Seniors #2 Journal--Old Fashioned Stories--Post before Friday, September 27
POST ON OR BEFORE MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30
You should have anticipated the "girl finally discovers that she loves boy" happy ending of An Old Fashioned Story. A story's title, after all, serves an important purpose, often to foreshadow plot.
Even though Elizabeth secretly harbors a hatred of Nelson throughout the story, she really can't find any faults in him; she has to invent crimes that he "might" have committed, like eating mashed potatoes he cooked up for himself with his bare hands. What a vulgar boy!
Years pass and yada, yada, yada, ....
Beset with a cold and a New Year's Eve depression, Elizabeth falls hard for the dashing Nelson, who visits her and then does the "most un Nelson-like" thing-- first kissing her and then confessing his love.
It turns out that Nelson, too, was living a secret life, presumably, more exciting than Scrabble games and trips to the state prison to counsel the inmates. Should the Rodkers and Leopolds be planning a wedding soon? No, Elizabeth and Nellie agree to keep their "secret romance worth keeping a secret" for a while, postponing their expectant families' giddiness in the triumph of their arranged matrimonial plan.
From your reactions to this story, I suspect that you have differing opinions on what constitutes a good story. For instance, some of you might have enjoyed the happy, somewhat-of-a-surprise ending in An Old Fashioned Story. Others may have resented it, or found it corny or too predictable.
I'd like to know where you stand, at the moment, on the matter of happy endings vs. sad/more realistic ones. So respond to ONE of these prompts:
1. Many adolescent novels these days are depressing. Follow the link to read the article Why Teachers Love Depressing Books. You may either respond to the article, or write about the books you loved when you were an adolescent, or both.
2. "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story." Good storytellers never do, as the writers of the popular movie Rudy apparently did when they made a film about the bench-warming Notre Dame football player who finally gets to play in a game. Follow this link to read what Joe Montana, NFL Hall of Fame and former Notre Dame quarterback (yes, back when Rudy really was on the team), reveals about the "real" Rudy story. Comment on Montana's words and how they affect your view of the movie, Notre Dame football, Hollywood, etc. Maybe write about whether Montana should have kept his mouth shut and let the Rudy legend live on.
3. Write about a story, book, or movie that you (for the most part) enjoyed, EXCEPT for the happy ending. Explain thoroughly how this happy ending was either unexpected, unrealistic, or unfulfilling for you. Or all of the above.
I'd like to know where you stand, at the moment, on the matter of happy endings vs. sad/more realistic ones. So respond to ONE of these prompts:
1. Many adolescent novels these days are depressing. Follow the link to read the article Why Teachers Love Depressing Books. You may either respond to the article, or write about the books you loved when you were an adolescent, or both.
2. "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story." Good storytellers never do, as the writers of the popular movie Rudy apparently did when they made a film about the bench-warming Notre Dame football player who finally gets to play in a game. Follow this link to read what Joe Montana, NFL Hall of Fame and former Notre Dame quarterback (yes, back when Rudy really was on the team), reveals about the "real" Rudy story. Comment on Montana's words and how they affect your view of the movie, Notre Dame football, Hollywood, etc. Maybe write about whether Montana should have kept his mouth shut and let the Rudy legend live on.
3. Write about a story, book, or movie that you (for the most part) enjoyed, EXCEPT for the happy ending. Explain thoroughly how this happy ending was either unexpected, unrealistic, or unfulfilling for you. Or all of the above.
posted by JTF @ 7:59 PM
37 comments
37 Comments:
The November I turned 11, I checked the mail every day for that letter: the letter with the wax seal of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry stamped on the envelope. Of course, I knew that this letter would never actually arrive. After all, the wizarding world I had read about was imagined in the mind of J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series. My dad began to read them to me when I was in second grade, and I have never since experienced such glee while reading. I would lay in bed while my dad spoke of adventurous goblins, flying broomsticks, and castles full of friendly ghosts. I yearned for those thirty minutes every night before bed like a dog yearns to be fed. Ever since that first line, with its humorous and playful tone, I was hooked: “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.” As I grew, in both knowledge and inches, I still longed for the ritual reading of Harry Potter. I became emotionally attached to the characters, the way a little girl latches on to a favorite doll. They were my characters, and I wanted to keep them that way. And upon discovering one of my new favorite books, The Fault in our Stars, there was one line that really stuck with me because it reminded me of my adolescent love of Harry Potter: “Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book. And then there are books...which you can't tell people about, books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like betrayal.”
When I was younger, before I even knew what Facebook, Twitter, and text messaging was, I would entertain myself with books. I never stuck to just one type of book; if I read the first page and it seemed interesting, I read it. Although, the books I truly did favor were never one with cliché happy endings, where everyone lived happily ever after in a world where nothing goes wrong. As a child, I found my two favorite series to be the Twilight series, and the beloved Harry Potter series. The reason that I favored these books is because the characters didn't lead perfect and sheltered lives. They faced innumerable difficulties and were challenged in every way possible. The Harry Potter series was centered around a child who had lost his parents, was raised by a miserable family, and watched many of his loved ones murdered by the person who's mission in life was to kill Harry. Not everything always worked out in the end, and there were many devastating events in these books that left me speechless. Those are the reasons I absolutely loved these books. I was always wonderings "what's next?", and couldn't wait to move on to the next book in the series. Books that have happy endings were in no way the best books to me; they were all too predictable. These two series always left me hanging, and the thrill of that is what made them become my all-time favorite books.
One of my favorite authors of all time is Nicholas Sparks. I've read countless books by him and they are all captivating. The reason I like his books so much is because even though they are love stories, they are not cliché. Sparks has some how figured out the perfect balance of writing love stories and keeping them realistic at the same time. Usually, to avoid being predictable, his stories include tragic plot twists. One of my favorite novels is Dear John. For this story, the seemingly perfect relationship did not work out. What should have been a typical happy love story actually turned out to be a sad realistic one. The ending was not happy but it did bring tears to my eyes which meant to me that the book was a great one because it was able to play with my emotions. Then came the movie. I was so excited to see the words I had read come to life and the film did just that, up until the ending. Hollywood had changed it so that the couple did end up together. This was a terrible mistake because it just gave the movie a corny ending that anyone could have predicted. It actually annoyed me that they had changed Spark's writing. The ending is always the most important part of his novels and they completely did away with his version in order to make it a happy one. The book was an emotional, slightly tragic love story while the movie made it cliché and corny.
I am a sucker for the happy endings. I love curling up in a big, fluffy blanket with some popcorn and popping in a good chick flick that I can sob to for the rest of the night. But I just recently watched a movie, not a chick flick, that I was not pleased with the happy ending. World War Z was an intense, nail-biting, heart-racing type of movie. But of course even through the countless near death experiences, the protagonist never dies. I mean it was Brad Pitt, so you really can’t have someone that attractive die. But anyway, he doesn’t die even when he faces all of these challenges that he should not live through. He finds the ‘cure’ for overcoming the zombies, comes safely back to his loving family, and saves the day. I understand that finding this cure is what the whole movie is about, but I think they should have taken it further. Without giving too much away, the cure isn’t really a cure. After watching the movie you would see that the cure is sort of an oxymoron type thing. The ending of the movie would have been happier if they had really shown the complete end. They should have shown the consequences of using the ‘cure’. It was a good movie regardless of the not-as-happy-as-it-could-have-been ending.
Although I am no reading fanatic, I know the style or genre that particularly interests me. Based on Laura Miller’s article I would consider myself to be a fan of the type of books teachers love. An Old Fashioned Story did have a somewhat enjoyable and unexpected surprise at the end, but for the most part it was predictable. By the end of the first paragraph I knew it would end with Elizabeth and Nelson falling in love. I much prefer the books that a teacher would love, the type with a gloomy plot about the adventures of misfortunate characters. I prefer these books because they catch my attention and engross me in the story like no other. I feel like I can put myself in the character’s shoes and relate to them, even though it’s likely that I would never be in their situation. The perfect example is a book I read in my seventh grade English class. This book was about a young teenage girl who was the last survivor in her small town after a nuclear war. The position of her town in a valley prevented radioactivity for poisoning her town, and gave her a chance at survival. For years she had to live on her own with nothing but the crops, animals, and supplies from the general store of her small town. Although this was extremely unrealistic it caused me to think about myself. What if this happened to me? What would I do if I were in her shoes? Would I be mentally and physically strong enough to live on my own for so long? I loved reading the book and trying to understand how she was feeling, and thinking much more than reading about a sheltered girl, trying to live an ordinary life, falling in love, and living happily ever after.
It seems a little green monster has taken over Joe Montana. He may have been the Notre Dame quarterback and honored into the NFL Hall of Fame, but one would speculate after reading the article he wanted a movie too. The truth about Rudy may have been stretched, but so has every movie about an athlete’s life. If the audience wanted to watch a true story on Rudy Ruettiger they would watch his documentary, but when they pay for their ticket to the cinema, they are knowingly accepting the exaggerated truth. Would the truth that every senior was scheduled to play bring millions of ‘underdog’ fans to the box office? No, our society as a whole loves a happy ending and if that means the whole Notre Dame team carries Rudy off the field and in victory and the crowds chant his name, so be it. My question for Joe Montana is if his story was exaggerated on the big screen, would he be as quick to debunk the climax of the movie as an embellishment? The movie Rudy has not lost it’s magic in my eyes and I doubt the warm feeling of pride that fills each member of of the audiences hearts when Rudy makes the sack will have any less of an impact.
Books should teach us lessons and help us to shape our opinions. They help us to figure out who we are. The Crank series by Ellen Hopkins was a serious that I have reread so many times in past few years. This series is about a girl getting mixed up with drugs and drinking and it goes through her life. Her life gets completely twisted. This series has helped me to stay away from drugs and other intoxicating substances. I guess you could say it scared me away from those things. My reactions while reading the series helped me to understand that drugs and drinking were not for me. It helped me to understand the kind of person I am and the people I want to be associated with. Another one of my absolute favorite books is called Thirteen Reasons Why. This book is one of the most beloved on my bookshelf. Again, I love it because it teaches me something. The book is about a girl who commits suicide and leaves behind tapes with thirteen people that have something to do with her life and why she took it. The tapes are passed around to the thirteen people. The book taught me how you can never fully know what someone is going through just by observing them. The book gave me a whole new perspective on life. It taught me to never judge someone by their cover. It showed me that everyone is going through some type of battle. These books are my favorites. They’re not classics, they’re not the most popular, and they’re pretty graphic. They’re real. That’s why they are my favorites. Did these stories have a happy ending? No, but those are the books that I personally believe we can all learn the most from.
My magical journey with Harry Potter began when I saw the first movie. Instantly I was mesmerized by the complex plot, developed characters, and exciting adventure. I’ll admit it; I took the easy way for the first six installments, absorbing my knowledge of the wizarding world from only the movies and not the books. It wasn’t until after The Half-Blood Prince that I began frantically flipping through the pages, desperate to know what happened next. I whizzed through them at an alarming speed. When The Deathly Hallows: Part 1 was released as a movie, I was almost finished with the Deathly Hallows book. As I neared the conclusion, my heart raced. I anticipated Harry’s role as a Horcrux ever since I learned about their existence and I was subconsciously preparing myself for his sacrifice. Then the moment came when Voldemort called Harry to meet him in the Dark Forest, and Harry dipped his face into the Pensieve brimming with Snape’s memories. My prediction was correct. My heart was beating faster than the Golden Snitch’s wings as Harry walked into the forest. Wands were raised, and I held my breath. Then it happened. Harry Potter finally died. The Boy Who Lived, dead.
Here’s where it gets complicated. Before I continue, let me just say that Harry Potter is an outstanding series and that J.K. Rowling is a masterful writer.
My feeling of fulfillment and despair with Harry’s death soon turned to confusion. I read on with my brows furrowed and my mouth curled in curiosity as Harry came back to life and defeated Voldemort. Then he and his friends lived on with happy lives and children who went to Hogwarts without any severe threats. Despite the death of most of the characters, the ending still seemed a little too happy for my preference. I understand how Harry’s role as a Christ figure in the novel required his resurrection; I could live with that. But only if his resurrection was temporary. The fact that none of the three core friends died was the main source of my dissatisfaction. A huge loss like that was something I was expecting. I am in no way attempting to criticize or belittle the Harry Potter series or J.K. Rowling. The series is phenomenal and practically perfect. However without the permanent death of any of the three core characters, I put the book down feeling somewhat unfulfilled.
Searching for the perfect summer read can be a difficult task, but is well worth it in the end. My go to author in the summer is Sarah Dessen. She writes classic “chick flick” summer romances that typically take place at the beach. Last summer, one of the books I read was called “Along for the Ride”. The cover of the book really drew me in with a girl riding her bike on the beach into the sunset. I thought it would be a perfect read for my one week beach vacation in New Jersey. It was a very predictable book. A teenage girl named Auden has to move to her father’s house at the beach while her parents go through a divorce. It was predictable in the sense that you knew during that summer she was to find her own adventures and possibly love. However, I sometimes enjoy predictability. I find comfort in the books where you know everything will be okay in the end and that everything will unfold with ease as the story plays out. As I thought would happen, Auden finds her summer love and learns to live with her parents divorce and everything is okay in the end. Yes, this is an enjoyable easy going summer read, however, predictable books are unfulfilling. The foreshadowing spoils the major climaxes and ending, and there is no real cliff hanger or excitement. “Along for the Ride” is very similar to “An Old Fashioned Story” because it is the typical girl and guy meet, fall in love, end up together. These types of stories with the typical hinted ending are a calming read, but really do not fulfill my need for a thrilling and unpredictable read.
Throughout grade school, I was the kid who always had a different book in her hand every week from the school library. I absolutely loved to read, which directly caused me to build quite the collection of books over the years. However, one book in particular that I have loved since the first day I read it is The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. The first time I read this book at the impressionable age of seven, I admired the simple pictures that went along with the story. I loved the book so much that I found myself checking it out of the library at least one time per school year. As my brain grew with knowledge from year to year, so did my understanding of the book. I think it was around the age of twelve that I started to grasp the true meaning behind the book. Now, it’s open to interpretation by whoever reads it, but for me, I saw the story as a depiction of the relationship I have with my parents and the relationship I will have with them. Throughout the entire book, the little boy goes through life and comes to the tree with his problems. The tree then provides a solution that requires her giving up something. Through hunger, shelter, financial issues, and health, the tree is always there for the little boy as he grows to be a man. I saw myself in this book because of how much my parents have sacrificed for me, and how they will always be there for me no matter what my problems or struggles will be. My favorite repetition in this book is “and the tree was happy.” No matter how ungrateful the boy seemed, or how much the boy took from the tree, the tree was always happy giving up something to make the boy happy. The tree found joy in the boy’s happiness, which is what I think all parents do. My parents are happy when I’m happy, along with my three siblings. The Giving Tree has stuck with me since I was a young girl in the first grade because of its trueness to life and how giving brings true happiness.
1. I agree with what the author of Why Teachers Love Depressing Books is saying. The books that kids are reading these days are mostly about the struggle the characters face in their everyday lives. When I was a kid, I actually really enjoyed reading these types of novels. I liked the stories full of adventures and mysteries, when the author had you at the edge of your seat. I do disagree with the author though when she says these books turn kids into miniature grown-ups. From my personal experiences, I never thought that these made up situations would happen in my real life. I was old enough to understand that these stories were made up, and that my life would probably not encounter any of the same problems that these characters faced. Overall, I believe the author has a point with what she is saying. Most of the kids books these days are about the characters overcoming enormous problems by themselves. This may give children the wrong impression about what the real world is like when they grow up. As long as there is a mix of the genre of books being read in schools, I don't think there is a problem with kids reading these problem type novels.
A book that I used to love when I was a child was Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. I remember lying in bed every night for two years, listening to my mom or dad read it to me. It was almost pointless to have them read me it every night because I knew every word by heart. I liked the rhymes and I found it to be humorous when I was growing up. One day in lower school, our teacher told us that we would be reading the book in class. My excitement was tremendous. We spend a few days reading and talking about the book, preceding which the teacher informed us that we would be doing a project to help us remember the book. We came in the next day to find that our teacher had a few cartons of eggs, some ham, and lots of green food dye. We were all so excited that we were doing project, even though at first we did not know what we would be ding. We ended up cooking scrambled eggs that day and putting green food dye in them. We actually got to eat green eggs and ham.
I’ve always loved books that had an unconventional ending. As I’ve gotten older, I rediscovered my love of not-so-happily ever after’s when I began reading novels by John Green and Jodi Picoult. While I enjoy breaking up my serious reading with frivolous love stories, when I really want to sit down with a good book, I pick one with exciting adventure and darker undertones. I think it all started when I was about nine. My favorite book growing up was The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. I read this book for the first time in third grade and fell in love with its heavy lessons and stark realism. If you didn’t know it was a children’s book, you could easily make the assumption it was a novel written explicitly for adults. Broken up into four parts, the story begins with the birth of Despereaux, a small, sickly mouse whom no one seems to love. He, unlike his hundreds of siblings, loves to read books instead of nibble on them. Despereaux falls in love with a princess and gets punished for it. He is sent to the dungeons where he meets a rat who longs to live in the light. They are both saved by a young servant girl who was given up by her father. The entire story follows themes of darkness versus light and the struggle of defying expectations. Being a book with serious and deep undertones, I can see why teachers love depressing stories so much. You can connect with the characters on a more real level because their lives are not perfect, much like the average reader’s. You long for the broken characters to become whole again, to find their niche in the world that has been unkind to them. When stories end abruptly and ignore the rules of happily ever after—those are the stories that stick with you. You push aside the joyous reunions and passionate kisses of conventional plotlines and replace them with heartbreak and reality. Those are the stories that shock and stimulate the mind. Teachers are wise to pick depressing stories because those impact you the most.
3. Since we are on the topic of happiness why not write about the very powerful movie “The Pursuit of Happyness.” This movie is all about motivation and will power in a person’s everyday life. This is the classic story of someone facing adversity to become a hero. I remember the night my mom rented the movie from Blockbuster. She told me the movie would be way over my head but to this day I remember the powerful movie. The main character is Will Smith- a homeless single father trying to make his mark in the world and keep his family together during hard times. Will Smith played an incredible role as a businessman, a father, and a man who wanted to prove to his son that anything is possible if you just believe. The whole “happyness” comes into perspective when Will drops his son off at daycare and sees this graffited across the wall. This it was the story is all about to Will- he is in search of “happyness” and very unsure of where he will ever come across it. But then luck comes his way. Will finds himself in an office taking on internship finally feeling a glimpse of “happyness.” The one scene that I will never forget to this day is occurs when Christopher (Will’s son in the movie) tells his father the familiar joke about the drowning man who turned away rescuers in motorboats saying, "God will save me." The man did drown, and when he arrived in heaven he asked God, "Why didn't you save me?" God answers, "I sent three boats for you. What were you waiting for?" Will Smith finally understood the message. He realized that their "rescue boat" had already arrived as the internship and it was up to him now as to how he wanted to pursue his life. Will Smith becomes a successful stockbroker but very little of his success is seen in the movie. My heart sank as the last scene came and faded into a black screen with just words of his success. I thought the story would have a happy ending and show how his life turned around. My expectations were not fulfilled. All I could do then was read the short little blurbs at the ending saying how he became successful… blah blah blah. It was all too fast for me to read, just waiting for a final scene of “happyness.” The movie’s ending made me feel as if the producer was just too tired to continue and add a few more scenes at the end. This story will forever leave me with the aching question of “Why are there so many homeless in such a rich nation?”
Nearly every teenage girl that I know has, at one time or another, read The Hunger Games. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the books and the movie, but Mockingjay, the final book in the series, was disappointing. I know that there are many readers who would disagree with me, but the ending was so predictable, and made too much sense. Peeta was never my favorite character. I am not entirely sure why, maybe because I thought he wasn’t tough enough, or too much of a mama’s boy. But even though I knew the eventual outcome of his relationship with Katniss, I kept reading, hoping that their future wouldn’t be so easily predictable. And although there was a good reason for the too-perfect ending I was expecting, I honestly wanted to throw the book across the room when I had finished it because the ending was so happy and so predictable it was incredibly aggravating. The worst part about the ending is that I’m still pretty much the only person I know who feels that the ending was too happy and too predictable and is upset by that fact. So, not only was I incredibly peeved about the conclusion to the series that I had followed almost religiously for years, but there’s no one to rant to. Unless I want to start a duel to the death, I usually avoid discussing the end of the series with other avid fans. But that’s part of being a fan: there are parts of the books that I love, and others, not so much. And like with all good stories, I got so wrapped up in the story that the not-so-great parts were worth it.
I have never been an avid read or an emotional person, but when I read A Fault in Our Stars, I was sucked into every word, every sentence and every page that I couldn’t help but feel an emotion relationship with the characters. I found myself so hungry to read that I would sneak the book under my notebooks during class like I was trying to steal a bite of my granola bar my stomach has been yearning for. Like every intriguing book, it was full of twists and turns which took me on an emotional rollercoaster. The two main characters, Hazel and Augustus, were victims of cancer. Augustus had suffered the loss of his leg to cancer and Hazel was still struggling to overcome its side effects. Augustus and Hazel fell in love but as I approached the end of the book I discovered that cancer had been found throughout Augustus’ whole body and he had limited time to live. Augustus begged Hazel to write a eulogy for him and Hazel desperately wanted Augustus to write an alternate ending to her favorite book. Hazel ends up writing Augustus a eulogy and reads it as his funeral, but Augustus doesn’t write an alternate ending to her book. Instead, Augustus had written Hazel a eulogy. Hazel discovers this eulogy at the very end of the book. In the eulogy Augustus says that you can’t choose whether or not you get hurt but you can choose what hurts you. Hazel has kept distance between people in her life, even her family to some extent, because she doesn’t want them to hurt when she dies. She believed that the farther she kept herself from others that she wouldn’t be able to hurt them and they wouldn’t be able to hurt her. Augustus also stated in his eulogy that he was happy with the choices he had made and he hoped that she was happy with her choices. Hazel said I do and the story comes to a happy ending. Although this is considered a happy ending I was still hurting because it was full of sadness at the same time. Hazel would have to live the rest of her life without the person she wants in it the most. The person she let get the closest to her would no longer be close enough for her to touch.
My favorite movie of all time happens to be Titanic. The actors in the film were perfect for the parts and I thought that the movie, although extremely long, was thrilling and never lost my focus. Titanic is an amazing love story but in ways predictable. When Jack and Rose met on the giant ship, Rose was already engaged to be married to someone she hated. Anyone watching the movie could see that Jack and Rose were going to fall in love, but the story still had a tight hold on you. Rose was of wealthy descent, while Jack was known as scum. When they began to fall in love, everyone that knew Rose was disappointed that she would fall for such a low life person. The part that was most unexpected was when Jack died in the end. I assumed they would both live happily ever after together, but there was a twist on the predictable love story. Just as you think the movie is over, Rose is rescued and finishes her frame story.
Haley Frati red
3.Although I never read the book, I loved the movie. "The Notebook" was a story about romance. Noah and Allie were from two separate worlds. They fell in love at a young age, but Noah wanted to make himself worthy of Allie's love. Years later they find themselves back in each others arms. The entire story is being told by an elderly Noah. He is visiting Allie at her nursing home were she is being treated for Alzheimer's disease. The story ends with one beautiful night. Allie remembers Noah on certain days and today was one of those days. Noah sneaks into Allie's room at night and they both fall asleep, again in each others arms. The next morning the nurse finds out they had both passed over night. Although I really do love this story the ending ruined it for me. It is just so unrealistic for a couple to both die like that at the same time. There is always one spouse who dies before the other. This is a very happy ending because ideally this is how every couple wants to die. They do not want for their husband or wife to have to live without them. They both want to go walking into heaven, hand in hand. Unfortunately, this is not how life works. Countless times I see a little old man eating his breakfast at Perkins every morning all by himself. He comes in and sits in the same booth and orders the exact same thing. I can sometimes picture his wife sitting across from him although she died almost two years ago. I imagine some days he wishes he could have been Noah and she could have been Allie. I know for a fact he wishes "his Allie" could still be eating breakfast with him everyday. He wishes him and "his Allie" could have died together in each other arms. She died of cancer and he will mostly die from his heart condition.
Sixth grade was one of the roughest years for most girls – it was for me, anyway. Tagging along with your parents wasn’t cool anymore & wearing makeup made you popular. You could curl or straighten your hair for days other than picture day and you weren’t considered dressed up. Going into sixth grade I was extremely insecure about myself until I picked up “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” by Jenny Han. The title really says it all. It’s the story of a girl who spends every summer with her two, almost-older-brother, family friends. Except this year is different. They don’t look at her as their little sister but as a “hot” girl. She has always been in love with the older of the two brothers, but never has he looked at her with the slightest hint of attraction until now. Belly, the main character, wanted to make sure she impressed Conrad with the “new” her that they saw when they looked at her. She was facing the same problems I was. Should I wear a little bit of mascara and lip-gloss? Are these new “booty shorts” too short for me? Is perfume something you should always wear? I didn’t know the answers, and neither did Belly. We found them together. We learned that sometimes the boy we want isn’t the boy that wants us. And that we spend too much time freaking out over the boy playing hard-to-get that we don’t even see the nice guy that would bend over backwards for us. We cried in our bedroom when we were frustrated with life and we screamed into pillows with excitement when the boy we secretly had a crush on said “Hi” to us. Whatever it was, Belly helped me do it. Of course it was only a book, but Belly’s story was everything I wanted to happen to myself. I have reread the entire series, which tells Belly’s story up until she gets married, at least four times and it never gets old. As Belly said, “There are moments in every girl’s life that are bigger than we know at the time. When you look back, you say, that was one of those life-changing, fork-in-the-road moments and I didn’t even see it coming.”
I think the Laura Miller’s title says it all. A good book should make you cry. We just got done reading a summer reading book titled Unless it Moves the Human Heart. Good literature moves your heart. It makes you think. A book that is depressing helps us learn lessons. It makes us think, “Wow, if something like that happened to me, how would I handle that?” Sure a book with a happy ending will make you feel good inside, but we all know that things in life do not always happen the way we want them to. I think, especially for teens, these books are good because we have not yet gone through all the obstacles in life. These books help us understand what life for some people really is. Some of it can be avoidable, some cannot. I would rather read a book that moves the emotions than a book that is predictable and makes me feel good inside. The great college basketball coach Jim Valvano, who died at the age of 47 after a battle with cancer took his life, said in a speech shortly before he died, “If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special.” You do not get that full slate of emotions in a happy book. Although the word depressing has a negative connotation, these depressing books will help move your senses and help you learn great life lessons.
As an adolescent, which I pretty much still consider myself because I am not eighteen yet and I also really am trying to delay “growing up”, my favorite books were, and some still are, by the author Sarah Dessen. I have read just about every young adult book she’s written. They all follow the same type of story line of a teen who has had a tragic event happen to them or is currently happening to them in the story and how they learn to cope with it and discover who they truly are. I could never figure out why these books were my favorite, all I’ve deduced it too now is that I have never really experienced a tragedy in my life and reading about the events in the book and how different characters dealt with them was so foreign to me it made the book that much more interesting. My absolute favorite book by Sarah Dessen is The Truth About Forever. It tells the story of a teenager, Macy, whose dad just suddenly died and how she finds herself and learns to look at life in a new light. This book is my favorite because Macy is not a pathetic character, she may not be able to stand up for who she is, especially to her mom, in the beginning, but is able to do that and so much more by the end, even discover the truth about forever.
Throughout middle school, the books I initially remember are ones that Laura Miller would consider the kind of children’s book with adventures. The first is Bridge to Terbithia by Katherine Paterson, a book about a girl named Leslie and boy named Jessie who become neighbors and best friends. They create an imaginary world together by swinging across a small river via rope swing. I remember reading and analyzing this book in class and enjoying it thoroughly- until the end. This might have been the first novel I had ever read that didn’t have a happy ending, and I was shocked. I was frustrated and slightly angry that the author would choose to let such a terrible event happen. Leslie dies by drowning when the rope breaks during a storm while she is trying to make it to her and Jessie’s land of Terabithia. I still might be upset that she had to die so early, and that Jessie lost his best friend. Now I can appreciate this book more for its complex plot and underlying lessons that tragedy does happen in the lives of everyday, seemingly innocent people. The second book imprinted in my memory from middle school is The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. This was unlike any other book I had read before and I was so impressed with the land of Narnia. The ending of this particular book was neither happy nor sad. The kids help the talking lion Aslan defeat the evil White Witch, who has taken over Narnia. They then become kings and queen leaving a legacy to be later discovered in the following books. This was the happy ending of their time in Narnia, but it was almost depressing that they had to return home to their average lives after such a mystical experience. I wanted them to have the best of both worlds and enjoy their life at home and their life in Narnia. But instead the realms were kept separated, leaving the children with the experience of a lifetime. This ending was fitting on a realistic nature, contrasting with the supernatural side of the rest of the book. We actually went on a field trip to see this movie in theaters too. Both of these novels opened my eyes to different kinds of stories besides the typical plot with the expected happy ending. A book does not require a happy ending, and although I enjoy those happy endings, sometimes the books with the realistic endings are the books we can learn the most from.
One of my favorite movies of all time is The Notebook. The Notebook is a frame story in which an elderly man reads from his wife’s notebook to try and rekindle her memory because she suffers from Alzheimer’s. The story he reads is about a love triangle. A rich young woman, Allie, falls in love with a poor man, Noah. Because of the social class difference, Allie’s family forbids her to date him. Despite her love for Noah, Allie has to move on. She later ends up getting engaged to another man. A couple of days before their wedding, Allie goes and visits Noah. Allie falls back in love with Noah, who never stopped loving her. This story gets told to Allie in hopes that she will remember that she is the girl in the story and that she will remember who she married. The movie ends with Allie remembering that she is the girl and that she married Noah, who has been reading it to her. They both die together peacefully, lying next to each other in the hospital bed.
Although this movie was wonderful and made me cry during some scenes, the ending is so unrealistic. I honestly do not believe that anyone who suffers from Alzheimer’s that bad, could remember their past, no matter how hard they try. But even if they could end up remembering, it is impossible for both of them to die together, at the exact same time. Even though this ending irks me to no end because of how unrealistic it is, The Notebook will still always be one of my favorite movies that I will laugh, cry, and get frustrated over.
The movie Rudy is a classic under-dog story with a feel good ending. However, according to former NFL and Notre Dame quarterback Joe Montana, the movie was not entirely true. In real life, the crowd did not chant for Rudy at the end, and the team did not threaten to turn in their jerseys so that Rudy could play. Also, he was not carried off the field exactly how it was portrayed; it was more of a joke. This is the unfortunate nature of Hollywood: things are always made to look better than they seem. This revelation does make the movie more realistic, but less heart-warming. I think this does in a way spoil the movie. It is a great story, and Rudy’s underdog nature makes you feel good. Revealing the truth spoils this. I think Joe Montana should have kept his mouth closed about Rudy. I think this because when you find out that the biggest scene in the move was mostly faked, it greatly takes away from the movie and the moral. The moral is to never give up on your dreams, no matter how impossible they seem. The fact that Rudy’s great moment was greatly exaggerated in the movie makes his accomplishment seem less significant. Even though that is not exactly how it happened, I do prefer the movie ending, because it gives you something to believe in in a world where so many people don’t succeed. When you watch the movie, you can’t help but feel good for Rudy, and even though that isn’t always how it happens, it is nice to see something that gives you hope.
A movie that I, for the most part, enjoyed would be The Vow. I always enjoy reading Nicholas Sparks so when a movie is made off of his books, I am automatically intrigued to go see it. Since I never read The Vow, the ending was a mystery to me. This made it all the more exciting for me to see but after anticipating The Vow for months, I was disappointed when the credentials rolled through. Just like any Nicholas Spark’s books, the guy always ends up getting the girl and they live “happily ever after”. And that’s what happened in The Vow- so I like to think. I was unfulfilled with the ending to say the least. After going through an hour and a half of Channing Tatum trying to win Rachel McAdams back after a tragic accident that resulted in severe brain damage causing her to lose her memory- including every memory of her being married to Channing Tatum, the ending didn’t give me the satisfaction of knowing they were back together, living happily ever after. The movie ended with the once married couple, starting completely over and going out for their “first date”. By ending the film this way, it lead the audience to use their imaginations as to what happened to this couple. They either got back together, or didn’t. Being the typical chick-flick-loving, sappy ending, totally cliche girls who loves nothing more than a good romance movie, I was unfulfilled when the ending left it up for the audience to guess. I want the reassurance of knowing the main characters ended up together, living the typical fairytale that was intended to be portrayed through this romance movie.
Tonight, at 10:48 pm, I’ve come to the tragic conclusion that no matter who we are, what situation we’re in, and no matter how well off we are or aren’t off in life, we thrive knowing that other people are worse off than we are. We somehow find it very comforting knowing that someone else has it worse than we do, that they suffer more than we do. Humanity sucks as it is, but when you think about it in terms of what I just said, it’s just embarrassing. Can our egos really be boosted knowing that someone doesn’t have enough food to survive off of, can barely afford to pay a monthly rent, or just got divorced and lost everything he or she had? Or is it the exact opposite? Could it be that hearing and reading about these types of stories makes us even more grateful for what we have, even more generous in giving to others, and even more patient and understanding concerning those around us? I guess the answer to these questions is kind of like the glass half-full and half-empty thing – whether we view the world in a positive or negative way. Regardless of what the answer is, or what your opinion is, the fact that we love depressing books remains the same. I fall victim to this much the same as everyone else does. These stories “move the human heart” and capture us in a way that no other type of book could ever accomplish. Teachers love depressing books, but so does the rest of society. Why we love them is up to you to decide. Do you see the glass as half-full or half-empty?
I have never really enjoy reading until I read the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Growing up, people always told me about books they enjoyed reading. They would suggest that I read these awesome books too. They would ensure that once I picked these books up that I would not be able to put them down. I tried. That was never the case. I could never get into books. I never enjoyed the Harry Potter or Twilight books that everyone raved about. I always wanted to like them so I could join in on discussions with people and share the same feelings about them, but it never happened. When The Perks of Being a Wallflower came out, a new rave began again. I thought nothing of it because based on my track record, what are the chances that I would actually like this book? Well, on Christmas morning, I opened my gifts one by one. As I unwrapped one rectangular shaped package, I noticed that I had gotten a book. The book was The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I was confused because my parents know that I do not enjoy reading so I thought, "Why would they get me a book?" My mom said to me, "I promise you will like it. Give it a chance. I read it and I know you; you will like it." The day after Christmas is usually a chill day at my house so on this day I decided to pick the book up. For the first time in my life I understood what people mean when they say that they can't put a book down once they pick it up. For the first time I felt completely immersed into a book. For the first time I felt that it is possible for me to enjoy reading. This book made me feel like I was a part of something bigger and that I wasn't alone. It talked about the struggles of a high school boy and for once I did not feel alone. In this book, the main character Charlie talks about every real life problem he is going through in his life. He writes about everything from his first high school party to his brother that plays football at Penn State. This book was more than just a good story; it was an eye opener that made me realize that other people in the world do understand and do have dysfunctional lives just like me. Although not all the problems in the book match up to the problems in my life, it was a good feeling to know that I'm not the only one that feels crazy. Reading this book as an adolescent taught me that books can truly help us discover who we are as people.
When I was younger, and I still do for the most part today, I would read a mix of depressing books like murder mysteries, which usually did not end well, and happier ending ones like Indiana Jones (the book, not the movie, which I also liked). The main mystery series I liked and sill do is Tony Hillerman’s Navajo Tribal Police series. The novels were most of the time depressing and were more realistic. They usually did not have very happy endings. On the other side, I also enjoyed happier books, or at least ones with happier endings. On this half, I did not have one particular series that I really like; I just read many different kinds. Most of them were spy, historical fiction, and adventure novels. While not all of them were really happier, they were usually more upbeat than the mystery books. The happier ones I read were the older ones, like H.G. Wells (I also read some science fiction) and Clive Cussler, of which I enjoyed the most. Occasionally I would read manga cartoons, but I was very selective on the,. Overall, I prefer more happier books, but I still read a lot of more depressing and realistic novels.
What's the purpose of a story? Is it to tell the truth? Because if that were the case then there would be nothing stopping me from writing a story about what I ate for breakfast this morning, the church would soon find itself discarding half of the stories in the Bible, and Joe Montana would have had to tell his four little children that there was no Santa Clause. No- that's not the case. There are two reasons that people write.(and yes we do write- this is Mr. Fiorelli's Creative and Critical Writing Class!) We write to entertain, or we write to make a point and reveal some kind of life truth. To quote Gatsby, “Tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther...So we beat on, boats against the current.” We are in constant need for hope. As humans, we need constant reassurance that life will get better. We need to be reminded- oh! this is why I wake up everyday and do what I have to do. That's why we read. We read a story to be entertained. When we are immersed in someone else's life, we forget all the sad and difficult parts of our own life. We read stories to learn life lessons. After finishing a story, we might say, “Wow, I've never done that. My life isn't so bad after all.” Or we might read a moving story and say, “It's a great day to be alive- and don't you forget it.” Stories don't have to tell the truth all of the time. If stories were only told exactly how they happened in real life, then they no longer possess any magic. Happy endings create worlds that are far better than the ones we've created for ourselves. If we only look at stories of our life, instead of dreaming a story of how we imagine our life to be, then we have no aspiration to ever get any better.
Happy endings are always too predictable. For me, a good book has twists that could never be expected. I want that ending to be unknown; if I knew that the two characters would fall in love at the end, then I have no reason to finish the book. One of my all-time favorite books is Identical by Ellen Hopkins. The book is told through two different perspectives: Raeanne and Kaeleigh. The reader goes through the entire book thinking that these identical twins are both telling the story and living their very different lives. The ending is impossible to foresee. As young children both were in a car accident. Raeanne was killed. Kaeleigh never accepted this fate for her sister due to mental illness. Kaeleigh was diagnosed with Dissociate Identity Disorder, believing that she was also Raeanne. The entire story is told by one person with two perspectives. I read the book for this plot twists and surprise endings, not the typical happy ending.
3.In the book, My Sisters Keeper, the ending was not fulfilling to me. I could not grasp the concept of her sister dying and her being able to live with that. She knew that she was the only one who could save her and she didn’t. Kate told her sister that she wanted to die and didn’t want any more treatments. Therefore, her sister sewed her parents for the right over her own body. In the end, she ended up winning the case over custody over her own body, but her sister died. Their mom could not figure out why she want to die or how her sister could “let her die” and not fell guilty about it. Kate dying was hard on the whole family. As the movie ended I still could not understand how they let her die. They didn’t even try anything else. If that were my sister, I wouldn’t have been able to just let her give up like that. In all, the ending to me was not fulfilling and I would have wanted it to end more happily.
2. Famous Hall Of Fame all-star Joe Montana had some enlightening words about the heartwarming movie Rudy. Montana depicts what truly went on in the particular game and it is actually the opposite of what happened in the movie. Creators of movies like Rudy always seem to strew the facts and exaggerate the story. Joe Montana states in the article, “It’s a movie remember, Not all of it is true… The crowd wasn’t chanting. No one threw in their jerseys.” This piece of evidence presented by Montana clearly shows that movie directors exaggerate scenarios to help better touch the audience’s hearts. In my opinion Joe Montana had every right to tell what really happened. If it was not him it would have been someone else. This does not steal the spotlight from Rudy at all. Joe Montana even stated that Rudy worked extremely hard to get to where he was. That in itself is more than a title of honor coming from an NFL Hall Of Famer.
When I was a little kid, it was a highlight of my week when I was able to spend time with my grandmother. This was mostly because this meant going to the movies and going to get something to eat afterwards. One time that I most clearly remember was when we decided to see a new Will Smith movie called "The Pursuit of Happyness". Unknowing to the true content of the movie, we were both eager to see the movie. To our surprise, we realized the movie was more of a series of unfortunate events. We watched as Will Smith's character lost his job, wife, house, and all of his money. He and his son went from homeless shelter to homeless shelter, not sure where or when they would have a permanent home. Every time it seemed things would get better, they actually would get much worse. Then at the end, an unrealistic opportunity presents itself out of the blue, and Will Smith's character finds himself suddenly back on his feet and successful once again. Though this ending was "happy", it was very unrealistic to me and left me confused and wanting more.
Miranda Murdoch
A movie that has a happy ending that I thought was unrealistic was the movie Maid of Honor starring Patrick Dempsey. This movie starts out with Patrick Dempsey and his best friend who is Michelle Monaghan spending all their time together. As expected one of them falls for the other while the other does not. In this movie Michelle spends a week in Scotland and falls unexpectedly in love with a heir to the throne. When she comes back to visit Patrick she brings her new man with whom she is engaged to and Patrick is left speechless. He was about to tell her his feelings but missed his chance. So we think. The movie ends with Patrick barging in on their traditional wedding and getting the girl he has always loved. This leaves her fiancé in tears and questioning everything. I am all for happy endings as in guy falls in love with best friend and eventually gets the girl but he should have said something sooner, as in, not on her wedding day. In my opinion it was rude and he should have spoken up years earlier. There is no way in real life a woman would cancel her entire wedding to the man she was so in love with for her best friend that is now in love with her. I enjoyed everything about this movie, the chase to get the girl he loved, the sudden rush of feelings, but it was all too unrealistic. I still enjoy Patrick Dempsey even if the ending of the movie is not what I wanted it to be.
I personally don’t think Joe Montana should have come out and ruined one of the greatest football movies known to man. He could have let the little exaggerations go about Rudy. Montana ruins the most inspirational parts of the movie even though they are all a little far fetched. When they carry Rudy off at the end of the movie it is easily the best part and to hear that they did it as a joke really makes the movie not as meaningful. So many people use this movie as motivation to keep pushing even when things aren’t in their favor. Joe Montana should have just let this go and kept this story the way it was even though it was a little exaggerated. The overemphasis on the certain parts of the story is what truly makes it a remarkable movie.
When I was about 6 or 7, I would just follow the lead of my older sisters. When someone asked my what my favorite movie was I would say "Harry Potter", although I never really read the books. My sister told me that the first book of the series was coming out and that the family should go see it. Wanting to follow with what my sister did I agreed and our parents took us on opening day. That was the start of my obsession with the Harry Potter Series. Since than, I have read every book in the series and still today I consider it to be the most mystical and magical series of all time. Now when someone asks me why I like the Harry Potter series, I can give them a real, true answer. I like this series because it is different from any other book series you will read. It isn't about love or relationships but about a boy and his struggles of having no parents and relatives that I wouldn't even consider to be his family. The books get darker and more "violent" with each book you read. It isn't some sappy happy ending to every situation he is put in, most the time the outcomes for Harry are horrific. But that is what I like so much about the books. It's not cliché in anyway, but creative, original, and new. Even to this day I find myself wishing and dreaming that I could live in a magical world like they do. The bond Harry has with his friends and their families intrigues me and I desperately want to have the same relationships that he has with those close to him. The Harry Potter Series will always be my all time favorite regardless of how different the storyline is. The not-so-happy endings are what make the series and gives the books its unique sense of style, twist, and the emotional feedback it receives from the reader.
The novel Gone Girl, written by author Gillian Flynn, had a particularly unsatisfactory ending for me. The book is extremely well written, and had me on my toes through out the duration. I had a difficult time enjoying the ending however. In the ending, the ‘bad guy’ wins the story, which is not necessarily the problem for me. I take issue more with the fact that the antagonist won in the most predictable, contemptible way. Amy, the villain, depicts herself as a victim of crimes that she herself committed; Amazing Amy gets to move forward as America’s sweetheart, the woman who survived a series of horrific and tragic events. Her husband Nick however, the unlikely protagonist, is forced to live in his own sick version of hell, with Amy as his personal jail keeper. Although Nick is not exactly the most likeable character, he garners much sympathy from the reader by the end. As one of these readers, I did not actually want to like, or feel sympathy for, Nick. I wanted him to win, or get away from his crazy wife, but I wanted him to do it in a way that would allow me to continue to hate him. The way that the book concluded left me unfulfilled and wanting an alternative ending. I was surprised, but unimpressed.
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