Divergent Movie vs Book

Divergent, a book written by Veronica Roth, is a story taking place in post-war Chicago. Beatrice Prior (Tris), played by Shailene Woodley, struggles to find her place in a factioned world where she doesn't belong. Beatrice is divergent, meaning she has a little bit of characteristics from each faction. Her brother Caleb, played by Ansel Elgort, is the same age as Tris, but seems to be much more sure of himself. The world they live in is separated into factions; Agnegation, Dauntless, Candor, Amity, and Erudite. Abnegation is selfless, Dauntless is brave, Candor is truthful, Amity is peaceful, and Erudite is smart. The abnegation born siblings must decide which faction they belong to at the Choosing Ceremony. Both make surprising choices. Caleb choses erudite and Tris choses dauntless. The story goes on to describe Tris's life as a brave and confident dauntless. At first she struggles to find strength, but later paves her way through due to her divergence and the help of her initiate trainer, Four, played by T'heo James. Trouble between the factions soon causes Eurodite to advance on Abnegation with the help of the manipulated dauntless behind them in action. Beatrice, Caleb, and Four must try to save their home faction from being destroyed. 

The book and movie had the same basic story line including the same faction and character names. Both of them feature Tris's story throughout dauntless and her struggles as well as her many triumphs. I think the relationship between Four and Tris was captured in the movie just as well as it was in the book. 

However, the movie had many differences from the book as well. One difference was that Christina took the flag before Tris could get it when they were playing Find the Flag. I didn't like this difference because I wanted there to be some tension between Christina and Tris instead of just being "buddy-buddy" throughout the whole movie. 

Another difference was that Four taught Tris to be dauntless instead of Tris teaching Four to be divergent to get through the fear landscape. I like how the book made the female lead the male instead of the classic male hero saving the helpless female. This difference almost made me lose interest in the movie all together, if it wasn't for Theo James keeping me attentive.

Personally I liked the book better because it had much more detail and suspense than the movie. Of course that is what everyone says but I believe Roth has as amazing talent in creating a clear setting and sight for the reader to follow along with. I feel the movie didn't even come close to doing the book justice. I also thought the movie didn't capture the true characters, especially of the other initiates. However, I did like that the movie brought the settings to life just like the book. Especially the ferris wheel scene and the whole damaged setting of Chicago.

4. It's not easy to leave your past behind you.

Leaving the past behind you is hard. Getting over people that were once very close to you is extremely hard. That is how I felt a connection to Gatsby's character in The Great Gatsby. Another character in the book who I found relatable was Nick. Nick says you can't relive the past. In my writing, I will discuss whether this statement by Nick is true. I will also write about life experiences of leaving the past in the past and book examples of this.
In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby is beyond obsessed with Daisy, an adorable socialite. He tries to catch her attention in any sort of way. Daisy, married to Tom, is still caught up on her husband's mistakes as the book hints about an unknown event in Chicago. Both Gatsby and Daisy are stuck with events in the past that haunt them in their present lives.
Personally, I find it very hard to get over my own mistakes and mistakes people have made that have hurt me. Although I can forgive, I can't easily forget. I constantly think of how I could have done something different for a better result. This causes me to spend a great time during the day daydreaming of something better, which in result ruins the present moment of being happy. This is how I connect to Gatsby. He gives his all and still thinks that it isn't enough to impress Daisy. He is so wrapped up that it consumes his every thought and action.
So the question is, is Nick right when he says you can't relive the past? To me, I believe you cannot. The past is the past, and the past is where it should be left. Can you go back to old love? Yes, of course you can go back. But nothing will be greater than the expectations you have in your head of what that old love felt like or used to be. I mean hello! IT'S OLD. The characters of Gatsby and even the people in the world today need to learn from their mistakes and keep the good memories of the past and forget everything else in between. "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

Review of Poetry24 http://poetry-24.blogspot.com/

When looking for a blog to follow, I knew I definitely wanted to follow a blog that was full of poems for my brain to crack. I love trying to understand the poem and finding the reason for why it was written. Poetry24 was a blog that I came upon that met this requirement. Abigail Wyatt and Hamish Mack are the editors in charge of Poetry24. Together they post poems of every subject. I love the mix it has to offer. Some poems are more detailed and are written in more of a story format, while others are short and to the point, which lets the reader fill in all the empty details with their own imagination. I also liked the design of Poetry24. The front page features a newspaper background with colors of dark grey and blue. Its simple, yet inspiring. 

Harrison Bergeron Comparison

Both the book and movie of "Harrison Bergeron" follow the same basic story of a man who overcame his handicap to make others aware of the outrageous government. I liked both works but I found the movie much easier to understand and follow along with.
 In the movie, it was easy to see how the handicaps affected the strong by making them weak and the beautiful by making them less pretty. I also liked how the movie showed the detail of how everyone was frightened by Harrison when he entered the ballet. It made him intimidating, even to the viewer. The movie differed from the book in that Harrison controls the people at the ballet by hiding a bomb and extra connections to the broadcast to create a more powerful character. Harrison uses both of these to make sure his message is known to all the people at the ballet and even the people watching from their televisions at home. 
The book featured more little details so you could create a visual in your head of what the settings and characters looked like and how they acted. What I really liked about the book was the dancing scene between Harrison and the ballerina. They both danced all across the stage and got so high that they "kissed the ceiling." I really wish the movie would have also shown this since it was my favorite scene from the book. 

Heritage

Heritage

Heritage is very important. It forms people based on the tradition of the heritage that came long before them. Whether one chooses to carry on the tradition of their heritage or chooses to make changes is up to them. The short story, “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker explains an African family of three women that share the same heritage. In my speech, I will explain the character of Dee, a young African American woman, who wants to create an ideal heritage based on her African roots. I will also discuss the changes made by Dee to get to where she wants to be and how her family relationships have been affected by her choices. Last but not least I will explain why it is good to keep family tradition and heritage.

Dee is a very confident and independent young woman. Because of this, she is intimidating to people around her, especially her younger sister Maggie. Maggie sulks around with her head down to cover scars from a house fire, one that Dee sat and watched, almost admiringly. She hated the appearance of the house. Dee’s character cares a lot about appearance. She is seemingly embarrassed by her family and home when bringing a friend home for the first time. In the story, Dee takes pictures of the house, Mama, and Maggie. One can infer that this is because she wants to brag to others about what a sad life she came from, or a tragic heritage.

Heritage, in the eye of Dee, is something that matters. Because of that she changed her name to Wangero. She believes that this name is more cultural, even though her original name has been carried throughout her family for many years, since the civil war as Mama recalls. When Mama is confronted by the name change she asks, “What happened to Dee?” In which Wangero responds, “She’s dead, I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me.” In this way, Dee is picking and choosing which parts of her heritage that she wants to take with her. However, heritage is more of an all or nothing thing, and it varies greatly with family relations. Dee’s relationship with her mom and sister has not been a close one because of their differences. Dee is fashionable and smart. Mama and Maggie think more about working hard to take care of the home and each other. Because of this, the family feels tension whenever Dee comes around.

Like I have said before, Dee is intimidating to Maggie. Maggie, with her scarred face and arms, looks at Dee with awe. She also thinks of Dee as the favored child because Dee usually gets whatever she wants. When sitting down for supper, Dee notices her grandma’s butter churn made of wood with finger grooves indented into the wood from many years of use. Seeing something so authentic, it interests her. So Dee asks Mama if she could have the churn, and of course the answer is yes. However, when Dee asks to take the quilts her grandma made to take with her, Mama hesitates. The quilts had been saved for Maggie. When Dee is denied of her request, she complains, “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts! She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.” Then Dee goes on to tell Mama that she does not understand heritage. This is ironic that the girl who changed her name and is embarrassed of her home tells her mother who works all day and everyday for her family that she does not understand heritage.

So as you can tell, the shared heritage of Dee, Maggie, and Mama means something different to Dee. Dee skips over generations to find things that she finds more essential. Her family accepts her for this but sees her as a little bit disrespectful for ignoring so many other family values. Dee’s character is independent and favored. Because she is favored, she creates her heritage of exactly what she wants it to be and nothing less. That would be ideal, but is it really worth changing a line of family tradition just for something you like better? A more practical idea is to follow tradition and love your family for what it is instead of changing it to what you want it to be. Heritage is something created from tradition, so tradition is good to keep.