Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Essays
Kath Evans
Annotated Bibliography
4/5/07
Farrell/College Prep Literature

Levi, Primo. “Atranquil Star.” The New Yorker New York City, SF: Condé Nast Building, 4 Times Square, New York, NY 10036 Feb. 12, 2007. Pages 73 and 74.
Primo Levi starts off by saying how insignificant words can be when comparing them to the heavens above such as “We have written ‘very far’, ‘big’, ‘hot’, ‘enormous’: Australia is very far, an elephant it big and a house is bigger, this morning I had a hot bath, Everest is enormous” but using these words to describe something as incomprehensible as the sky and start is just preposterous [Levi, 73]. Throughout the article Levi explains how the world has developed and few Europeans in early times even bothered to notice that the sky’s above them were actually changing right over their heads. The Chinese and Arab countries noticed, and even documented the change in the stars and celestial figures. Levi tells about a star called “Al-Ludra” and how it might have been for a planet seeking warmth from Al-Ludra when the star finally reached super nova and exploded “Within a quarter of an hour he would have been forced to seek useless shelter against the intolerable heat-” and Levi concludes by saying after ten hours, the entire planed would have been reduced to vapor [Levi, 73]. Levi then tells about an astronomer who witnessed the star explode. The author concludes by telling the astronomer’s story of how now that something had happened, he would have to cancel all plans and study the star patterns again.















Kath Evans
Beowulf Essay
4/5/07
Farrell/College Prep Literature

Choice A: Compare or contrast and elements of Beowulf with elements of the film Hero. for this essay, choose to site similarities OR differences between the two stories.

In the story Beowulf and the movie Hero there are a lot of things that are similar but there are also a lot of things that are different. Beowulf tells the back story very quickly and gets directly into the story where Beowulf, the hero, comes to defeat the villain, where as in Hero, most of the story is in fact, back story which is told once a lie by Nameless, the hero of Hero, once by the emperor, a close truth, and then the real truth by Nameless.
Beowulf is the main character of the story Beowulf, which is evident because of the title. Beowulf is said to have astounding super powers. One of such is stated that he has the strength of thirty men in each arm. Another would be his ability to hold his breath for a long amount of time. Beowulf is a skilled and brave warrior, he is fearless and when faced with a problem he takes it head on, not backing down for an instant. Beowulf has many good attributes other then the ones previously listed.
Nameless, the main character of Hero is also a very powerful person. He, along with Broken Sword, Flying Snow, Sky, and all the other ‘warrior’s’ have amazing powers. They can move at incredible speeds, have super natural abilities to defy gravity and walks literally on water. They all are amazing fighters with a sword and can be recognized by only their weapon. They are very powerful and feared by many
In Beowulf, the hero went to save the king of another land from a threatening fiend, defeated not only that fiend but it‘s mother, went home and defeated a dragon that plagued the land, but in Hero, the actual hero was an assign sent to kill the emperor because the emperor‘s army had killed the hero‘s family, made him an orphan and made him move into the emperor‘s territory. So where in there are many things that connect these two stories together such as the amazing super natural powers that the hero‘s of each stories have or the deeds they have done for other‘s instead of themselves, but there are things that make them contradictory to one another like the selfishness of one wanting to take revenge on an enemy where as the other wants to help all others and protect the land they own and the land of neighboring countries. Both are extremely excellent and should be read or viewed if at all possible.