The Hearafter (Screenplay)

OPEN SCENE - outside of a Large dark house 

House is two floors with dark wood siding. A man’s loud and a woman’s sobbing inside the house can be heard.

FATHER

(shouting)

You’re not going anywhere tonight young lady. Did you hear me Tessa? Are you listening to me?

CUT TO -  

The interior of the house, a dirty dining-room table with a tried older looking woman sitting at it crying. A tall burly man is standing in front of her.

MOTHER

Oh really, please just let her go out. It’s Friday night, she just wants to go out with friends and it’s really not a big deal and-

FATHER

(cuts in)

You shut your mouth. She’s not going anywhere tonight.

TESSA

For god sakes, do I even get a say in any of this? I just want to go out for the evening, I’ll even be back by eleven and I can do all my chores and homework tomorrow. 

FATHER

Nope. You’re not going out tonight anywhere. No more arguing with me. 

TESSA

You know what, forget it. 

She gets up and crosses the room to the door, and exits. The father gets up and follows her to the door. 

FATHER

(shouting)

Where the hell do you think you are going? 

TESSA

(shouting back)

For a bike ride. I’ll be back in a bit. 

Ext. Road - Day

Wide angle shot of a dirt road surrounded by trees. Tessa pulls into the shot on her bike riding toward the camera as it pans in on her. 

CUT TO -

Shot alongside her riding the bike, then pans around in front of her. She has a very determined look, her hair is caught in the wind.

CUT TO -

Shot from the side of the road that follows her as she quickly passes. Only birds, bugs, and the sound of bike wheels can be heard.

TESSA

(shouting)

I AM SO DONE WITH ALL THIS!

CAMERA - Pans out quickly 

Bike hits a rock and swerves off the road, Tessa is thrown from the bike off the side of the road. Cut shot as if from her point of view tumbling off the side of the road into the embankment. Camera above her, her head hits a rock. Screen goes black. 

SCENE - road - dusk

Wide view of the road, bike and Tessa (her head bleeding) can be seen. Lots of white noise; bugs buzzing, birds, bushes rustling. Camera moves toward her body, noise volume increasing as the camera pans in closer. 

CUT TO - 

Shot of just her face; her eyes closed and hair matted with blood. The noise volume is unbearably loud. Her eyes open and sound cuts out. 

SHOT -

Now from her point of view. The sky is bright and everything has a soft glow to it. View moves to the bike and then up to the road. A boy dressed all in white is standing in front of her. 

TESSA

(gasps)

BOY

(smiles)

Hello. 

SHOT -

Wide angle including Tessa and the boy. He offers his hand to pull her up and out of the ditch back to the road. 

BOY

How do you feel? 

Tessa touches her head, the blood is gone. 

TESSA

Uh, fine actually.

BOY

Well come with me then. 

The scenery changes and they are still standing by the side of the road, but they are now surrounded by a dense jungle. The boy takes her hand and begins to lead her forward down the road (away from the bike). The scenery continues to change; from the jungle to a beach, to a busy city, to a field with a white house on a hill surrounded by gardens. 

TESSA

(pointing to the house)

That’s the first house we lived in. I planted those tulips with my mom. 

The boy nods, but remains silent and continues to lead her down the road. Camera follows them from behind, they are both completely in shot. The scenery changes again; to a house-lined suburbia, to a large red barn, to a cow-filled pasture. 

TESSA

What is this place? All these places seem so familiar? Where are we exactly? And who are you? 

BOY

We are wherever you want to be, and I am whomever you want to call me. 

She stops walking and looks around at the cows. The camera is behind her, focused on the cows, her head obscuring part of the camera’s view. 

TESSA

Are they real? 

BOY

As real as you.

She walks off the road to the right towards the fence of the cow pasture. The camera follows her. The wind picks up a little and blows her hair around her face. 

TESSA

(calling back to the road)

It even smells real!

CUT TO -

Camera on the other side of the fence showing her looking at the cows. Her nose crinkles. She turns and walks back towards the road and her and the boy continue walking until they are out of shot. 

CUT TO -

Camera in front of them. The scenery changes; a parking lot, then a schoolhouse, then a football field, a shopping center, a yellow house with bunnies in the yard, a lake surrounded by mountains. Camera moves around behind them and follows them as the walk. Her bike can be seen in the road ahead. 

TESSA

That’s my bike!

BOY

(nods)

Camera follows them, a body can be seen off the side of the road in the embankment. Tessa’s pace picks up. 

TESSA

(panicky)

Is that me?

The boy nods but grabs her arm to keep her from moving forward. 

BOY

You have a choice. You can stay here (the arm not holding her extends to the scene around him) or you can go home. It’s your choice. You can go home to your mother and father and to your life, or you can stay in this world that you can create and change. You have a choice Tessa, but once you make that decision, that is where you will stay. 

TESSA

But what is this place really?

BOY

I think you know. 

She turns to look at the body. The scenery changes rapidly at a blurred pace. 

BOY

This place is your for the making. You will never have another worry again. 

CUT TO -

Shot of Tess’s face (the boy seen behind her); she looks deep in thought.

TESSA

So I could stay here and do whatever I wanted, or I could just go home? 

The boy nods and walks out of shot. The Camera begins to spin around Tessa. The scenery changes to a playground filled with children, a sandbox is closest to Tessa. She walks to it (the camera follows her) squats down and runs her fingers through the sand and picks up a handful. The scenery changes to a beach with ocean waves rolling toward her, she drops the sand. The scenery changes to the old house shown at the beginning, voices can be heard inside. 

TESSA

(whispering)

Home.

The scenery changes to a dark forest. 

CUT TO - wide angle

Tessa, the boy, the body, and the bike are all in the shot. 

TESSA

(crying)

I want to go home. 

The boy gestures to the bike. Tessa walks forward to pick it up the camera spins slowly around her as she approaches and goes to black when she touches the bike. 

SCENE -

Loud voices are heard as black fades into a white ceiling. 

CUT TO - 

Birds eye view of Tessa on a stretcher being pushed quickly by several nurses down a hall. Her head is bleeding and she is covered in cuts and bruises. 

CUT TO - 

View of ceiling, then fade into black. 

SCENE -

Screen is black, voices fade into audibility. 

MOTHER

(weeping)

Oh god Tessa, oh god, oh god. 

FATHER

Leave the room and pull yourself together, Tess isn’t going to want to wake up to that. 

Movement can be heard, footsteps and then a door closing. There is crying in the room now. 

FATHER

(whispering and crying)

Goddammit Tess. 

Tessa? Tess girl? Can you hear me? I’m so sorry for everything Tessa. I messed up, and I know it. 

CUT TO -

View above Tessa in hospital bed, her father sitting next to her holding her hand. Her head is bandaged, her eyes are closed. She smiles and then opens her mouth a bit. 

FATHER

Tess? Tessa what is it? 

Camera pans slowly in on her face.

TESSA

(whispering)

Home.

Screen cuts to black.

Quotes from Fight Club

“You buy furniture. You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. Buy the sofa, then for a couple years you’re satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you’ve got your sofa issue handled. The right set of dishes. Then you’re trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you” (44). 

“Advertising has these people chasing cars and clothes they don’t need. Generations have been working in jobs they hate, just so they can buy what they don’t really need. ‘We don’t have a great war in our generation, or a great depression, but we do, we have a great war of the spirit. We have a great revolution against the culture. The great depression is our lives” (149).

There is so much in this book that deals with the material world and how materialistic we are. I loved the way this quote tackles the idea of the ‘stuff’ that we have. There was so much in this story about consumerism and materialism and it really made me rethink the stuff I own and how I chose to live my life. It made me realize how little I actually have to lose and how little the things I own mean to me. When the narrator’s condo exploded and he lost everything he had ever owned, and had worked hard to get, I thought about how I would feel if I lost everything I owned. I realized how easily replaceable so much of what I own is. 

“The first rule about fight club is you don’t talk about fight club” (48).

The most famous quote from the book. People everywhere seem to know this quote. I found it ironic in the book because even though this was the first (and second) rule in fight club, very few seemed to follow it because new people showed up at fight club every day, so obviously Fight Club was being talked about. It was a huge secret, but it was also the most talked about thing in the underworld. 

“This is why I loved support groups so much, if people thought you were dying, they gave you their full attention. If this might be the last time they saw you, they really saw you. Everything else about their checkbook balance and radio songs and messy hair went out the window. You had their full attention. People listened instead of just waiting for their turn to speak. And when they spoke, they weren’t telling you a story. When the two of you talked, you were building something, and afterward you were both different than before” (107). 

I loved the way the narrator thought about his support groups and everything he is saying is true. People do treat you differently when they think you are going to die. He needed that attention and that is why he went to the support groups, because he needed that kind of honest and true connection to people (which he couldn’t get anywhere else) in order to go on living his life. 

“You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all a part of the same compost pile”... “Our culture has made us all the same. No one is truly white or black or rich, anymore. We all want the same. Individually we are nothing” (134). 

“We are God’s middle children, according to Tyler Durden, with no special place in history and no special attention. Unless we get God’s attention, we have no hope of damnation or redemption. Which is worse, hell or nothing?” (141). 

When Tyler formed Project Mayhem, I think the point was trying to work as a unit to leave their mark on the world. To have the members of Project Mayhem prove themselves to each other and to society. The idea that they are trying to make their mark on the world and leave their name behind. Doing something worth doing and something that is going to represent them, and leave them with a special place in history. But also the idea that they need to change society and rebel in order to retrieve their individuality which society has taken away from them. 

“We are not special. We are not crap or trash either. We just are” (207). 

I thought this was a beautiful and powerful ending for the book. I think this was such a huge point in the book, that we are here on this earth and we are not special, but that doesn’t mean we are nothing either. I felt like this quote really got across one of the main and most important themes in the book and really summed up what the narrator and Tyler Durden were trying to say. 

Fight Club: Book Review

The narrator of Fight Club, by Chuck Palahniuk, leads a simple, but strange life. He spends most of his day working, and in the evenings he goes to various support groups, but not because he has any sort of debilitating disease, it’s because he cannot sleep. The narrator is an insomniac, and the only thing that helps him sleep is spend time with and to cry with the people from these support groups. It lets him get things out. After a while he notices another girl has been going to the same support groups, and he knows she is also lying about having these different diseases too. This is Marla. And she has broken his cycle, and he is back to his insomnia. And then the narrator meets Tyler Durden. Tyler who is unlike any other, who thinks that the narrator should stop going to his silly support groups and that he should solve his problems through beating Tyler up. And thus began Fight Club. The first rule of Fight Club is “you don’t talk about fight club”, the second rule of Fight Club is “you don’t talk about fight club” and so a new era begins, with men out there solving their own problems with a sort of scheduled violence (Palahniuk 48). But as people continue to break the first two rules of the club, the head count continues to expand, and so does Tyler’s power and so do his ideas. And so Tyler takes Fight Club to a whole new level dragging the narrator along with him, and he starts what he calls Project Mayhem. According to Tyler, Project Mayhem serves to “complete the right away destruction of civilization” (Palahniuk 125). And so Tyler drags the narrator along for his twisting and turning life but is there a deeper and darker element to the narrator and Tyler Durden’s  friendship? 

I loved this book. I loved the characters, the story, the deeper meaning of the book. I loved how it was both drastically unrealistic but also so realistic at the same time. The narrator and Tyler show what I would consider the two sides of a person. Or (since we’ve been discussing this in psychology) the narrator represents the superego and the beliefs of right and wrong with a strong side of guilt or pride, and Tyler represents the id and the desire for aggression and sex and pleasure and Marla represents the Ego and making connections with the world. There are so many pieces to this puzzle of a book and so many different ways to approach and dissect it, it was almost overwhelming the amount of meaning between the pages of this novel, and I ate it up. 

I would give this book a 10 out of 10. I really enjoyed it and found so much to be relatable to how the world is now, and even to my own life. I found myself relating to both Tyler and the narrator and even Marla. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read books which they can dissect psychologically, sociologically, philosophically, etc. I found it to be a book with such a deeper meaning than many of the books I have read recently, and a book I could spend a lot of time breaking down and pulling apart, and for that, I really enjoyed it.   

Fairytale Telephone

Once upon a time, there was a little mouse named Alaska who was very small and fat. 

They lived in a kingdom far far away, nestled beside towering mountains surrounded by crystalline pools. 

You see, our character had lost his favorite pocket watch. It was a gift from his late great-great-great grandfather and our character had reason to suspect his older cousin of stealing it. It was simply in her nature- she took what she wanted whether it was hers to take or not. 

Along came a friendly toad, his happy disposition can make even the evilest of people happy and content. 

But sadly the evil snake-man came out from under the rock where he was hiding and lashed out ready to bite the little mouse. 

But the hero overcomes our nasty villain with just one slash of his sword, the evil one is destroyed leaving out hero breathless, and with a huge mess to clean, blood stains you know. 

As our main character snuggles back into his bed, he recalls all the times he’s been through, he sighs drifts off into a warm slumber, the stars and the moon twinkling smugly. 

They have learned to be themselves and to try new things however dangerous, or ill-conceived they were. 

My Tree

The screaming sound of a chainsaw 

rips through the spring air 

I stand by the window 

and watch my tree

The tree that I grew up with 

who grew older with me 

The tree that sat in my backyard 

since the day we had moved into the house

The tree whose dead leaves we raked up in the fall 

and whose green buds we admired in the spring 

The first tree I ever climbed to the top of 

and the first tree I ever fell out of 

The tree that held my swing and me 

through summer, spring, and fall 

The tree whose roots were intwined 

with a graveyard of past pets 

The tree that housed a dove’s nest for three years straight 

and sent six little doves out into the world 

The tree my cat found his way up into 

and who I had to rescue 

The tree that gently swayed in the ocean breeze 

which sent a rustle through the leaves

The tree for squirrel meetings 

and evening owl perches 

The tree whose shade sheltered me

on those sunny sumer days 

The tree that was such a part of my life 

that I couldn’t ever imagine not having it in my yard

So as I watched it fall to the ground with a sickening thud

I knew a part of my life would be forever missing 

Into the Wild: Movie vs. Book

Though I did not so much enjoy the book version of Into the Wild, I did enjoy the movie. The movie was more from the perspective of Chris (played by Emile Hirsch) and from his point of view as he went on his journey. The film was narrated by both Chris himself and by his little sister Carine (played by Jena Malone). Though it was based on the real life of Chris McCandless, there was some fictional elements to this story. A whole romance between one of the girls that he meets along his journey that was probably added to the movie for a more dramatic effect when Chris leaves. It held pretty true to what was known about Chris’s life and travels, just a little bit of drama added to make the movie more exciting for the viewer. I really liked the way that the film cut back and forth between Chris’s travel life and his life before it left. This was another thing that I think held the viewer engaged and really helped the movie from getting too boring, or from dragging too much. The film itself had great cinematography and was beautifully shot. I think had I not read the book before seeing the movie, I would have enjoyed the movie much more because I wouldn’t have associated how much I didn’t enjoy the book, with the movie. Overall though, I really did appreciate the movie much more than the book. 

Review of Into the Wild by Jon Krakeuer

Chris had been described as a smart guy who lived by what he believed in and did the things he wanted to do, so how did he end up dead in the Alaskan wilderness? This is Into the Wild, a true story of the life of Chris McCandless as researched and written by Jon Krakeuer. Chris grew up with his parents and his little sister Carine in a small town. He went to college at Emory and after graduation he decided to pack up and hit the road. He gave all of his savings to charity and burned what remaining cash he had. He told no one his plans of leaving or where he planned to go. He left with the intentions of going into the ultimate wilderness, America’s frontier; Alaska. He wanted to be alone in the wilderness, and to live off the land, and what better place to do that, than Alaska. Chris took up the altar-ego of Alexander Supertramp which would be the name he would carve into the many locations he would visit. He worked and hitchhiked his way throughout the states, making many friends, seeing the country, and spreading his story and plans. But it wasn’t long before he decided it was time to make his way up to Alaska. He hiked into Alaska with a rifle, a bag of rice, a book about edible plants, and only a few other things to keep him going through the time he would be in the wild. But had he forgotten about where he was, about what life he had left behind? Had Chris missed some key elements about living in the wild?

Sadly I did not enjoy this book as much as I hoped. I found it to be more like a very long magazine article. I was however, very impressed with the amount of research that went into this book. Krakeuer obviously spent a lot of time piecing together the elements of Chris’s life and ultimately figured out what killed Chris. I have a high amount of respect for Krakeuer’s efforts.  Initially, before I had began reading the book I had thought it was a work of fiction and was a little taken aback by the seemingly fiction-like elements of this novel. I also found that Krakeuer seemed to glamorize what Chris had done, something I daresay did not agree with. To me, Chris had a sort of arrogance and ignorance, which in the end led to his untimely death. I feel Chris’s story should have been presented a little differently. 

I would give this book a 6 out of 10. I really had very high hopes for this book, but I was a bit let down. I feel that the book was dragged out and that after a while I didn’t feel like I was learning anything new. But I know that some people really like this type of story. I recommend it for those who enjoy the likes of My Everest Story or other true-life adventure stories. Sadly, these kind of stories are not my cup of tea. 

Self Reflection

When I signed up for this class, I had so many great ideas about what I was going to accomplish and how I was going to expand my writing and reading. I had high hopes that I would use this class as an excuse to actually be able to write down the ideas and stories that had been floating around in my head. To be honest though, I am a little disappointed with how little I have accomplished for this class. I had really hoped to really get the creative writing juices flowing, but I have lost my creative writing spark a bit. I had really hoped to be writing lots of short stories and expanding all of the little ideas I have. Yet I haven’t really done to much of that. 

I have however, completed three books; Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and Into the Wild by Jon Krakeuer. And I am almost done reading Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, with The Virgin Suicides the next stop on my list. This class has given me a real reason to read and explore these books, as well as delve into their film adaptations. I keep a notebook when reading and after every section of reading I reflect on and summarize what I have read and write down quotes I find interesting. I use this notebook as reference when I write the book reviews and when I write about the quotes. 

I have written a few short stories in the course of this class. But they are pretty dark and aren’t really the kind of writing that I would really want to share with many others. But I am happy with the little bit of writing I have done. I have a little notebook that I got for this class and I find myself writing in it  lot. Bits and pieces of stories, little snippets of dialogue I hear, random ideas, the writing prompts, and poems. I have been writing a lot more little poems, or just verse style writing. Not something I did too much of in the past. I am also very pleased with what I have filled this little notebook with. 

With the last month and a half remaining, I really hope to get myself together and just get things done. I really hope to stop using this class as a time to finish work, and more of a time to start work and create work. I want to end the year with a substantial amount of work accomplished. I really want to be able to have a folder full of the work that I have done and to be proud of what I have done. 

Quotes from Into the Wild

“‘[S]eemed like a kid who was looking for something, looking for something, just didn’t know what is was’” (Krakeuer 42). 

“Unlike most of us, he was the sort of person who insisted on living out his beliefs” (Krakeuer 67).

“‘There was always a wanderlust in the family, and it was clear early on that Chris had inherited it” (Krakeuer 108). 

“The whole idea was to lose out bearings, to push ourselves into unknown territory. Then we’d run at a slightly slower pace until we found a road we recognized and race home again at full speed. In a sense that’s how Chris lived his entire life” (Krakeuer 112).

These were my favorite quotes from the book because I felt that they really captured the essence of Chris as others saw him. They are all from different people as well, his family, his friends, and  mere acquaintances. Because Into the Wild is the story of Chris’s life as told by others, we never really here what he has to say about all this, and we never get his own description of himself. However, I thought these were the best descriptions because they really connected with the actions and decisions that Chris made on his journey to Alaska. It is interesting to me the way the author tried to delve so deeply into Chris’s life without ever having the chance to talk to Chris. And interesting the way the people he affected chose to describe him. From reading the book, I saw Chris as a go-getter, and as someone who made a decision and went with it and whatever else got thrown at him along that adventure. These four quotes seemed really accurate to me from what I took away from the book about Chris.  

Words

When I read 

What others have written

I am impressed and amazed 

with the way 

the words they write all flow 

like a beautiful and raging river

and fit perfectly together like the 

pieces of a puzzle to create a 

greater more powerful and meaningful 

work of art. 

And when I write

the words are there, stuck in my 

throat as I try to force them up 

and when they do come, it is 

like vomiting up a jumbled mess of

words that must be carefully 

sorted into sensible and meaningful

sentences which always seem, to be 

missing something, like a flower that 

has dropped one of its petals or

an ant who has had a leg 

ripped off by a schoolboy 

because my writing is fine

it’s just not complete 

not fully there and not perfect 

and symmetrical, it’s only 

decent  

Who are the real Monsters? 

The real monsters

aren’t scary-looking at all 

They don’t have long claws 

or misshapen bodies 

They don’t hide in you closet 

or under your bed

They don’t howl at the moon 

or live in the shadows 

Their eyes don’t glow red 

and their teeth aren’t sharp like knives

They don’t haunt you at night 

and disappear in the daylight 

The real monsters live among us 

inside of us 

We are the real monsters 

The Road: Movie vs. Book

I found I was equally disappointed with the movie version of The Road as I was by the book itself. The movie did however hold pretty true and close to the book. It left parts out and added in more details to make the movie make more sense. As well as adding in more detailed and descriptive flashbacks. A huge difference was that the movie was narrated by the man, where is the book is in third person omniscient. Having the movie narrated by the man actually made the story easier to follow and I actually liked it a lot more. It was a little hard to watch at times, seeing the very disturbing scenes is very different from reading them. Visually the movie was pretty powerful, the whole film had a very grey and foggy tint to it, making it seem like a real post-apocalyptic world. The only things that had color were fires, and the food, which seems symbolic in a way. The things that are keeping the man and the boy alive are the things that radiate color. Overall I did like the movie as a visual element, but I was still disappointed with how it dragged and its predictability (part of that was the fact that I had read the book, but still..). Both the book and the movie had a lot of potential, but I was ultimately let down. 

Quotes from The Road

“He’d carried his billfold about till it wore a corner-shaped hole in his trousers. Then one day he sat by the roadside and took it out and went through its contents. Some money, credit cards. His driver’s license. A picture of his wife. He spread everything out on the blacktop. Like gaming cards. He pitched the sweat-blackened piece of leather into the woods and sat holding the photograph. Then he laid it down in the road also and then he stood and they went on” (McCarthy 43-44). 

This scene almost brought tears to my eyes. This billfold was a metaphor for the world before the apocalypse and for the man’s life before the apocalypse. He was throwing away everything that was his old life and that was the old world. By throwing out his billfold and leaving the picture of his wife behind, the man had let go of his old life, of his dead wife, of everything that the world used to be. It was really a turning point in the story for the man. 

“This is what the good guys do. They keep trying. They don’t give up” (McCarthy 116). 

All throughout the book the boy and his father called themselves the ‘good guys’. The man said is was because they carried the fire. They were the good guys setting out against the world and the ‘bad guys’. I think it is one of their reasons for carrying on. And a way for the man to remind the boy that they need to carry on. 

“The world soon to be largely populated by men who would eat your children in front of your eyes and the cities themselves held by cores of blackened looters who tunneled among the ruins and crawled from the rubble white of tooth and eye carrying charred anonymous tins of food in nylon nets like shoppers in the commissaries of hell” (McCarthy 152). 

I really liked this description of the new world. I thought this was a pretty good summary of what this world looked like, of the way things had twisted and changed, the way the people had twisted and changed. 

“They ate slowly out of china bowls, sitting at opposite sides of the table with a single candle burning between them. The pistol lying to hand like another dinning implement” (McCarthy 176). 

I loved the imagery in this scene. The boy and his father sharing a meal together, a candle between them, eating out of china bowls. It seems like a nice image, and then there is the gun, a reminder of what the world is really like, of what the man and his son really face. 

“Out there was the gray beach with the slow combers rolling dull and leaden and the distant sound of it. Like the desolation of some alien sea breaking on the shores of a world unheard of. Out on the tidal flats lay a tanker half careened. Beyond that the ocean vast and cold shifting heavily like a slowly heaving vat of slag and then the gray squall line of ash. He looked at the boy. He could see the disappointment in his face. I’m sorry it’s not blue, he said. Thats okay, said the boy” (McCarthy 181). 

They finally make it to the coast, and it did not look like it once had. The man had always described it to the boy as this beautiful place with blue waves and a clean sandy beach. What they found was grey muddied water and a trash covered beach. It was just as destroyed as the rest of the world. 

“Of a thing which could not be put back. Not be made right again. In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery” (McCarthy 241). 

This was the ending quote of the book. I thought it was an interesting way to end the book. From a broader point of view, rather than from the boy’s. Not exactly an hopeful ending, but not a depressing one either. The world would never be as it once had been. 

Review of The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Trapped in a post-apocalyptic world, a boy and his father travel through the barren wasteland that was once the world we know today. They travel down ‘the road’ knowing it will eventually bring them to the coast, and hoping it will bring them to a better place. The clothes on their back, a shopping cart filled with blankets and food, and a pistol for protection are the only things they carry. They live in a perpetual fear of running out of food, freezing to death, and being found by the cannibalistic people that now roam the ruined world. Struggling to beat the oncoming winter and stay alive, they pillage through the half burned homes of the dead. On their journey, they encounter other survivors, some good, and some bad. Fighting to keep alive they do “what the good guys do. They keep trying. They don’t give up” (McCarthy 116). Will the coast hold a brighter future for them? 

I have to say I was disappointed with this book. I had only heard good things about this book, and I found it to be not as enticing as I had hoped it would be. There were so many questions I had about the book. I was really curious about what had happened to bring the world to the wasteland it was. Very little is revealed about what brought the world to this current state, there were some allusions to disease and vast fires, but no blatant explanation. The way the book was written also lead to some confusion; no quotation marks were used and the dialogue was not followed by who said it. Overall I found the story very slow-moving, repetitive, and confusing. 

I would give this book a 6 out of 10. Like I mentioned, I had high hopes for the book when I started and I was left with disappointment and a lot of questions. I would recommend this book for those who enjoy reading about post-apocalyptic worlds and journey stories. However, this book is not for the faint of heart, there are many highly disturbing scenes throughout the novel. I did like this book though because it of its simple themes. More than anything this is a story about survival and human nature. 

Paint a picture of your favorite food...

     The bitter but sweet scent slowly wafts throughout the house and into my room. My nose follows it out of my room and carefully down the stairs into the kitchen. On the counter, a small chocolate cake sits waiting for me. The chocolate frosting is spread about on like a coating a freshly fallen snow, slowly dripping down the sides of the cake like water dripping from a leaky faucet. The aroma tingling the insides of my nose and bringing a smile to my face. Just looking at the cake I can taste the warm frosting and soft cake made with bittersweet chocolate, I can feel it fill me up with a small delight. I cannot wait any longer. It is cake time. 

There are seven doors...

I would want to take the door to Wonderland. Though Narnia, and Hogwarts would be very tempting, Wonderland would be my choice. There are a lot of reasons why I would choose Wonderland. The first reason for Wonderland would be because there really aren’t too many people, there are mostly animals and other creatures of sorts. Another reason I would choose Wonderland is of course because everyone is completely insane. I love the way people talk in Wonderland, it seems to be nonsense, but in fact it makes more sense than most realize.

I would spend my days taking tea and joking with the mad hatter. I would play hide and seek with the Cheshire cat, who would obviously win given the fact that he could easily hide from me. I would sit on mushrooms and blow smoke rings with the Blue Caterpillar. 

I chose Wonderland also because of it’s immense beauty. The flowers, the color, everything about it radiates beauty. And everything is alive, the flowers there can sing and dance, chess pieces can talk, animals wear clothing and carry pocket watches. I don’t see any of that happening here.  

I would get lost walking through the forests and gardens and mazes and nothing would matter. I would play croquet with the red queen, and host a ball with the white queen. And then if I ever wanted to go home, I would find the rabbit hole and climb back up, not that I would ever want to return to this boring horrible world, but I would at least allow myself that option. I would choose Wonderland because it is a land of Wonder. 

Quotes from Revolutionary Road

*Warning: Contains Some Spoilers* 

“He felt as if he were sinking helplessly into the cushions and the papers and the bodies of his children like a man in quicksand” (Yates 59). 

     Watching Frank’s downfall was really sad. He loved April, he wanted to be true to her and get along with her, but their relationship was slowly falling apart. I thought that this quote really explained what Frank was feeling and going through.  

“You’ll be finding yourself. You’ll be reading and studying and taking long walks and thinking. You’ll have time. For the first time in your life you’ll have time to find out what it is you want to do, and when you find it you’ll have the time and the freedom to start doing it” (Yates 114). 

April says all this to Frank about wanting to move to Europe, and I think it was all just talk. April is a very strong character and strives for her own independence. For her, moving to Europe is the only way she could ever be self-reliant and work a job. She presents this to Frank, I think, as a way of manipulating him. Trying to convince him that Europe would be what he wanted too. 

“‘I’m pregnant, that’s all.’ ‘Jesus.’ His face obediently paled and gaped into the look of a man stunned by bad news, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep it that way for long: an exultant smile was already struggling up for freedom from his chest” (Yates 219). 

I saw this as a huge counterpoint in the story. April is very opposed to having this child, and Frank on the other hand is very excited about it, but trying hard not to show it. He knows April doesn’t want to have this child. April is upset because it is going to ruin their plans to go to Europe and the nonchalant way she presents this is almost painful because as the reader I know the way it is affecting her. 

“‘I don’t love you and I never really have, and I never really realized it until this week, and that’s why I’d just as soon not do any talking right now” (Yates 293). 

The blatant and plain way April says this to Frank is so heart-wrenching and sad. I love April’s honesty, but sometimes I think she was too flagrant about it. She is really hurting Frank and she acts like she doesn’t care. 

“But from there on Howard Givings heard only a welcome, thunderous sea of silence. He had turned off his hearing aid” (355). 

I loved this ending to the book. I had never expected the story to end this way, I never expected the story to end with the Givings lives instead of the Wheelers. I loved the way the book sort of ended in a silence, since there is a lot of yelling and shouting throughout the story. Overall not the ending I was expecting, but I loved it even more because of that. 

Review of Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

*Warning Contains some spoilers* 

Revolutionary Road, by Richard Yates, is a story of love. A story of love lost, unrequited love, and love rekindled. It is the 1950s and April and Frank Wheeler have been married for years, and live on Revolutionary Road with their two young children. Frank works in the city at a boring office job, while April stays home, cleans the house, and cares for their children. On the outside they seem like the perfect model family, but underneath it all Frank and April are in a constant battle against each other. April has become indifferent with Frank, continually giving him the cold shoulder, arguing, and spending night after night sleeping on the couch. Frank has his own matters. He feeds into April’s arguments, and yet on the inside, he just wants to get along with her. Frank also begins an affair with a secretary from his office. April doesn’t exactly remain true to Frank either. Even with their constant feuding and fighting April comes up with the plan that they should move to Europe. She hopes that she would be able to work a day job and that Frank could stay home to be able to do the things he never had the time to do before. Just when they are preparing to leave, something happens that could change the course of their marriage and their lives, but will they have the strength to fight through it together? 

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was painful at some parts to see the way Frank and April could betray each other so guiltlessly. I also thought it was very interesting the way the author tackled some very controversial topics like affairs, marriage issues, and abortion. Even more interesting that he wrote this book in the 1960’s about the 1950’s. Overall I loved the characters in the book, the story itself, and finally the ending that I did not expect. 

I would give this book an 9 out of 10. I really enjoyed it, but there were a few slow parts that made it hard to continue sometimes. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys love stories because this one does not have the typical happy romantic ending to it. It is not so much a love story, but a story about love and about life; about how two people in love can fall out of love just as easily as they fell into it. 

Sincere Gestures

Who ever knew 
     That something as simple as a hug could mean so much

I can’t remember the last time I received a genuine hug 

The last time someone reached out and took me in their arms 

And then there you are offering me a kind embrace

Which is so foreign to me that I at first confuse it for some sort of awkward sideways high-five       before realizing it was a hug              

And then you held me gently in your arms

Your sweater soft and comforting

Your warmth filling me up as a I breathed in your scent 

And awkwardly rested my chin on your sharp shoulder bone

I felt as if I would cry 

Because you had reached out to me 

Like no other 

In the simplest and sweetest of human gestures 

An Embrace 

Full Moon

As I looked up at the full moon tonight 

I wondered if you were looking at it too

And then I began to wonder 

how many other hundreds and thousands of people 

were all looking up at that same moon 

And how many of them were wondering

if someone else was sharing the same moon with them 

And I thought it was a beautiful thing, 

how so many different beings can share 

something so simple and so natural 

So I as thought about the moon 

and you

and what the moon might meant to you

and to everyone else in this world, 

I realized there was actually a pretty good chance 

you were sleeping 

and not sharing the moon with me 

for it was almost three AM 

So I closed my curtains 

crossed the room 

and crawled into my empty bed 

feeling smaller and more alone than I had in a while 

You Pull me in, 

and wrap your icy fingers around me

in a cold embrace. 

You swirl and twirl my hair, 

into a mess of beautiful curls. 

You sweep me off my feet, 

and pull me into your depths. 

Only to release me for a gasp of air. 

You hold me on my back, 

so that I may face the sky. 

You surround me with rhythm, 

and your repeated sway of movement. 

And when I finally leave you, 

the taste of salt still on my lips, 

I hear you calling me back, 

Begging me to allow you to pull me under once more.