The Stranger Theme Card

5 Quotes: "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know..." (pg. 3)
"My whole body tensed and I squeezed my hand around the revolver. The trigger gave..." (pg. 59)
"I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and they greet me with cries of hate." (pg. 123)
"For the first time that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself up to the gentle indifference of the world." (pg. 122)
"'Have you no hope at all? And do you really live with the thought that when you die, you die and nothing remains?' 'Yes,' I said." (pg. 117)

4 Vehicles: Imagery, Irony, Diction, Symbolism

3 Conflicts: Individual vs. Society, Physical stimuli vs. Emotional stimuli, Reason vs. Ideals

3 Subjects: Nihilism, rebellion, religion

2 Themes: True order cannot be created when surrounded by complete chaos, no matter the rationality or reasoning. All people are born to die and are meant for no other purpose than to achieve this goal.

Plot Line: Meursault, a man with little ambition or enthusiasm for the status quo, kills an Arab for no other reason but the sun's presence over him and deals with the harsh reality of a biased trial.

Title: Meursault, an extremely detached person from the world, looks at the visages of life through a window, rather than truly pursuing it. This spectator aspect of the main character provides the meaning of the title The Stranger, for Meursault never truly understands life's purposes until at the door of Death.

Characters: Meursault, Raymond, Marie, Salamano, Maman, Perez, the chaplain, the magistrate, the prosecutor, the Arab.

Stop the SMELL - Quit Smoking!

With more than one billion people smoking around the world, anti-smoking awareness has been on the rise. One commercial ad from Australia produces a catharsis, enabling and suggesting for the amelioration of our future, to stop smoking. Playing with emotions through the usage of a crying child calls into question how important smoking could be to an individual, if it's worth causing throes onto others for their addiction to a substance made up of 4,000 chemical agents and 60 carcinogens, including tar, ammonia, and lead.

The sender of this message is Quit Victoria, an Australian group created in 1985 that is dedicated to the eradication of pain and suffering caused by tobacco. Due to intense advertisement and shocking tactics, Victoria's smoking rates have fallen and also the ban on smoking in workplaces has taken place. The main message wished to be shown and presented to the world is that smoking effects everyone, not just the individual. Suffering is inevitable for all when a loved one is concerned and the smokers' indifference to such consequeneces for their actions will not be tolerated when even the youth are affected.

The young boy's bravado slowly cracks upon realization that his mother has disappeared into the crowd of pedestrians. The commerical ends with the boy having an anxiety attack, severly searching for his mother, breaking down into tears. When all of this is occuring, the piano accompaniment slowly becomes more pronounced as the commercial progresses, heightening the disquietude and worry experienced by the child.

The language used in this commercial, although diminutive, packs a heavy punch to those being spoken to. The commercial plays on the emotions of parents, especially those with young children but perdure to smoke. Simplistic language, short, blunt questions, drop the cold hard facts and reveal the severity of the truth. Causing the population to question their actions, if their child's potential trauma is worth an addiction that can be easily abdicated.

Regardless of the amount of people that have stopped smoking since the start of Quit Victoria, results are not yet desireable; The brutal effects smoking has on those around us holds no bounds. Despite the good intentions of such commercials provoking self-actualization, people are still offended by the stalwart questions and images used within the commercial, using the human instinct to protect children against those who pursure smoking. The Australian Advertising Standards Bureau received 65+ complaints for the commercial, surprisingly giving it the echelon of 5th most controversial of 2008.


amelioration: improvement
throes: upheaval, tumult, chaos, turmoil
eradication: removal
bravado: a real or pretended show of courage or boldness
disquietude: state of uneasiness
diminutive: small; little; tiny
perdure: to continue or last permanently; endure
abdicated: to give up or renounce
stalwart: firm, steadfast, or uncompromising
echelon: a level of command, authority, or rank

Late Start Ritual (Sestina)

The morning begins with the rising sun.
The couple ventures out to get a drink
by the use of a compact blue car.
The girl feels used and played like a toy
and sees the future filled with tears--
over the horizon, a looming silence.

Not even a minute into the ride, the silence
consumes the atmosphere inhabited by the sun
leading the girl to break down into tears
for what the boy thinks is just a trip for a drink,
not knowing the girl feels like an abused toy
whose only purpose is to drive the car.

Acting as a shield and barrier, the car
protects the girl from utter and complete silence
with the tick-tick-ticking engine from a toy
driving straight towards a raging sun.
An innocent drive to get a soda drink
has now begot hot hurt and cold confused tears.

"Why are your eyes brimming with tears?
You aren't fit to be driving a car,
Just park here, and we can get a drink,"
the boy said to break the still silence.
The girl shook her head. With disapproval the sun
frowns and looks down unto the battered toy.

"No. I don't know why you care for a toy.
You shouldn't have to deal with tears,"
cried the girl, once as bright as the sun.
Putting the vehicle in park, she stopped the car.
"I don't want to sit in silence,
We came here to get a drink

So let's go get some Dr. Dew to drink,
Don't you dare think you are a toy.
Stop leaving me alone in this silence.
Stop crying. You're beautiful. Stop the tears,"
the boy said pulling the girl out of the car
into the light of the radiant sun.

The cascading tears stopped at the sight of the sun.
His smile broke the silence of the dead car.
Not another toy, the couple went and shared a drink.

I saw him

Under the dark lights pulsating to the crowd,
I saw him.
Peach parfait skin with ferrari black hair,
His haute chocolate eyes pierced my soul.
Recovery was not an option,
My heart was captive to this Calvin Klein chapel of love.
He sent my heartbeat skyrocketing,
Freezing time with his always ascher gaze locked on me.
He had me under his radar within seconds,
My heart racing rubies throughout my body.
The luminous moon illuminated his skin
Giving a china glaze to the slate of perfection.
His very essence, his cool silver ice demeanor
Matched with a paradiso inferno gaze,
A walking contradiction of hot and cold,
Stole my heart and my breath away.
Not a single word exchanged or spoken,
Our destinies intertwined,
The pieces were set in motion.
The love story began when Romeo and Juliet met.

May 9 - Talk about Sensual

After mustering up the doughtiness, requesting a meeting on a chillingly emollient morning, there I was sitting in my car. Choice words shared with a confidant in order to clear my mind. He pulled up into the parking lot. Breathe in, Breathe out. The long walk commenced. Idle banter volleyed between courts: his vs. mine. You can do it, just go for it, I told myself. One, Two, Three. I couldn't. What if this was all for naught? What if this became a tatterdemalion mess, this comfortable familiarity, like an abecedarian doctor quaking in his wake during his first life-or-death surgery? I wouldn't have known what to do with myself after that point. The walk was nearing to an end. I knew I had to say something. He said goodbye and started walking away. There went my chance. It slipped through my fingers like sand, blown away like dust in the wind. I got half way up the front steps before I realized that it was now or never. I couldn't run from this anymore. I had to take this chance, the first chance I've ever taken. My first act leaving me completely vulnerable, no bulwark between the world and me. I had to get this secret, this leech, off my chest before all blood was drained. Before all heart functions tapered, whether through rejection or remaining uncognizant. Wait, I wanted to tell you something. His attention was caught, like a fly in a spider's web. With an all knowing smirk, he stood poised appearing to be on the defense and offense. One, Two, Three, Go. I like you. Silence. The spider assailed the unsuspecting fly. His expression went through a microcosm of emotions, all of which ranging from surprised to speechless. In a split second, everything went vacuous. His face returned to normalcy. The smirk reappeared, only difference being the soft expression. He figured as much. That's what he said. What a way to start a morning. (One month later, I got to hear the words I was longing for: 'Jess, you know I like you, right?')

Vocab List:
Doughtiness (noun): courage, bravery
Emollient (adj): making less harsh; softening, soothing
Volleyed (verb): to move or proceed rapidly
Tatterdemalion (adj): unkempt, dilapidated, ragged
Abecedarian (noun): a beginner in a field of learning
Bulwark (noun): a person, thing, or concept that is a defense or protection
Tapered (verb): to diminish or lessen gradually.
Uncognizant (noun): unaware
Assailed (verb): to attack, assault
Vacuous (adj): devoid of matter, void of expression; blank

Stars Music Essay

Starting from meager beginnings, Stars has sky rocketed into one of Canada’s most highly evolved bands, going from electronic pop to the mellow and beautiful sounds of indie pop. From completely penniless in New York City, Campbell and keyboardist Chris Seligman have risen up, going from a duo into the quintet of today. This indie pop band, a genre only understood after listening to the music, contains songs such as ‘Personal’ with the sweet melodies of piano and guitar creating euphony among the cacophonous messages coursing through the lyrics. A group of artists composing such beautiful lyrics as a single body could never be more passionately observed than with the listening of their music. Not only focusing on certain aspects of society, more often than not, Stars’ lyrics can always be held up to interpretation, thus giving the audience more artistic license over the work. Campbell states, “If you could make horror movies that were like love stories, that would be my ultimate genre.” With this statement even the simple question of genre type has been taken to a different level entirely, going for the more intellectual and passionate one.

The song ‘Personal’ explores humanity’s blasé approach when it comes to relationships. The basis of the song takes place on an online dating service with a vain man and an insecure woman. The song exposes society’s weaknesses; we raise up barriers in between those we wish to pursuer relationships with. We never truly mean to, however the end remains the same. This inability to drop our defenses is our downfall, our Achilles’ heel; we cannot have an intimate relationship with nothing but a screen, we need human to human contact. Through the gaps between verses within the song, you get the idea of the pain coursing in the song, of the incapability and hesitancy for a fellow human being to get close to you.

This song speaks out to me because I believe it is universal for everyone. We all have our insecure moments where we downsize ourselves for our physical appearance (…“when you see my face, I hope that you don’t laugh. I’m not a film star beauty… I hope that you don’t laugh”). My opinion of this song is that the male voice does go out to find the woman, but upon seeing her physique, left. The male cannot get past the outer extremities of a person to search within to find the sweet and kind individual. Because of this, I believe the ending voice is the unsaid female voice wondering if it was her fault for being stood up or the man’s fault (“is it you or me? is it you or me?”).

Even the way the verses oscillate between voices, the discrepancies between them can be found. The male voice, Campbell’s, speaks with a cold and calculating tone rubbing off as impersonal and indifferent. Within the first few lines of the female’s response, we learn more about her than we have about the male for the entirety of the song. The woman wears her heart on her sleeve, giving him the opportunity to reject her, but not through ordinary means but by him not even showing up at the café they were supposed to meet at. The male shields himself, protected from heartbreak and inevitably disallowing the one person in that could attempt to free him from his chains.

Rising up against the society’s status quo remains a theme throughout all of Stars’ songs, following the indie pop standards. However the delivery stays fresh and simplistic providing a stark contrast between the heavy thoughtful lyrics. The song title ‘Personal’ could not be any more ironic than it is literal; besides the interpretation that it is named after the fact the song is a personal dating ad, my belief is that it was called this for interpretation. The song stays impersonal because the male refuses to meet the woman halfway, like in all real relationships both parties have to work at it. He doesn’t even reveal his name at any point in the song; he doesn’t reveal anything about himself. How can we be expected to obtain any sort of relationship with no basis of openness? Stars’ true intent and purpose for this song is to show the distance we create between ourselves, that technology can hinder us as much as help us. We may be able to reach people from all over the world, but what is the point if our humanity is lost in the process? “To me, that’s our responsibility in writing pop songs,” says Campbell, “is that no matter how grim it is, it’s your life, and we have to try to make it beautiful for three-and-a-half minutes.”



Lyrics--


[Wanted:]
Single f, under 33, must enjoy the sun, must enjoy the sea

[Sought by single m:]
Mrs.Destiny,
send photo to address,
is it you and me?

[Reply to single m:]
My name is Caroline cell phone number here,
call if you have the time
28 and bored,
grieving over loss,
sorry to be heavy but heavy is the cost, heavy is the cost

[Reply to Caroline:]
Thanks so much for response,
these things can be scary
Not always what you want
How about a drink?
The St.Jude club at noon?
I'll phone you first I guess
I hope I see you soon.

I never got your name,
I assume you're 33
Your voice it sounded kind
I hope that you like me
When you see my face,
I hope that you don't laugh
I'm not a film-star beauty
I sent a photograph
I hope that you don't laugh...

[Note to single m:]
Why did you not show up?
I waited for an hour and finally gave up
I thought once that I saw you,
I thought that you saw me
I guess we'll never meet now
It wasn't meant to be
I was sure that you saw me, but it wasn't meant to be

[Wanted:]
single f, under 33, must enjoy the sun,
must enjoy the sea

[Sought by single m:]
nothing too heavy,
send photo to address
is it you?
or me?