The Breakup Letter

March 19^th,2013

Hey there,

I have been trying to find the right words to say to put you at ease, but the feeling that will be brought upon you from this is inevitable. I realize this seems sudden and I apologize for that. The past few weeks have been full of thinking for me. Thinking about what we have now and what we could have later on in the future. What we have is amazing. We go out on dates, we hangout and watch movies, we play games and we text nonstop. You are the only person I’ve ever truly been able to talk to about my life and I am grateful that you have always been there to listen. When I’m with you I can be myself, have no cares in the world, and be happy. I don’t ever want to lose you for sake that I would lose all that.

The thing is, along with all these things that make me smile, you do things to make me upset, too. When we talk, I do most of the talking. When we text its those one word answers that are ever so frustrating. After a while, it feels like I’m the only one trying to keep this relationship going.

The way you treat me is like a best friend. It always has been that way. We have fought and argued and laughed and smiled and had a good time but this relationship doesn’t seem like more than two best friends hanging out. Now hear me out, that’s not a bad thing. My best friends and I are super close. We hang out daily and have tons of fun like you and I do. Unfortunately, I have come to the conclusion that I think that’s what I need for us to be. I’m not willing to lose you from my life forever. I only need to take a break, recap on what we’ve been through, think about the future. This isn’t a goodbye this is a hello. Hello to the new us of being just best friends. Like the quote from Peter Pan, “Never say goodbye, because saying goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting”. I’m not forgetting you I’m just starting new with you and I hope you have it in your heart to forgive me for breaking up with you. I hope you truly understand what I mean when I say all this and I cannot express how much I hope we can stay best friends. I am ALWAYS here for you. Don’t ever forget that.

                                                                    Your best friend,                                  
                                                                    Claire 

Revenge

           Every Tuesday night, my three best friends and I get together at one of our houses to watch the TV show, Pretty Little Liars. On nights when the show is on, Twitter is being blown up to the max. Everyone is talking about the suspense going on in the show, and trying to predict what will happen next. This show, is a perfect example of the literary devise, revenge. (If you find this show topic interesting you can check out this site and watch clips and maybe even start watching the show. http://beta.abcfamily.go.com/shows/pretty-little-liars )

            When I think of revenge, a few things pop into my head. These things include,

Pretty Little Liars, bullying, and siblings. In Pretty Little Liars, there is a group of 5 girls who are all best friends and one of the girls got murdered during the first episode. The other four friends are on a hunt to find the killers, or killer, and get revenge on them. This show is full of suspense and different revenge plots from multiple characters.

            Bullying is another example I think of when I think of revenge. When someone is considered a bully, they most likely are unhappy with themselves and they try to get back at the feelings they have felt all their life by attacking someone else. In other cases, some one who gets bullied could get revenge on their bully. One powerful example of this is Columbine. For those of you who don’t know what Columbine is, you can look at this link. http://history1900s.about.com/od/famouscrimesscandals/a/columbine.htm However, a quick synopsis of it is two boys were bullied and come into school and shot the school body to get their revenge.

            The last big example of revenge I can think of is siblings. I bet all of you with siblings out there have had a little sibling fight. Nothing to the extreme of death but maybe your brother flicked you. So what did you do? You most likely flicked them back a little harder or called your mom in to get your brother in trouble. You plotted in those quick milliseconds a revenge to get him back what he did. At least once in your life you have most likely gotten revenge on some one. I have, when my best friend smacks my leg just messing around ill hit her back, but harder when she least expects it.

            Revenge can be innocent flicking or it could be deathly. In Hamlet, a play written by Shakespeare, Hamlet’s father is killed by his uncle so Hamlet seeks revenge on his uncle by going to kill him off, too. Now, mind you, that is a harsh revenge but it is just one example of the brutality that revenge can cause.

            Now, next time you think about flicking your sibling back or doing anything that could be considered revenge, think twice. Try to talk it out more than freak out and hurt them back. Be the bigger person. Revenge is not always the best way to go even if some characters in books (like Hamlet) think it is.

            

Satire- Shrek and West Side Story, Huck Finn and Hatfields and McCoys

     The Dreamworks film, Shrek is a great example of Satire. The producer of this movie uses many forms of satire. For those of you who are wondering what satire is, it is the use of humor to criticize something going on in society. The movie, Shrek, satirizes fairytales in many ways, one way being that the hero of this story is Shrek who is an ogre. This usually doesn't happen in fairytales where the ogre is the hero. In most fairytales the princess and lovely prince end up together, where as in this fairytale, the ugly ogre (Shrek) and the lovely princess (Princess Fiona, who later turns into an ogre) end up together.
     There are many Parody's in Shrek. Parody's are just another form of satire in literature. There is a scene in Shrek where Robinhood's men come out of the forest that Shrek and Princess Fiona are passing through and the men try to capture the two of them. In the attempt to do so, they dance and sing while fighting each other. If you do not know which scene I am talking about see this video. (Shrek's Robinhood Men Scene) This satirizes (or is a parody of) West Side Story. There is a fight scene in West Side Story where the two groups are fighting while dancing, similar to that of Shrek, shown here. (West Side Story Scene)
     Mark Twain uses the technique of parody to use satire in his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In one section of the novel, you learn of a family feud between the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons. These two families live on the same island and have been fighting for as long as they can remember, but they have no recollection of what they are fighting about. At one point, one of the families kids runs off with the other families kid to get married. This starts more of the family feud. The family feud portrayed by Mark Twain is a parody of the family feud in real life between the Hatfields and McCoys. This real family feud was going on for a while but it really sparked when the McCoy's daughter, Roseanna, fell in love with the Hatfield's son, Johnsie. Just like in Huck Finn where the son and daughter get married and run off, making the family feud just that much more intense.
     I never truly understood satire until I watched the Iphone commercial my teacher showed us in class. This commercial is satire of what society kept saying the Iphone 5 was going to be. Watching this video (Iphone 5 Satire) really helped me get a grasp on what satire is, and now reading Huck Finn I really catch Twain's use of this more often.
     Parody is just one of the many forms of satire used in literature. Mark Twain uses satire throughout his novel quite frequently, however to me, my favorite scene so far is the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons feud so, I really enjoy this satire piece Twain intertwined into the novel.