Documentary

Analysis of Coming Home Again and Tracks and Tires

Coming Home Again

Action: A man recalls a childhood friend that he once had.  The two grew up in a very rough neighborhood.  As they grew older, the two men took diverging paths.  His friend eventually grew up to be a drug addict and was eventually murdered by his own wife.

Speech:  The narrator uses dialogue to give his best friend personality.  He recalls that his friend once said, “I’m always hawny in the mawnin.”  The use of this improper speech is meant to show the audience that his best friend was an average everyday boy.

Thought:  The narrator specifically delivers the memories of his friend in a certain order.  He tries to prove to the audience that his friend was a good kid who was a victim of his surroundings.  This is evident by the very last memory that the narrator describes about his old friend and his mother.

Physical/Description: “We walked along the railroad tracks, its silver rails flush with the packed snow, the wooden ties gone under.  And we laughed about the summer before when we three built a barricade for the train, a wall of broken creosote ties, an upside-down shopping art, cinder blocks, and a rusted oil drum.”

Tracks and Tires

Action:  A boy is at home helping to take care of his sickly mother.  The boy and his mother become very  close through food and how it is cooked.

Speech: ” I’ve always thought it was particularly cruel that the cancer was in her stomach, and that for a long time at the end she couldn’t eat.”  This shows that his mother was always cooking and preparing food.

Thought:  The narrator expresses regret about going to boarding school.  He feels as if the time he spent at boarding school took away precious time that he could have beans spending with his mother.  The narrator also expresses the pity that he felt for the type of cancer that his mother contracted.

Physical/Description:  ” I prepared a tray of smoked-salmon canpes, fried some Korean bean cakes, and made a few other dishes…Finally i brought out a bottle of champagne in a bucket of ice.”

 

Tracks and Tires

Tracks and tires is about a man recalling a childhood friend.  He explains that they grew up in a very rough neighborhood.  The two youths were surrounded by crime and poverty.  They were extremely rebellious against the rules.  The two would do whatever they wanted to without any remorse.  However, the two took completely different paths in high school.

The narrator explains that his friends becomes a product of their neighborhood and becomes a addicted to drugs while he goes off to college.  The narrator ends up getting married while the narrator simply has a college girlfriend.  The author’s childhood friend ends up getting murdered by his very own wife.  This puts an end to a very sad life for the author’s friend.

The narrator uses a flashback to recall how young and innocent his friend once was.  This flashback is meant to show the audience that his friend was never at fault for his demise, but rather, it was everything around him that caused his downfall.

Coming Home Again

Coming Home Again is about a man recalling his experiences with his mother.  The memoir beings by explaining that his mother was a cancer victim.  The stomach cancer that she had caused her to be very sickly and extremely close to death.  The author explains how every moment silence from his mother meant that she might have just died.

Chang-Rae Lee explains how food was a very big part of the relationship between himself and his deceased mother.  The two were brought closer together via food.  His mother feels as if she lost valuable time with him when she sent him off to boarding school.  Now that she is near death, the two become much closer than before.

Ironically, the food that unites the two of the author and his mother also divides them.  Despite the fact that the food is a means for them to become closer emotionally, it drives them apart physically.  The mother can’t eat any of the food prepared by the author.

 

Somehow Form a Family

The essay was very unique.  I was not had no idea what the essay was trying to prove until about page 11.  I thought the essay was very repetitive and boring.  I felt like the use of television show titles was overboard.  I found myself constantly trying to quickly skim through the immense amount of tv shows he mentioned.  Overall, I did not like the essay.

The essay is about how a technology has ruined the his, as well as the modern Aemrican family.  It follows a family along its journey of desturction due to television and technology.  Prior to the introduction of television into their home, they were a typical southern family.  They went to church, ate together, and did various activities together.  As they essay developed, one thing after another began to desteroy the once united family. 

An example of a vivid description made by the author is the reference to the moon.  The author’s detailed description of the moon on the night of the moon landing is in the past and it invokes a concrete sensation.  The exact details and emotions described by Earl help to show exactly how he felt at that exact time and place.

An example of abstract reasoning is when the author talks about his family is the good type of poor.  This type of analysis is only possible now that he has grown up and matured.  It incorporates his present day knowledge to previous events.  There is no possible way that a young child could have anaalyzed his familys socio-economic standing in society in such a clear and conside fashion.

Spellbound

Ashley is a young teenager from Washington, D.C. She lives with her mother in the inner city.  Ashley’s lack of monetary resources is made clear by her neighborhood.  Her mother’s lack of education also makes it even harder for Ashley to succeed.  I chose her because I found her story to be very intriguing.  Her ability to rise above her surroundings is very inspiring.  I also chose her because of her high hopes and aspirations.

Neil is a teenager from San Clemente, California.  His family is very structured and gaol oriented.  He really doesn’t have any socioeconomic barriers.  Any resource that he needs to study is available to him.  I chose him because of how hard he works.  I believe that all the time and effort he has put in will greatly benefit him in the competition.

I believe that Neil will win the spelling bee.  The countless hours of practice with his father will fuel his victory.  The best way to learn spelling is through repetition and that is exactly what Neil does.  The fact that he has no socioeconomic barriers will ultimately lead to his victory.

10 sources

http://www2.lib.purdue.edu:7017/V/E55BJYEN4PFVAK37TYH2F1AKR3TYR3TJGV9AVYIT7TAJ1NF3KF-01660?func=meta-3&short-format=002&set_number=001914&set_entry=000004&format=999

http://www2.lib.purdue.edu:7017/V/E55BJYEN4PFVAK37TYH2F1AKR3TYR3TJGV9AVYIT7TAJ1NF3KF-19999?func=meta-3&short-format=002&set_number=001914&set_entry=000016&format=999

http://www2.lib.purdue.edu:7017/V/E55BJYEN4PFVAK37TYH2F1AKR3TYR3TJGV9AVYIT7TAJ1NF3KF-24537?func=meta-3&short-format=002&set_number=001914&set_entry=000021&format=999

http://www2.lib.purdue.edu:7017/V/E55BJYEN4PFVAK37TYH2F1AKR3TYR3TJGV9AVYIT7TAJ1NF3KF-56699?func=meta-3&short-format=002&set_number=001914&set_entry=000035&format=999

http://www2.lib.purdue.edu:7017/V/E55BJYEN4PFVAK37TYH2F1AKR3TYR3TJGV9AVYIT7TAJ1NF3KF-61252?func=meta-3&short-format=002&set_number=001914&set_entry=000042&format=999

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/cngs/2005/00000024/00000001/art00001

http://pus.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/10/1/59

http://poq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/extract/68/1/131

http://www.jstor.org/stable/1387488

http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=KXppthPSYYrbJBYCV5sVq3w6P2kJYDg4dPpDqvskxk1Z32cfDRq4!1485017010!507429036?docId=5006818721

Chapters 12, 13, & 14

In chapter 12, Mr. Pollan follows the process of “processing boilers,” also known as the slaughtering of farm animals.  He helps to load up crates of chickens that are going to be slauhgtered that day.  The various steps of the brutal process are explained throughout the chapter.  In this chapter, Mr. Pollan really emphasizes the way the chickens are treated more as a good and less as a living, breathing creature. 

In, chapter 13, Mr. Pollan is back to conversing with Joel.  Joel explains how difficult it is for organic farmers to compete with the industrial farmers.  The government sets countless rules and regulations that favor the industrial farmers much more than the organic farmers.  Joel goes on to explain how organic goods can be better utuilized in the future.

In chapter 14, Mr. Pollan decides to use organic food to prepare a meal for some of his friends.  He goes around the Polyface gathering various food items.  He then goes on to explain the numerous health benfits of eating organic food.  Mr. Pollan goes on to emphasize the delicious taste and flavor of the organic food that he prepared.

I found the slaughtering process of the chickens absolutely horrible.  I couldn’t beleive how inhumanely the chickens were treated throughout the entire process.  The thought of the blood being drained from upside down chickens is extrmeely disturbing.  I am very upset by the nature of the slaughtering process and would like to see it changed.

The last two chapters really made me favor organic farming.  I find the treatment and preparation of the animals and food to be much more appealing.  After reading about organic farming, I would really consider trying to eat all organic food.  However, the government’s influnce, as mentioned by Joel, is still a large obstacle in trying to eat organic food. 

I, out of necessity, will still spend less money by buyiung processed food rather than spend more buying organic.  I truly hope that this trend will one day be reversed.  I want to be able to eat affordable organic food because I know it will greatly benefit my health.

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Chapters 9 & 11

In chapter 9, Mr. Pollan visits a supermarket named Whole Foods.  He compares shopping in a grocery store to shopping in a bookstore.  He explains that the products have all of their information laid out and the consumer must select which ones to purchase.

Mr. Pollan then transitions into the main topic of the chapter, organic foods.  He explains how eating organic food is much better for people than eating processed foods.  He even explains how some of the organic foods are frauds.  For example, he talks about how the steer he purchased was supposed to be on an organic farm, but still had an absolutely miserable life.

In chapter 11, Mr. Pollan visits a Polyface.  He is supposed to help out with various chores, but he ends up over sleeping.  He learns about how birds are use to fertilize new patches of grass.  This leads him to an understanding of the interdependence between animals and the environment.  Mr. Pollan also describes the picturesque scenes present throughout the Polyface.

He explains that the concept of the animals fertilizing and maintaining the health of the land is called stacking.  He explains how this type of farming is much better for the land than conventional farming.  Rather than using tons of pesticides and irrigation water, it uses natural process to tend the land.

I agree with Mr. Pollan’s views on organic food in supermarkets.  I do not support to false advertising employed by some organic food companies.  If a food says organic, I would like to be able to believe that the plant or animal was raised 100% naturally and in a free environment.  If I’m going to be paying more, I’d like to at least get what i paid for.

I also found stacking very intriguing.  I strongly believe that employing such strategies as stacking would help the environment to recover from the ravages of humanity.  Our society should really look into this type of farming because the amount of farm land will inevitably shrink and we will need to sustain the little land that we have left to farm on.

Fall break anyone?!?