Officer Deluna (Princess Mouseskin Rendition)

The principal of Booker T Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Dr. Rudes decided to retire sooner than expected. But before retiring, he knew he had to find someone worthy enough to take his place as head principal of Booker T Washington HSPVA. He decided he would ask Mr. Tatum, Mr. Bain, and Mr. Deluna one question that would prove their worthiness depending on their answers. The next day, Dr. Rudes called Mr. Tatum, Mr. Bain, and Mr. Deluna into his office and informed them of his plans to retire and leave his position up for any of the three who can give the best answer. He proceeded to ask “What is the most important enforcement to place on the students here at Booker T?” Mr. Tatum quickly responded, “Why art form of course! SWBAT take their art and make careers out of it when they leave here by using their DOL!” Pleased with his answer, Dr. Rudes then asked Mr. Bain for his response. “Students should become familiar with the art of performance as well as the art of putting a performance together. By that I mean stage preparation. The school would be nothing without that – or me.” Replied Mr. Bain. Also pleased with Mr. Bain’s answer, Dr. Rudes lastly asked Mr. Deluna for his. “ID badges.” Mr. Deluna replied with a very annoyed expression. Dr. Rudes gasped and immediately called for Officer Bell to escort Mr. Deluna out of the building. “How dare you insult the Booker T Washington student body? These children are artists not circus animals! You are to be fired immediately and taken to jail!” Dr. Rudes said to Mr. Deluna.

As Officer Bell escorted Mr. Deluna out of the building, Deluna begged him not to take him to jail. Because Officer Bell was devoted to Deluna, he decided he would let him off the hook. Officer Bell offered to help Deluna fix the situation he was in, but all Deluna asked for was a spare police officer uniform. Officer Bell agreed and gave Deluna one of the spare police uniforms he had in his car. Deluna changed into the uniform and traveled to a neighboring school known as W.T. White and asked for a job there as a DISD police officer. The principal of W.T. White agreed and made him in charge of regulating student behavior. At lunch, whenever the students got food, they would throw food at him while he wasn’t looking.

One day, Deluna had mistakenly dropped a flash drive containing video footage of the students at Booker T Washington in the halls. The janitors found it and took it to the principal of W.T. White. The principal called Deluna into his office and asked how he had obtained the flash drive. Deluna could no longer contain his true identity. He pulled out his assistant principal ID badge from Booker T Washington and showed it to the principal of W.T. White. With great surprise, the principal asked “What are you doing as an officer? I’m declaring you assistant principal of W.T. White immediately!”  

A few weeks later, there was a DISD principal meeting held W.T. White. Principals from all over DISD gathered to talk about their issues hoping to seek advice from the other principals. It came time for Dr. Rudes to talk about his issues. “I’m having a hard time tracking down students who are being caught sneaking in the senior entrance after 9:05! It would be a lot easier if I knew these students’ names! What should I do?” Dr. Rudes explained. “Well maybe if you enforced wearing ID badges at Booker T, you wouldn’t have such a hard time learning names.” Deluna quickly answered. All at once, Dr. Rudes recognized Deluna and begged for forgiveness. Now that Dr. Rudes had understood Deluna’s reasoning, Deluna was more dear to him than anything in the world. 

Heart of Darkness Part 1 - The Heart of Symbolism

Part 1 of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness touches base on some of the important themes of the novel through symbolism. The novel contains themes such as light vs darkness, wonders of the unknown, and deathly fate.

In the very beginning of Part 1, it is explained that Marlow is strongly fascinated by the ocean. It is stated that Marlow “was a seaman, but he was a wanderer, too,” to explain that Marlow is not in this imperialist business just for the money, but he seems to be interested in something more meaningful. Marlow also describes the native Africans as “a great comfort to look at”, suggesting that he is too, fascinated by the native Africans. But why does Marlow have a “fascination of the abomination”? I interpret this as Marlow being fascinated by the unknown. Marlow seeks knowledge of the abominations around him. Therefore, the ocean and the native Africans symbolize the wonders of the unknown that tease Marlow into trying to understand them.

When Marlow visits the Company, he is greeted by two women who are knitting black wool. I interpreted this material they are knitting as a kind of material that can be used for funerals. Also as Marlow leaves the Company, he claims to have an uneasy feeling. As he describes his feelings, the phrase “Ave! […] Morituri te salutant” is included in between sentences. This phrase translates as “Hail, those who are about to die salute you”. The two women who he encounters symbolize the deathly fate most people who enter that building have as a result of being an imperialist.  

One of the most important, if not the most important, themes in Heart of Darkness, is light vs darkness. This contrasting theme is brought up numerous times throughout just part 1 of the book. In the case of this book, light symbolizes knowledge, money, power, and civilization. While on the other hand, darkness symbolizes the unknown, savagery, and death. An obvious example of light vs darkness is the Europeans vs the Africans. The Europeans are known in this book to be wealthy and civilized, symbolizing light. The Africans, on the other hand, are said to be mysterious savages, symbolizing the darkness. One of the reasons the Europeans choose to travel to Africa is to attain ivory. Ivory is a creamy and white substance found in the tusks of African elephants. The ivory is a symbol for the light since it is white and brings Europe money. Africa or even the elephant can be the symbol for the darkness since it’s not an easy product to attain. There had to have been some kind of savage-like procedure to retrieve a substance from an enormous animal in an unknown territory. There is also some hidden symbolism of the light vs darkness theme. The Europeans thought highly of imperialism, claiming that it brought their country power and riches, all the things that light represents. However, death was the likely fate for men who left their home country for imperialist reasons, representing the darkness of imperialism. Another example of hidden symbols are the glory and insanity ideas that could be symbols for light vs darkness. All products and riches are given back to Europe, leading the country to money, power, and glory. Obtaining these riches, however, was not an easy task. Imperialists at the time were often driven insane by their experiences in these dark and unknown places. 

Man v. Geography

             One of the top considerations authors put into their writing is where the story should take place. Whether it be at high altitude, steep, or flat surfaces, why is geography in literature a big deal? The geography in a work of literature allows the reader to consider its implications. For example, harsh geographic conditions could imply harsh conditions the characters will face. In chapter 19 of Thomas Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster explains that humans inhabit spaces, and at the same time the spaces inhabit humans. Physical surroundings play a bigger role than what you may have thought before.

              Literary geography usually has literary meaning. Southern places have the tendency to have raw encounters with the character’s subconscious. Low places associate with unpleasantness and/or death, while high places associate with isolation and/or death. The book uses the example of Napoleon’s mission to conquer Russia. The reason this task could not be completed is because Russia’s harsh winter was too ferocious for Napoleon’s soldiers. Even the Russian soldiers carried the characteristics of the weather, so Napoleon’s soldiers had no other choice but to back out. Geography has the ability to shape and define the story line and even the characters themselves.

Last year, I went to see The Dallas Opera’s opening night of Everest by Joby Talbot. The story took place at the high altitudes of Mt. Everest. There, dreams for a group of men are lost in the ferociousness of the weather. The men felt so isolated and hopeless that they began to go insane and some even died. The songs in the opera even gave that isolated feel. In this case, the isolation and death were associated with the high altitude just as the book explained.

               Likewise, in the movie 127 Hours, the main character (played by my favorite person James Franco) goes on a hike alone in some canyons in Utah. What he thought to be a quick adventure turns into a nightmare. He and a boulder both managed to both fall into one of the crevices of the canyon. He was fine except the fact that his arm got stuck between the boulder and the wall of the crevice. He spends about 5 and a half days stuck there. He had no access to a phone and had not told anyone of his whereabouts. During that time, he had enough time to think about his life and even enough time to have quite a few hallucinations. He finally decides the only way he’s going to make it out, is if he amputates his own arm. This disturbing film which I highly recommend anyone seeing just because it’s uniquely painful to watch, hits the nail on the head that the book had explained. Low places suggest unpleasantness and death, and I don’t know anything that could be more unpleasant than amputating your own arm.

  

              Setting isn’t just a setting. Geography in literature isn’t just geography. Geography has the power to influence characters, plots, and themes. Meredith Bond from the Washington DC Writers of America chapter, explains an article that setting can set tones, provide conflicts, and can affect the characters in a story. Her opinions along with Thomas Fosters, really helped me understand the huge role of settings and geography in literature. Her article can be found at romanceuniversity.org/2012/12/07/the-importance-of-setting-with-meredith-bond/. 

Believe It or Not, Avatar is in the Bible

The oldest story in the bible has been predicted to have been written about 3500 years ago. The bible is known to have some of the oldest stories in it. The bible could literally be classified as an instant classic. Filled with religious stories of creation, betrayal, serpents, sacrifice, and many other things of that nature, the bible could mark as one of the most interesting books ever written, in my opinion. It would only make sense that writers, poets, play writers, and screenwriters be familiar with stories in the bible. In fact, many books, movies, plays, etc. can relate to the stories in the bible. With the many different plots the stories in the bible have, this statement can’t be too hard to follow.

As many modern stories could relate to those in the bible, I’ve chosen to elaborate on the relation the book of Joshua has to the blockbuster hit movie Avatar. The movie Avatar basically retells the story of Rahab and the spies in the book of Joshua. In this story, Joshua sent two spies out to Jericho to gather information on this land that he hoped to take over. The two spies traveled to Jericho and resided in a woman named Rahab’s home. The King of Jericho found out about the spies and ordered Rahab to give them up. In an attempt to spare their lives, Rahab hid the spies and told the king that they were not in her care. In exchange for sparing the spies’ lives, Rahab asks the spies to spare her family’s lives, when Joshua were to take over the land of Jericho.

 

 

Similarly in the movie Avatar, main character Jake is sent to another place as a spy. Jake is transformed into a Na’vi (blue person) as an undercover spy and sent to the planet Pandora to help humans attain a substance that could save the human race. On his mission, Jake becomes very close to the native Pandora aliens and even falls in love with a native named Neytri. After building this relationship with the Na’vi, Jake decides to help defend them against the humans.

 

 

 Both stories contain spies, a native hero, and a plans to take over land. Both stories also contain powerful bonds between the characters least expected to ever build strong relaionships. These two stories relate so well they are kind of almost identical. But Avatar has even one more relatable biblical reference and that is the Tree of Life.

On the planet of Pandora, the Na’vi people worship a goddess named Eywa and a “Hometree”. The tree connects to all living creatures on the planet. Similarly to the way the Tree of Life in the Bible connects all humans to heaven and hell.

 

 

Supporting the ideas I have expressed, Kwok Pui-lan, Professor of Christian Theology and Spirituality at the Episcopal Divinity School, also describes Avatar as a movie that allows viewers to look at the Bible from the side of the Canaanites (the people of Jericho). Her article can be found at religiondispatches.org/iavatari-a-subversive-reading-of-the-bible/.

Go there, do that. What makes a quest, a quest?

Trips can either be quick with no encounters of any kind, or trips can be long with obstacles that need to be overcome. Of course the second one makes for a more interesting and complex story. Every trip is a quest according to Thomas Foster’s How to Read Literature like a Professor. Whether it be a walk to the grocery store to buy a loaf of bread or a journey across the world to rescue a damsel in distress, a trip can be considered a quest with these 5 elements: a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenging experiences, and a real reason to go there.

Most elements mentioned are pretty obvious, but the two elements that seem to spark some attention are the reason and the real reason. The reason is most times mentioned in the beginning of the story. However, most times this reason fails. The real reason is discovered and replaces the first reason. In the end, the protagonist gains an educational experience about himself.

Not all stories will tell the obvious tale of a prince’s quest to slay the dragon, but instead a lot of quests can be found in stories that involve self-knowledge and self-discovery. Thus, characters often are young, naïve, and in need of a life changing experience. Stephen King’s The Body, or the movie Stand By Me, created based on King’s novella, reflects this idea of a quest to self-knowledge and self-discovery.  The story takes place in a small town where everyone knows everyone. The town was not the happiest place to live, having a lot of abusive and dysfunctional households. At the time the story takes place, it was announced that one of the young boys that lived in the neighborhood went missing. One boy overhears that the missing boy was actually dead and his body was lying down by the local railroad tracks. Four preteen boys made plans to set out and find the body in hopes to gain fame. On their way, the four boys were chased by a dog at a dump, almost hit by a train, and got themselves infested with leeches. In addition to becoming closer through these life threatening circumstances, the boys also became closer than ever after sharing personal stories with each other of their lives and their hardships. Their first reason for their quest disappeared. They no longer wished to become famous. It is in that moment the boys found out who they truly are and what they are capable of. The characters gain self-knowledge ultimately being their real reason.

In order for any trip to be considered a quest, it is necessary that the journey includes the 5 elements listed above. According to Joe Bunting, the writer of the #1 Amazon Best Seller Let’s Write a Short Story!, a quest consists with these five elements along with a few more details. He explains the importance of the character’s traits and the type of friends that follow him along the journey. He also explains that the main character might face his biggest challenge right before obtaining his goal. His explanation of a quest can be found here at: thewritingpractice.com/the-quest/.