeyevna’s illicit liaison was a no-win situation. True, they had found real love in each other. But in a society that abhors relationships such as theirs, they were left with three options: run away, tell their respective spouses the truth or end the affair then and there (ECheat, n. pag.). Divorce was out of the question – in 1900s Russia, it was a social taboo, along with adultery (Answers, n. pag.). Divorced people were met with the same social denunciation and isolation bestowed on adulterers and adultresses (Answers, n. pag.). The open-ended conclusion added more credibility to the short story’s theme – the choice between being true to one’s self or adhering to what society believes to be correct.Chekhov’s other writings also echoed the animosity between an individual and society. In the short story Betrothed (1903), the protagonist, Nadya, was engaged to Andrey Andreyich, a man whom she didn’t love (Chekhov, n. pag.). She had no other choice – Russian women during the 1900s were not allowed to study or to work outside the home. Hence, marriage appeared to be Nadya’s only ticket to economic advancement (Eshbaugh, 3).But her perspective changed when Aleksander Timofeyich (fondly called â€Å"Sasha†) arrived from Moscow to visit her family. Upon learning of Nadya’s engagement to And reyich, Sasha warned her about the lifeless existence that is the result of an arranged marriage (Eshbaugh, 3).â€Å"Only enlightened and holy people are interesting, it's only they who are wanted. The more of such people there are, the sooner the Kingdom of God will come on earth†¦ Dear Nadya, darling girl, go away! Show them all that you are sick of this stagnant, grey, sinful life. Prove it to yourself at least (Chekhov, n. pag.)!†Despite Nadya’s initial misgivings, she heeded Sasha’s words. With his help, she fled to St. Petersburg, where she attended university (Eshbaugh, 3). Nadya eventually realized that she made the right decision in relying on herself instead of on marriage to achieve happiness (Eshbaugh, 3). Even her family ultimately supported her choice – their letters to her were â€Å"resigned and kindly, (as if) everything seemed to have been forgiven and forgotten† (Chekhov, n. pag.).Betrothed was â€Å"the last published work of Chekhov and thus his dying words to his literary audience† (Eshbaugh, 3). In a way, this explains its optimistic ending. If in The Lady with the Dog, Chekhov exposed the futility of society’s norms of â€Å"marriage for monetary gains (and) living an idle life without purpose and without love† (Eshbaugh, 3), in Betrothed, he imparted that if man can create society and the status quo, he can also change them.Works CitedChekhov, Anton. â€Å"The Betrothed.† 2008. Ibiblio.org. 11 March 2008 . Chekhov, Anton. â€Å"The Lady with the Dog.† 2008. Online-Literature. 11 March 2008 . Eshbaugh, Ruth. â€Å"Literary Analysis of The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chekhov.† 21 June 2007. AssociatedContent. 11 March 2008 . Gioia, Dana. â€Å"Anton Chekhov’s ‘The Lady with the Pet Dog’.† 1998. Dana Gioia Online. 11 March 2008 . â€Å"Anton Chekhov, ‘The Lady with the Dog’.† 2008. RadEssays.com. 11 March 2008 . â€Å"A Review of Lady with a Pet Dog by Anton Chekhov.† 4 July 2005. ECheat. 11 March 2008 . â€Å"The Lady with the Dog.† 11 July 2007. BookStove. 11 March 2008 . â€Å"The Lady with the Dog (Anton Chekhov).† 2007. PaperStarter. 11 March 2008 . â€Å"The Lady with the Dog by Chekhov.† 2008. Openpapers. 11 March 2008 . â€Å"The Lady with the Pet Dog (Criticism).† 2008. Answers.com. 11 March 2008 .

Essay on The Philosophy of Education - 650 Words

In order for a society to function, individuals must be productive members of that society. This is accomplished through education. The philosophy of education is determined by society. As society changes so does the concept of education. Education is needed for individuals to function in society. Without the proper tools, people would be a burden instead of an asset. To become an asset, individuals need to be exposed to those elements which would enrich their lives through knowledge. Knowledge in our society is basically learned through education. The basic knowledge each person should receive from an education is the three R’s; reading writing, and arithmetic. These mediums will enable a person to survive in today’s society.†¦show more content†¦Education can bring these individual talents to the surface. Having these talents developed by the way of the educational system, a person is more likely to become a productive member of society. Without these gifts and talents of individuals, answers in the medical, environmental, and social fields could remain mute and unexplored. Education has the responsibilities to bring out the best in each individual. The needs of society are continually changi ng. Therefore, education must also continue to change in order to productive responsible members of society. Education a hundred years ago is far different from the education today. Each generation is exposed to more and more information. This information needs to be processed and delivered to individuals. Education is the vehicle to do this. Reading, Writing and arithmetic will always be the backbone to education. However, education must also look at society and determine what more is needed to do. In our society today, computer and AIMS testing are the main focal point. Over ten years ago, high school students were being exposed to the use of the computer. Today in the 21st Century, children in kindergarten are receiving the necessary information to become computer literate. Without education keeping its eyes on what is happening in society, the next generation will be left behind. Education is the eyes and ears for society. The young people in schools are receivingShow MoreRelatedPhilosophy : Philosophy Of Education1328 Words   |  6 Pages Philosophy of Education Jihyae Choe Liberty University TESL 419 â€Æ' Philosophy of Education A good educator decides the direction of teaching based on a resolute educational philosophy. A firm and resolute philosophy does not equate with a fixed perspective, instead it is a strong foundation that can stabilize the life long educational career. In order to establish a firm philosophical basis, passion toward education should accompany proper understanding. 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