True Grit:

           In True Grit, the American Adam myth is shown in the book, but not through a man but a child. Its almost like a play on the "Child Savior" myth, for children are usually portrayed as innocent and pure. Yet, she was an amazing sharp dealing business woman, especially compared to grown men in that business. She feels the need for justice, she is the heroic child in the western genre. One can also see theses traits in Rooster, the old grumpy hot head of a man who is not very honest. The book is set at the end of the frontier time, Rooster has already lived that and in the world now there is no room for him.LaBoeuf is a horrible guy, when reading about him you just get angry. He is the obstacle to Mattie, he is full of himself and she takes him down. Mattie is an idealist, sees life as black and white, and she is going to make sure justice is served. Rooster on the other hand, has been around and he sees more grey than black and white. Rooster and Mattie balance each other out, and due to this, results in the outcome of the book. 

           Both seem to be outside the mainstream culture, but LaBoeuf is a total parody of the mainstream culture, caring all about appearances instead of what is truly happening. Mattie and Rooster see right through him. The American Adam is supposed to be wealthy and Mattie eventually fits this, she basically funded the entire expedition and took leadership throughout this expedition. A western tends to be filled with men who are living out there fantasies and woman being eye candy. True Grit puts this trend on its head with Mattie. The American Eve Myth serves as the female counterpart to the American Adam Myth. Mattie has almost adopted male traits in the book, but she is not in a box for she will do what she needs to in order to get stuff done instead of feeling that she needs to be a man to do it. 

          The Myth of male camaraderie is very evident in the film Dead Man. With Blake and Nobody to the three "settlers" (outlaws) that were eating beans around the campfire. True Grit, the father of Mattie had the American dream, hoping for the classic rags to riches life. I feel that there is a camaraderie between Mattie and Rooster, though not both males share a bond throughout the book. The American dream is not a group activity, it was a individual dream that was shown as a competition. You are competing to survive, this is an achievement that should be found on your own. The antagonists of the book are more cooperative with each other, they are strong through working together towards a similar goal, like gangs or mobs. The idea of the individual verses the collective is often found in the western genre. 

         Overall I enjoyed the book. The point of view of the book I found very interesting for it was told from an older Mattie Ross, and I found her voice to be really compelling. She gives life advice while talking about this manhunt in Indian Territory. I found that the overall story tended to have a rhythm, not much of a rise and fall, but a very even tempo. The sentences are simple, but once you thought a thought was finished, another would follow about the same topic. Also a wide range in tone, having dull mundane facts to a gory scene to a heart felt note. I thought this was an interesting writing style for I had not read a story with this type of style before.

         I also found the overall narrative theme of revenge interesting for it reminded me of popular films like Mean Girls or The Incredibles. Mattie felt that is was her responsibility to avenge her father’s death, as if it was the only course of action she soul take. I found it almost funny that even when she lost her left arm there was still no sign that she regretted her actions. In the end I enjoyed the book especially since it is close to my roots since I grew up in Texas. I have always enjoyed westerns, there’s a cowboy museum close to my home and we use to go every year with my school and while reading I would often picture pieces from that museum.

Pride and Prejudice: Courtship

When reading Jane Austin’s, Pride and Prejudice, I noticed that marriage and love seemed to be the driving themes in the story, but what I found most interesting was the process of courtship. Compared to now, marriage seemed to be more of a business contract than a bond between two people who love each other. The process of getting married had a lot more restrictions. One quote that stood out to me was “men has the advantage of choice, woman only the power of refusal” (ch10). This stood out to me for their rules of courtship were so strict that a woman could not court, a man could not refuse or he’d face scrutiny, and even if the girl said yes he would have to get the fathers approval. Now it feels like people are getting married whenever they want to whom ever they would like, and if it is not working are able to get divorced without being scrutinized. I also noticed that the process of courtship, depending on the couple in the novel, foreshadowed the outcome of the ones being courted.

Mr. Collins is unsuccessful in his attempts of courting Elizabeth, but is successful with Charlotte Lucas, showing how the marriage is more of a conventional, pragmatic marriage. Wickham has a similar experience, courting Elizabeth, being rejected then courting Miss King, but ends up with Lydia. I feel that courtship in the novel shows if the marriage will be one of love or one of gain. Marriage is the ultimate goal in life according to the novel, and the courtship shows how different characters pursued this goal.

I found that Mrs. Bennet seemed to be the most concerned about this, for she wanted all of her daughters to be married, but we also see her point of view on marriage. She did not seem to care in the least if her daughters loved the man they married, she just wanted to them to live a better life than she had. She sees marriage as a means to climb the social latter, to gain wealth, and to live a better life. I found this sad, but understood that marriage has evolved over time. Now, people tend to get married for love and do not weigh social status or wealth as heavily as they did in the past.

Prologue: Gretchen Leffler

Prologue: Gretchen Leffler 

Ever since I was a child, just learning to read, I never really enjoyed it. I found it difficult and hard to process, but I did not know why. In first and second grade I felt stupid when I could not read as fast as the other kids. I was really good at math, a few grades ahead even and I was doing fine in all of the other subjects except reading. It got to the point where in second grade I resorted to cheating on reading comprehension tests in order to not fail. I knew it was wrong, but I felt like I had no other option, and eventually my teacher caught on and she believed that I had ADHD because I would move around a lot in class. I was really just looking at others' answers.

I was sent to a woman who was able to diagnose disabilities and I did not have ADHD, she actually said that I was far from it. I rarely am unable to focus, as a child I could sit for hours working on an art project and had no trouble paying attention. What she did find out is that I have two prominent mental disabilities, short-term memory loss and a processing disability.

            I actually had no idea that I had short-term memory loss till last year when my mom told me, and I am sure I was told as a child, but forgot. In order to work on my memory, I make sure to write down everything I need to do and try really hard to remember by repeating whatever it is multiple times to myself. The worst part about my short-term memory is that I am horrible with names and have been working on it, but it will usually take a month for me to know anyone by their name.
            The processing disability is similar to dyslexia, but instead of letters getting jumbled, I would have trouble saying and understanding words. Reading large amounts of text aloud is the most difficult part of reading for me. I will look at a word and know exactly what it is and what it means, but I just cannot say it. Another part of this is whenever I am reading and I hear a noise or someone starts talking I will forget everything I just read. Overall, I never found reading enjoyable, but after high school I have started to read more for fun whether that be an article, stories, art books, or cookbooks. Though reading is not my strong suit, I understand the benefits of reading and that there is so much information out there I will continue to read about subjects that interest me.