The Sea Inside Response

1. What is your general reaction to the film? What do you think of Ramon's plea for assisted suicide, the court's response to his case, and his eventual actions? What do you think of his friends who were willing to help him? THINK.

I think that the film was very interesting. It may seem like the film is introducing the idea of Ramon, but it used painful scenes to talk back to such belief. However, I do believe that life is a right, not a obligation. There are many times when life can be extremely painful, and you are willing to give up everything to escape such sufference. I think that the reason why Ramon's friends would help him willingly is because of their love and friendship. They saw his pain, and don't want him to suffer anymore. They really don't want to witness the dissappearnce of Ramon, but because of love and friendship, they would like to suffer from the pain of losing a friend rather than seeing him suffering. I think, because of different beliefs in life, the court's decision may represent the opposing side. It is true that no one has the right to kill anyone else, and that you should not commit suicide, not because of the deal with afterlife, but because of not to hurt the people you love.

2. How does The Sea Inside compare and contrast to The Diving Bell and the Butterfly? What similarities and differences to you notice? Which one was more powerful, in your opinion? Why?

The Sea Inside was a lot more depressive than The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Ramon completely give up and felt hopeless regarding his life. I think that The Sea Inside was more powerful due to the visual. The scene when Ramon drank the poisonous water is still vivid in my mind. The director used some disturbing scene to coat the idea of ending one's life with bitterness. It was painful to watch. In the other hand, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was quite difficult to imagine, Bauby didn't gave a detailed description about himself, so it is hard to picture him as a person and develop a sense of emotion toward him.

3. Refer to your notes that you took during our viewing of the film about technique, camera angles, and camera movements. What scenes did you notice, in particular, where the film technique underscored meaning and added to the message being sent by the director?

The scene when Ramon was describing the experience of drowning in the background and the camera gave a long-lasting close-up shot to the drowning, 18-years old Ramon's face and the air coming out of his mouth. It really showed the lost of life, especially when things are shown in slow motion as Ramon described it as a "slow, but sweet way to die"... As air bubbles slowly escape from his lungs and mouth, his life was slowly deceding as well... and because of the slow motion and created a peaceful feeling, it made the shot of Ramon being pulled out from the water even more interuptive than it actually is.

Glass Castle post 9

Now...Dun,dun,dun!!! Please welcome....The very interesting neighborhood of Phoenix!!

Okay, the deal is that...
The neighborhood was filled with Gypsies and perverts. There was a little conflict between Jeannette's mother and the Gypsies (This is funny):
Since the Gypsies always steel properties of the Walls, and one day, Jeannette's mother actually witnessed a Gypsy bouncing on Brian's pogo stick, and she was furious. She yelled at the Gypsies and tell them to go away. However, the Gypsy wasn't very happy with that, and you know the deal with the mystical power that Gypsies possess, the next day, the Walls found dead chicken with its throat cut open by their front door. Then, Jeannette's mother was even more mad, she decided to "fight magic with magic". She held up a bone that she took out of their ham like a crucifix at an exorcism, and called down curses to the entire Gypsy clan and their house, saying that it will collapse and the earth will open up and swallow them forever. And the next day, the Walls found their pogo stick in the front yard.

Conflict with perverts (This is hilarious):
Apparently, Jeannette was kind of attacked by a pervert on the way back home. He offered to play with Jeannette and, of course, she yelled no and kicked him. But, that's not it, she went home and explained everything with Brian and they went on a ... PERVERT HUNT!!! ::sigh:: Kids...they can change everything into games, or, into the product of their overactive imaginations... So they searched for blocks, but didn't find him. When their father came home, and Jeannette described the attack to her father, he swore that he will -BEEP- that -BEEP-...(bad language, parents supervision advised...) And he actually went out with the two kids to do their pervert hunting...

Well, I'm probably not going to post anymore...so...people, take care, have fun, and enjoy your book...

Glass Castle post 8

I'm so tired...

Apparently the Walls have entered a very difficult situation: Jeannette's father lost his job and her mother does not have a job at all. The Walls have no income and their food supply disappeared as the head of the household lost his job. The Walls kids were starving and Jeannette started to steal food at school and whenever she has a chance to. Her father was constantly away from home because of things such as "working on the investment" or "trying to make a living", etc. He still have the dream of the glass castle, and constantly looking for gold and wishing to become a millionaire. Jeannette's father even got into a fight with her mother because of the situation with income. He believe that Jeannette's mother should go and get a job not only because she has a teaching licence but also because that he is dealing with something more important than finding a job. They were fighting not only verbally and physically, and the kids decided to go outside because they cannot stand it any longer. And they saw their mother hanging on the edge of the window on the second floor, shaking in a insane manner. Their father was trying to hold on to her and grab her in but wasn't successful. At the end, Jeannette's mother was rescued and day went on.
One day, her father came home with a loaf of bread, a stick of margarine, and some other foods. The Walls finished everything but the margarine that night. The next day, Lori, Jeannette's sister, and Jeannette ate the stick of margarine with sugar because of hunger. Their mother found out and was mad at them for eating the margarine, but decided to teach because they need food for the household. After teaching for a short while, Jeannette's mother received the news of the death of her mother and the inheritance of things. Then the Walls realized that they have a house in Phoenix now, and decided to move there. It was a tremendous house with 12 rooms, and Jeannette's mother changed two of the rooms on the first floor into a studio and a gallery for her works of art. Jeannette's father got a job with steady income and bought the kids bicycles, which they have never dreamt of in the past, not even once.

Glass Castle post 7

Alright...

Now, after leaving Las Vegas, the Walls came to a small mining town named Battle Mountain.
Jeannette's father got a job as an electrician in a mining company, and the Walls moved into a wooden building that had once been a railroad depot. And since the Walls doesn't have money for new furniture, they collect huge wooden spools and turn them into tables and the children have to sleep in a huge cardboard box. When their father were not home, Brian, Jeannette's brother, and Jeannette would go and explored the desert. After a few days, their parents decided to enroll them in a neighboring elementary school. Apparently, Jeannette's teacher didn't like students moving ahead of the class, and she disliked Jeannette because she wrote in binary numbers for all answers of her math assignment. The Walls kids started to have interaction with other kids in the neighborhood. Brian and Jeannette especially loved to find random things and did a lab trying to make them explode. One day, however, the stuff they picked up did not explode, then they decided, they were going to test whether of it was flammable the next day. Still, nothing happened, so they mixed up a batch of nuclear fuel and tossed a lightened match on it. A cone of flame shot up and knocked the Walls kids over. When they realized that one of the walls was on fire, and they ran out the house. Jeannette's father saw them and the burning house, instead of being furious, he was unusually calm.
=======================================
I think, in many ways, this part of the book reflect upon many things. Although this is an auto biography, bur perhaps because of her unorthodox experience, it actually connects to many problem in society today. For instance, poverty and education. Because of poverty, some school may not be able to provide the best education, hire the best teachers, and use the best textbooks. However, education is pretty much the factor that determines people's future these days. Many unfortunate people and their descendants have to stay in continuous poverty because they don;t have enough money to afford a house in the district with good education, and they don't have enough money to pay for college, which also mean that they won't have jobs with a high wage.
The reality is this brutal, if you are born in a family that suffers from poverty, you only have a mere chance to escape from such unfortune. Should we stop being optimistic and stop believing such idea as "everyone has a chance to success"? Or, should we still place everything upon such small chance and encourage people to never give up?

Glass Castle post 6

Last post in life. I wish.

So far, I think Jeannette's father has a lot of problems, for instance, bullying.
"Dad stopped the car, then jammed down the accelerator and popped the clutch. We shot forward toward Mom, who screamed and jumped out of the way. Dad turned around and went for her again."(43)
That is, quite an abnormal thing for any normal person to do. Thus, as I concluded earlier, Jeannette's father is absolutely insane, to a certain extent. The following passage from the book described his uncontrolled act in a much more descriptive way.
"It was a moonless night, so we couldn't see Mom except when she ran into the beam of the headlights. She kept looking over her shoulder, her eyes wide like a hunted animal. We kids cried and begged Dad to stop, but he ignored us...The car bounced on holes and rocks, brush scratching against its side and dust coming through the open windows. Finally, Dad cornered Mom against some rocks. I was afraid he might smush her with the car, but instead he got out and dragged her back, legs flailing, and threw her into the car."(43)
What can drive people into a state where they cannot even think anymore? What kind of emotion can let people lost all of their calmness, become savage that only reacts on their instinct? Perhaps love, and its very opposite, yet always comes together, hate. It's because you love it so much, you cannot bear anything painful from it. Because you had to take something you cannot bear, you hate it. You feel pain, the type of pain you just simply can't find anyway to ease, you lost control, you cry, you scream, you let word run out of your mouth without thinking, you become violent, you need some way to express your sorrow and anger, you can't bear it anymore, and a sudden darkness seized your civilized side, you've lost it, and...you did something that you will regret everyday in your life, something unforgivable and unforgettable. Boom, it hit you, it woke you up completely. Like waking up from a dream, you look around and wonder what has happened to this place. And a much deeper, painful realization seizes you. You've done it, nothing can be taken back. You struggle with yourself, don't want to believe the truth.
Yeah, it's struggle and it will reshape you.
And, everyday is a new start, eh?

Glass Castle post 5

Here we go, the first post of week three.
People said I worte too much... Do I write too much on my blog? Just doing a survey here.
I'm starting it now, but I should warn you before you start, I have no idea how it is going to end... ::evil laughter::

"We laughed about all the kinds who believed in the Santa myth and got nothing for Christmas but a bunch of cheap plastic toys. 'Years from now, when all the junks that got is broken and long forgotten,' Dad said, 'you'll still have your stars.'"(41)
Jeannette’s parents refused to let their kid believe in myths. Rather than let them enjoy their childhood blindly and drown themselves in the wonderful world of imagination, they told Jeannette that there is not such person as the Santa Clause, and for Christmas, they gave each of their children a star instead of toys. The stars are resemblance of, in my opinion, dreams and goals. Basically, those material wealth and myths will eventually, in a point of your life, be deceived by you and fade away, however, your dreams, if you are fond of them, they will always be in your heart and be a motivation for everything.
Things that have shape or form are not eternal, in some point of time, it has to fade away. It's kind of like the idea of Buddhism. In Buddhism, because everything will eventually disappear, and if one want to reach the stage of eternity, the only way is to follow the four noble truths... Okay, I'm going to stop now... World history is getting on to me...
Anyway, in my opinion, her parents are quite thoughtful. All of those who had once believed in Santa Clause, when we first realized that the existance of Santa is completely made up, didn't we all felt disappoint to a certain degree? Following the same theory, if someone tells you that your belief is not true and that person has legitimate resources to back himself/herself up, you will feel the same disappointment, a hurtful feeling that some part of you literally was crashed and left behind. Jeannette's parents were not intended to let their children to go throughsuch pain, whether extremely hurtful or not. Thus they tell them the truth first. To avoid further costs.
On the other hand, stars, or dreams, are things that you just simply cannot destroy. Yes, in the future, you may realize that they are not as simple as they looks, they may even sound absolutly impossible, but it doesn't matter. There's a difference between a dream and a belief. Dreams can be crashed, but still remains and heal itself through time. On the other hand, a belief, when it is destroyed, it's gone. You will always have such a hope that this dream may come true, and what I mean is that people can tell you that your dream is unreal, but they have no proof whatsoever that it will never be true. In the absence of proof, people can easily regain self-confidence, and keep their dreams handy.

Glass Castle post 4

I am too tired to summerize everything descriptively, hence I am going to babble on with my minimal thoughts and reaction to The Glass Castle.

WARNING: this post may not be very understandable or worth reading, effect on mental health varies. (I'm trying to be coherent! Ms. Tholen, I am trying!!!)

So Jeannette's family was in the desert, and her srtistic mother saw this Joshua tree. The Joshua tree "stood in a crease of land where the desert ended and the mountain began, forming a wind tunnel. From the time the Joshua tree was a tiny sapling, it had been so beaten down by the whipping wind that, rather than trying to grow skyward, it had grown in the direction that the wind pushed it."(35) and wanted to paint it down.
"I wanted to dig it [Joshua tree] up and replant it near our house. I told Mon that I would protect it from the wind and the water it every day so that it could grow nice and tall and straight. Mom frowned at me. 'You'd be destroying what makes it special,' she said. 'It's the Joshua tree's struggle that gives it its beauty.'"(38)
People's struggles shape them into who they are. Struggles change the way people think, the way they reacts, the way they view life, etc. In which, forms the characteristics of the 'identity' of a individual. Everyone is sepecial in a certain way, unique in all aspects. When such uniqueness, or the struggle, is taken away, then everyone would be the same, all people will lost their 'beauty', in a way.
"I thought the Joshua tree was ugly. It looked scraggly and freakish, permanently stuck in its twisted, tortured position, and it made me think of how some adults tell you not to make weird faces because your features could freeze."(35)
Not until when thay realize and understand the way their struggles shaped them, people won't appreciate the memory of obstacles and difficulties they have went through in the past. That's humanity, right? Unless undestand the advantage of something can bring to them, they wouldn't be grateful of it.

Glass Castle post 3

Anyway, what happened in the chapter (or chapters? I can't keep track of the number of chapter(s) I read anymore... It's too complicated for my simple brain structure) was Jeannette's family lived in Las Vegas for about a month, and one day her father walked out of the casino wiht money in his pocket, thus he bought many things for Jeannette and her brother. However, a few days later, her father came home saying that the dealers figured out that he has a system and had put the word out on him. Hence, they have to leave the city of Las Vagas, and due to her mother's wish, Jeannette's familt went to San Francisco and lived in a hotel. One day, while her parents were out looking for investment money for the Prospector, Jeanette found a half-full box of matches. If you remember how Jeannette is with fire, you will understand how weird the situation is even before I start. She lit the matches in the bathroom, threw it into the toilet and watched the fire die out. Then she wasn't satisfied with the way the fire disappear, so she decided that she will throw the liten match into the toilet and flush it. And a few days later, the hotel was burning down, and although Jeannette and her family escaped successfully, she was scarred mentally. She thought the fire was the revenge by all the spirit of the fires she had played to her. After the fire, her father decided that cities can kill his children, and they headed for the Mojave Desert.

I found it quite interesting to see the way Jeannette's mind works. The mystery of why she was obssessed with fire even after it had injured her was still left unsolved... My guess is that the fire is just a representation of power, Jeanette feared the power, envied the power, and was fascinated by such power. Due to that the fire had hurt her before, she became fearful, yet got excited when she can overpower the fire and watched it die out. Thus, I came to a conclusion--Jeannette is so weird.