The Tell Tale Heart Analysis

My first impression after reading this story the first time, was the obvious and common take on the story that the main character is actually insane. After reading the story a second and third time and after reading the analysis and our in class discussions, I started to have different takes on the story. I think that the main character was likely hallucinating throughout the whole story and never committed any crime. Another take I found particularly interesting was something brought up in class about the bugs having something to do with the "heart beat" the the main character heard. The bugs may have been attracted to the rotting flesh therefore being under the floorboards where the body was buried. Another thing I found interesting was something I read from the analysis. It said that the main character was telling the story while he was in an asylum for the mentally insane. He was telling the story to try and prove to the people that he was not in fact crazy, thus explaining why he repeatedly states the he is sane. He confesses to the crime to show that he felt guilt for what he had done. Also, another conclusion that I've come to was that the man that was "killed" was maybe partially blind, causing his eye to look like a vulture. This would also explain why he was not able to see the character when he had entered the man's room. Even if a room is very dark, your eyes will eventually adjust, giving me reason to believe he is partially blind.

Batter Up

A warm summer's afternoon and the sun was starting to go down, setting the sky on fire. My cousins and I decide to go to the nearby playground by my house. It wasn't that great of a place, just a little parking lot behind a school with a jungle gym and white, worn out lines forming a baseball diamond. We arrive at the park to find that we are the only ones there. Perfect. Nothing to distract us. Nothing to get in our way. There is only four of us, so we split the teams evenly, two versus two. We play rock paper scissors to see who would bat first. 1, 2, 3, shoot. My hand formed a fist, my cousin’s was flat and open. We went to the field. They went up to bat.

The way we play is a bit unusual. You hit the ball. Run to first. You are safe. But then you go back to the batting line. You now have an imaginary player on first who has taken your place. If you hit the ball again and get to first again, you now have a player on first and second base. As you can probably tell, playing this way had a lot of flaws leading to conflicts, but we had to make do with what we had. We would argue if the imaginary player made it to second safe or not. A lot of the time, we would just play rock paper scissor to settle these things.

Well anyways, we play for quite some time. They get some good hits, we get some, but we never really kept score, we just kept on playing. By the time the sun was halfway set, it was our turn to bat. My cousin and I get one good hit each and now we have an imaginary player on first and second base. My cousin is quite an interesting person. He is two years older than I am, but he is shorter than me and also weaker. But despite that, he is the most athletic person I know, very optimistic, and never gives up. To him, losing was not an option. So when he walks up to bat, the other team doesn't expect too much from him, maybe a single or a double, nothing much. He walks up to bat and gets into position. The ball is thrown and it sails through the air. Swing. Whiff. Strike one.

"That's ok," I yell to him, “You’ll get this next one."

You can see his determination. Sweat drips from his face and drenches his t-shirt. He gets into position again. He stares down the pitcher. The ball is pitched once again. Swing. WHAP! CRRRACK! The ball goes flying into the open air, far into the outfield, but that’s not what startles us. My cousin is still standing at home. He stares blankly into his hands. There, he holds the lower half of the bat. We look down into the infield. The other half is somewhere between the pitcher and first base. We are all silent at first just staring dumbfounded at my cousin. Our jaws hang open and we all look like complete idiots. Then, we all burst into a roaring laughter. Sure, my bat is broken, but that was just amazing. We decided that my team had one just because of that beautiful hit. He hang out by the jungle gym for a bit afterwards, we play some catch with the ball. When the sun was barely visible, we all decide to go back to my house. We tell the story to my parents and they laugh so hard that it hurts their stomachs.

To this day, I still have that bat with the handle duct taped together to the barrel of the bat, as a memoir of the glorious and hilarious day.

Song Analysis

So, the song I chose to analyze is "The Catalyst" by Linkin Park.

First of all, a catalyst, by its definition, something, or in this case someone, that "excites" or causes two forces to react without harming itself or either party. I believe that the narrator of this song is a catalyst himself. He preaches to the people on God's behalf and speaks to god on the people's behalf. He tells the people that God is still in control of them and asks God to bless the people even though they are sinners.

This song is full of contradictions. Most of the song talks about God like he is a force to be feared. That he can't ever be beaten and is the all powerful force and can kill you on a whim, but at some other moments, it gives a hint that he is a forgiving, understandable, and loving person. Also, if you listen closely, after the lines explaining why God is unbeatable, they say "no," hinting that they may be able to resist God after all.

Overall, I think it's a good song. I think there are many other takes you can have on this song. Here's the lyrics if your interested.


The Catalyst
By Linkin Park

God bless us everyone
We're a broken people living under loaded gun
And it can't be outfoght
It can't be outdone
It can't out matched
It can't be outrun
No

God bless us everyone
We're a broken people living under loaded gun
And it can't be outfoght
It can't be outdone
It can't out matched
It can't be outrun
No

And when I close my eyes tonight
To symphonies of blinding light
(God bless us everyone
We're a broken people living under loaded gun
Oh)
Like memories in cold decay
Transmissions echoing away
Far from the world of you and I
Where oceans bleed into the sky

God save us everyone,
Will we burn inside the fires of a thousand suns?
For the sins of our hand
The sins of our tongue
The sins of our father
The sins of our young
No

God save us everyone,
Will we burn inside the fires of a thousand suns?
For the sins of our hand

The sins of our tongue
The sins of our father
The sins of our young
No

And when I close my eyes tonight
To symphonies of blinding light
(God save us everyone,
Will we burn inside the fires of a thousand suns?
Oh)
Like memories in cold decay
Transmissions echoing away
Far from the world of you and I
Where oceans bleed into the sky

Like memories in cold decay
Transmissions echoing away
Far from the world of you and I
Where oceans bleed into the sky


Lift me up
Let me go (x10)

God bless us everyone
We're a broken people living under loaded gun
And it can't be outfoght
Can't be outdone
It can't out matched
It can't be outrun
No

God bless us everyone
We're a broken people living under loaded gun
And it can't be outfoght
Can't be outdone
It can't out matched
It can't be outrun

Propaganda 2011

Propaganda- information that is spread for the purpose of promoting some cause; a form of communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience

Uuuummmm........ yeeeaa........ So, I don't really know what I'm really supposed to say, cause I really don't know and propagandas..... sooo..... yea...... I just gonna end this here. Sorry to anyone who wasted 30 seconds of their life reading this pointless post.

Beat Street

Honestly, my first impression of the movie was,"This looks like it's gonna suck." But after going on further into the plot of the movie, I gotta say, I like it a lot. It had a really good plot. Although they didn't really do much characterization, you can basically assume how these people would react because these were just the lives of normal people. Some of the thing I REALLY, REALLY liked in the movie was the graffiti art, the break dancing, and the music.I especially like the ending scene, where they have the wake/ dance party thing. That was really cool. Overall, I'd give the movie 4- 4.5 stars.

Hungary for Attention

I think Richard is not alone in his struggle for attention. Sure, he does some extreme things to get it, like killing a cat to get attention from his father, but he still trying to reach the common goal everyone shares of getting attention.

Whether you admit it or not, almost everything you do is to get some kind of attention. No one in this world wants to be ignored or forgotten, I know I don't. Getting good grades, causing trouble, etc. are all ways we try to get attention. It's human nature. Sure, some of us are "hungrier" than others for attention. I would say Richard is starving for attention. He craves it so much, that he is willing to go to the extreme to get it.

So yeah. Basically what I'm saying is that we all want attention and that we will do whatever we can to get it.

King still King?

I honestly think that most people in this country to appreciate what Matin Luther King Jr. did for the American people as much as when he first gave the speech. I think that his birthday is just another excuse to have the day off from work and school. I think that's pretty sad. What would happen if he had never given that speech or went against the government? What would happen if he just became another abused African American citizen?
I think people should do something to honor him on his day, even if its just like a small thank you to him in prayer or something. But sadly, many of us don't do that. Many of us don't even think about him on that day.