Monstrosity Versus Humanity: An American Definition

Monstrosity versus Humanity:

An American Definition

By: Sheandra Jackson

Monstrosity versus Humanity: An American Definition

Table of Contents

Analytical Cover Letter ....................................................................................................................1

Quality Comparison .........................................................................................................................4

Least Successful Essay… ………...............…….. ..............................................................4

Most Successful Essay .........................................................................................................8

“What’s the Difference?” ...................................................................................................12

Revision Samples ...........................................................................................................................13

Least Successful Essay (with markup) ..............................................................................13

Least Successful Essay (final) ...........................................................................................17

Most Successful Essay (with markup) ...............................................................................21

Most Successful Essay (final) ............................................................................................25

Free Choice Essay (with markup) ......................................................................................29

Free Choice Essay (final) ...................................................................................................34

Page 1

April 30, 2012 Karen Redding Assistant Professor, English/Reading Gainesville State College Oconee Campus 206 Oconee Classroom 1201 Bishop Farms Parkway Watkinsville, GA 30677 Dear Professor Redding, My name is Sheandra Jackson. As I look back at assignments from beginning to end, I can see the progress and improvements I have made in English 1102, not only as a writer, but as a student as well. In this portfolio are pieces of my writing that I have done over the semester. I thought the class was difficult at first, and even thought about dropping your class. I am so happy I decided to stay because I have learned so much by staying. My confident level in my writing skills as grown so much over the semester by being in your class. My portfolio will show evidence of the improvements and progress that I have accomplished as a writer. I started to write paper just to get by, and developed into a writer, who learned how to write well thought pieces of work. In English 1102, I learned how to take my writing to a whole new level. You taught me in English 1102 to write about different topics, revise more effectively, and pay more attention. Your thirty-eight picky rules help me create a well develop and clear paper. Although my pieces are far from perfect, my portfolio will show the hard work I have put into your class. I have used my editing skill that I have improved over the semester to improve some of the pieces I have done in the beginning of the semester. My least successful essay was “Monsters: American Culture is to Blame”. This paper expresses that American culture influences the idea of monsters. The problems I faced with this paper were including unnecessary words and phrases, confusing sentences, commas, punctuations, awkward word choice, and the picky rules. I failed to proof read this paper, which caused most of my problems with grammar errors, and the picky rules. My first mistake I made was failing to develop a detailed thesis statement. I think that a thesis statement is very important because it states the main focus of the paper. Before I changed my thesis statement it stated, “according to articles “Monsters and the Moral Imagination” by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and the Science Fiction Film” by J.P. Telotte, Americans films, books, and television shows influence Americans’ association or responses with monsters” (Jackson, Paper 1). I notice I am missing my main point of my paper in my thesis statement, which is Americans question themselves as humans. My thesis statement should have stated “according to articles “Monsters and the Moral Imagination” by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and the Science Fiction Film” by J.P. Telotte, Americans’ films, books, and television shows influence Americans’ to question themselves as human. In this paper, I struggled with picky rule number twenty-eight. I included the words “how” and “why” a lot throughout the paper. I should never use “how” or “why” in a non-question sentence. Although this paper was not perfect, I did a very good job getting my point across, and including interesting points. This paper made me realize that I was using a template to write my papers because I used the same format in previous papers from other

Page 2

courses. In my portfolio, you will notice the changes I made by carefully proof reading my papers before turning it in. My most successful essay was “Contrasting Points Cannot Get Any Better Than This”. This paper focused on the directors’ talent in No Country for Old Men, to use light in order to portray the contrast between good and evil, weakness and strength, and control versus powerless. Overall, I feel as though paper was done very well. I do not like the title of this paper because I feel as though it could be more creative and direct. For example, “The Power of Light Can Portray so Many Perspectives’” would be a better title for this paper. In this paper I have the same common errors that I had in the least successful paper, but there is less errors in this paper. The common errors included unnecessary words and phrases, confusing sentences, awkward choice of words, and the picky rules. I believe those errors were cause because of my failure to proof read my paper, and trying to stretch my paper to make it longer in length. For example, I stated “the Coen brothers made this choice of lighting to portray Llewleyn’s weakness and tiredness from the chase, so the directors use dark lighting,” instead of just shorting it to say“ the Coen brothers use dark lighting choice shows Llewelyn’s weakness and tiredness from being chase” (Jackson & Masters, Paper 2). As I looked over this paper I notice that I did not completely develop and connect some ideas clearly to my thesis statement. In my portfolio, I have also included a piece of work from a previous course. The name of this essay is “Difficult School Experiences: Social Education”. This essay was about how personal experience affects school experiences. Overall, this paper was solid work, but I failed to proof read my paper once again. I think this paper would have been an A if I corrected my grammar mistakes. The grammar was the biggest problem in this essay. My grammar errors included comma splice, forgetting to add commas, and leaving out words. I left a lot of words out in sentences in this paper. I had a lot of confusing sentences included in this essay. This is proof that I did not reread my paper before I turned to it in. A great example would be this sentence, “for future situations, I have learned that my family is not always the best choice to turn to for academic problems, instead should turn to counselors”. You can see in this sentence that there is a comma splice, and I left out words. I corrected it with this sentence, “for future situations, I have learned that turning to my family is not always the best choice to turn to for academic problems, but instead I should turn to counselors”. The new sentence shows that I have learned a lot from this paper. I correct my paper by rereading my essay multiple times spotting out the grammar mistakes and correcting each and every one. I did show growth this semester by being in your class this semester. With all this improvement and progress, I am still far from being a perfect writer. I am aware that my pieces this semester still need work done to them. I need serious help with grammar issues, I need to take my time to proof read, and revise my pieces before turning them in. In all of my papers, I struggled with grammar issues and proof reading. I also added unnecessary word, phrases, and information in all of my pieces. I know I have improved overall in your class by looking at my graded work. My grades have improved, in the beginning I was receiving grades of seventies, and by the end of class I was receiving grades of nineties. I didn’t expect to receive one-hundreds because my work is far from prefect, but I did at least improve. I think I am fully capable of receiving an A in your class, but I think I got too comfortable with doing just enough to pass. English 1102 have made me realize how important it is to proof read my work. I think the experience in your class

Page 3

had done much more than improve my writing, but it has improved my experience as a college student as well. I am so much more confident with my writing skills because I know if I really try that I can get a really good grade. I am so happy to see my improvements that I have made over the semester. I think I did very good job showing my creativity as a writer, and taking the time to explore different topics. Thank you for taking the time to read my portfolio. I have enjoyed your class. Sincerely, Sheandra Jackson

Page 4

Sheandra Jackson

English 1102/ Redding

Paper 1

31 January 2012

Monsters: American Culture is to Blame

American monster films, books, and television shows influences and shape

Americans’ creativity, imagination, and increases interest in science. The discussion of monsters

can be vice versa because monsters influence American culture, and American culture influences

monsters. Historically, monsters have always been apart of American culture. Throughout

history, Americans have changed stories around in details to keep them more appealing and

modern. American monster films, books, and television shows influences monsters because

human artifice keeps Americans interested in science fiction films. Monster films, books, and

television shows influence Americans to question themselves as humans. Americans begun to

realize the only difference between them and monsters are their appearances. In the articles,

“Monsters and the Moral Imagination” by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and the Science

Fiction Film” by J.P. Telotte exposed why monsters exist in our modern culture and why they

still exist passed American ancestors. According to articles “Monsters and the Moral

Imagination” by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and the Science Fiction Film” by J.P.

Telotte, American films, books, and television shows influence Americans’ association or

responses with monsters.

In the article, “Human Artifice and the Science Fiction Film”, the author, J.P.

Telotte, discusses how human creativity and science fiction film influence each other. J.P.

Telotte also describes how humans are affected by science fiction film. The article shows how

Page 5

science fiction films increase human interest and attitude towards science. The author begins his

paper by basically stating the most recent important films have the same theme or recurring

subject, which is "the potential doubling of the human body"(Telotte). The exact word the

Telotte used was "motif". A doubling of the body would be considered a monster in modern

films, books, and television shows. These recent films increased American interest in science

because it influences human cloning. Throughout the article, Telotte is trying to get across that

Americans films influence Americans to question what make them human. Americans begin to

evaluate not only the world, but also others and themselves. American films influence Americans

to look at life from the outside in, and see that there is no difference between Americans and

monsters beyond their appearance.

In the article, “Monsters and the Moral Imagination”, the author, Stephen T. Asma

draws attention to the morals of pass and current concepts behind the monster theme. The article

is an attempt to define cultural interest in monsters in the 21st century. Monster stories influence

individual's thoughts in certain situation that may never happen. For an example, the movie I am

Legend directed by Francis Lawrence and starting Will Smith is a situation that will never

happen. In the movie, everyone was affected then later became vampires. Will Smith’s character

was the only survivor, and he tried to find other humans who could have possibly survived. The

movie seemed real because Americans could relate to how Will Smith character made them feel,

so it caused Americans to believe the situation could happen. “What has caused this increase in

the monster culture? Why are so many Americans interested in monster stories and movies”

(Asma)? Currently, there could be many possible answers to the two questions above. For

example, "maybe it's social anxiety in the post 9/11 decade, or the conflict in Iraq" (Asma).

There is no exact answer to the questions because every American is not the same. "We are

Page 6

vulnerable to both the inner and the outer forces" (Asma). Americans are addicted to monster

movies because they can relate to the characters in the movies. Americans are different, for what

one might consider a monster others may not. "Monsters are a part of our attempt to envision the

good life or at least the secure life"(Asma). This quote is a good example that explains why

monsters influence American culture.

The two articles explain why monsters are an important part of American culture, such as

films, books, and television shows. Monsters influence so much more than fear in a human

beings, they influence Americans creativity and interest in science. American creativity keeps

Americans interested in monster films, books, and television shows. Americans are consistently

coming up with new ideas of monsters to replace other monsters. For example, The Hulk film is

a modern remake of Frankenstein film. The two articles “Monsters and the Moral Imagination”

by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and the "Science Fiction Film” by J.P. Telotte, are eye

openers that reveal American films, books, and television shows influence Americans’

association or responses with monsters.

Page 7

Word Cited

Asma, Stephen. “Monsters and the Moral Imagination”. 25 October 2009. Print.

Telotte, J.P. “Human Artifice and the Science Fiction Film”. Film Quarterly, Vol. 36. No. 3

Spring 1983: 44-51. Web. 17 January 2012

Page 8

Jamee Masters & Sheandra Jackson


Paper 2

28 February 2012

Contrasting Points Can Not Get Any Better Then This

Directors of No Country for Old Men, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen are Academy Award

winners for Best Directing Oscars. The directors used their talent in this violent and mayhem

film, No Country for Old Men to create a thrill, suspenseful, and tense mood. In No Country for

Old Men, the Coens use lighting in order to portray the contrast between good and evil, and weak

and strong, and control and no control.

The Coen brothers use the contrast of lighting to show the contrast between weak and

strong. At first glance, Llewelyn can barley seen in the darkness in this particular scene. The

newly arrive Mexicans began to chase Llewlyn, the lighting starts off dark and then gradually

brighten as the sun begins to rise. The lighting of the scene at this time is coming from the truck

chasing Llewelyn. The Coen brothers made this choice of lighting to portray Llewelyn’s

weakness and tiredness from the chase, so the directors use dark lighting. He is running for his

life. As the scene begins to brighten, Llewelyn becomes able to get further away from the

Mexican drug dealers. By the end of the scene, the directors show the fully risen sun, so

Llewelyn can be seen in the natural sunlight showing anger, fear, and triumph after shooting the

dog. At this point of the scene, the Coens use bright lighting to portray Llewelyn finding his

inner strength Llewelyn’s personality heightens to a stronger level after shooting the dog, which

explains the brightness of the scene.

Page 9

During the same scene, the Coens use light and dark to show good and evil.At first, the

Coens make it difficult to pin point whether Llewelyn portrays an evil or good character. The

raising and falling of the sun causes eerie long shadows of Llewelyn. The Coens use the eerie

shadows to give Llewelyn both evil and good character lighting. At the end of the scene, the

directors shows who Llewelyn portrays, after he murders the dog because he was being nice by

going to the desert to bring one of the drug dealers water.

The Coens use several scenes where light to dark establishes a sense of strength and

weakness. The scene where Llewelyn crosses the Mexican border at night shows his lack of

strength because the setting appears pitch black except for the hint of the street lamps barely

showing the dark crimson blood exuding from his body. His injury sustained by Chigurh causes

him to vomit next to the barely lit streetlight, which demonstrates darkness as Llewelyn

dangerously tries to get away from Chigurh. In the next shot, the rising of the sun shows strength

because Llewelyn survives yet again after appearing half dead near a church in Mexico. The

Coens show the sun rising to portray that Llewelyn is not fully recovered from his injuries. The

directors use darkness to symbolize weakness, loneliness, and fear.

The Coen brothers use lighting to show the contrast good and evil in the scene where

Chigurh blows up the pharmacy. In this scene, the natural illumination shows his expression as

being angry, vengeful and in pain from the battle with Llewelyn. The scene appears bright to

portray Chigurh, the evil person as being strong. The Coens also use this scene to demonstrate

the horror and fear portrayed from the customers in the pharmacy.

In No Country for Old Men, the Coens use bright lighting to portray a sense of power and

control. The Coens use bright sunlit lighting in the Sheriff scene to show the strength,

empowerment, and control the Sheriff has, and his intelligence is displayed by watching his

Page 10

expressions on his face while he analyzes what has happened and showing the details of all the

dead bodies lying on the ground. The sheriff was able to find evidence in the bright light, which

provides evidence of the bright scene. The harsh desert lighting casts shadows off of the

people.The reason the Coens choose the harsh lighting on the dead people is to show they were

“the bad guys”. The Coens use the bight lighting of the sun to show that the sheriff was in

control and was the “good guy” trying to figure out what happened in this desert and continuing

the search for Chigurh.

In the shoot out scene, the Coens use gave little lighting visual to Anton Chigurh, who

shows emotionless, demonic, and immoral characteristics. The directors make it harder to see

Chigurh in the shoot out, so Chigurh is easier to slip away in the distance. The use of street

lighting casting on Llewellyn is important because it displays the concern on Lewelyn’s face

while hiding beside the car in the dark away from Anton, the killing machine. The Coens choice

of soft lighting giving off from the streetlights allows focusing on certain details. For example,

the trail of blood from Anton can be seen with great detail with the help of the streetlights. The

directors did this to make the where about of Anton difficult to figure out.

In conclusion, the Coens use of natural lighting, and the details of street lighting brought

out the realism in the movie, and set the mood of the film. The directors compelling

cinematography and emphasis on the use of shadowing, light, and dark contrast to depict the

despair in the characters emotions to give this movie the perfect atmosphere. They use the light

and darkness to increase the suspense, and represents good and evil that takes place in each

character. “The cinematography is the heart the art of telling a story using light and dark”

(Antagony and Ecstasy).

Page 11

What’s the Difference?

For my most successful essay, I chose “Contrasting Points Can Not Get Any Better Than

This.” This essay was over the film “No Country for Old Men.” My essay cover the directors

approach to use light in order to portray the contrast between good and evil, weakness and

strength, and control and powerless. I explained how the directors used natural lighting, dim

lighting, bright lighting, and darkness to portray different qualities of the characters. I used

different scenes from the film as examples, in which the directors use lighting in different

perspectives. My essay covered the reason why the directors choose their choice of lighting and

what they were trying to portray in each character.

My least successful essay was “Monster: American Culture is to Blame.” In this essay I

compared two articles finding a common topic among the two in order to write this essay. In this

essay I wanted to prove that the audiences of American films, books, and television shows

influence the responses to monsters forcing them to question themselves as human beings. I used

the articles “Monsters and the Moral Imagination” by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and

the Science Fiction Film” by J.P. Telotte, as an example of why we should blame American

films, books, and television show for the affects that monsters have on Americans. I also used

modern examples of films like Hulk, I am Legend, and I-Robot.

Comparing these two essays, I realize why my most successful paper was much better

than my least successful paper. My grades were not that much of a different. I scored three points

higher on my most successful essay. The main differences in my essays were my thesis

statements. My most successful essay had the strongest thesis statement. The thesis statement

was well developed and creative. I struggled more with grammar in my most successful essay,

but I struggled more with the thirty-eight picky rules in my least successful essay. I think I did

Page 12

better on my most successful essay because I constantly tied my ideas to my thesis statement

making it the stronger and well-developed essay.

Page 13

Sheandra Jackson


Paper 1

31 January 2012


American monster films, books, and television shows influences and shape Americans’

creativity, imagination, and increases interest in science. The question is whether monsters influence

Americans or if Americans influence monsters? The discussion of monsters can be vice versa because

monsters influence American culture, and American culture influences monsters. Historically, monsters

started long ago in have always been apart of American culture with book like Beowulf and

Frankenstein. Throughout history, Americans have changed stories around in details to keep them more

appealing and modern. For example, The Hulk is a modern version of the story of

Frankenstein. American monster films, books, and television shows influences monsters because

human artifice keeps Americans interested in science fiction films. In other words, Americans’ creativity

keeps them interested in science fiction films. Monster films, books, and television shows influence

Americans to question themselves as humans. Americans begun to realize the only difference between

them and monsters are their appearances. In the articles, “Monsters and the Moral Imagination” by

Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and the Science Fiction Film” by J.P. Telotte exposed why reasons

monsters exist in our modern culture and the reasonswhy they still exist passed American ancestors.

According to articles “Monsters and the Moral Imagination” by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and

the Science Fiction Film” by J.P. Telotte, Americans’ films, books, and television shows influence their

audience to respond by questioning themselves as humansAmericans’ association or responses with

monsters.

Formatted: Left: 1", Right: 1"

Formatted: Indent: First line: 0.5"

Formatted: Font: Italic

Formatted: Font: Italic

Comment [SJ1]: I made a very good point here. I want my readers to question themselves as they read my paper.

Comment [SJ2]: Picky Rule # 28 was my biggest problem writing this paper!

Page 14

In theTo begin with article, article, “Human Artifice and the Science Fiction Film”, the

author, J.P. Telotte, discusses the fact that how human creativity and science fiction film influence each

other. J.P. Telotte also describes howexplains the influences of science fiction film affect humans.

humans are affected by science fiction film. The article Telotte shows howbelieves science fiction films

increase human interest and attitude towards science. The author begins his paper by basically stating

the most recent important films have the same theme or recurring subject, which is "the potential

doubling of the human body"(Telotte). The exact word the Telotte used was "motif". A doubling of the

body would be considered a monster in modern films, books, and television shows because clones are

beyond society’s’ definition of “normal”. . These recent films increased American interest in science

because it influences human cloning. Telotte believes that American film influence their audiences to

question what make them human. Throughout the article, Telotte is trying to get across that Americans

films influence Americans to question what make them human. Americans The audiences begin to

evaluate not only the world, but also others and themselves. American films influence Americans

audiences to look at life from the outside in, and see that there is no difference between Americans and

monsters beyond their appearance.

In theTo put in differently, article, “Monsters and the Moral Imagination”, the author, Stephen

T. Asma draws attention to the morals of pass and current concepts behind the monster theme. The

article is an attempt to define cultural interest in monsters in the 21st century. Monster stories influences

an e individual's thoughts in certain situation that may never happen.make believe situations. For an

example, the movie I am Legend directed by Francis Lawrence and starting Will Smith is a situationan

example of a that film that will never happen. In the movie, everyone was infected affected then later

became vampires. Will Smith’s character was the only survivor, and he tried to find other humans who

could have possibly survived. The movie seemed real because Americans could relate to the feeling of

Comment [SJ3]: I wanted to rewrite this sentence to take out picky rule number 28.

Comment [SJ4]: I think this sounds a lot better than what I had the first time.

Comment [SJ5]: I took out the sentence because it was not important. This the sentence was an attempt to make the paper a little longer.

Comment [SJ6]: This is an example of my failure to proof read my papers.

Page 15

being scared that the how Will Smith character Will Smith played made them feel, so it caused

Americans to believe the situation could happen. The audiences were forced to ask themselves these two

questions “wWhat has caused this increase in the monster culture and? wWhy are so many Americans

interested in monster stories and movies” (Asma), which made them question themselves as being

human.? Currently, there could be many possible answers to the two questions above. For example,

"maybe it's social anxiety in the post 9/11 decade, or the conflict in Iraq" (Asma). There is no exact

answer to the questions because every American is not the same. Every audience member has a different

perspective of monsters, so an exact answer to these question would be impossible. Asma explains

science fiction films influence audiences because, “w"We are vulnerable to both the inner and the outer

forces" (Asma). For example, Americans audiences are addicted to monster movies because they can

relate to the characters in the movies. Americans are different, forNot all audience members are the

same, for what one might consider a monster others may not. "Monsters are a part of our attempt to

envision the good life or at least the secure life"(Asma). This quote is a good example that explains why


Comparing the two articles I found that both article are very similar. They both explain why

monsters are an important part of American culture, such as films, books, and television shows.

Monsters influence so much more than fear in a human beings, they influence Americans creativity and

interest in science. American creativity keeps Americans interested in monster films, books, and

television shows. Americans are consistently coming up with new ideas of monsters to replace other

monsters. For example, The Hulk film is a modern remake of Frankenstein film. The two articles

“Monsters and the Moral Imagination” by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and the "Science Fiction

Film” by J.P. Telotte, are eye openers that reveal American films, books, and television shows influence

Americans’ association or responses with monsters.

Comment [SJ7]: I fixed the dropped quote by adding who is speaking and why it matter.

Page 16

Word Cited




Page 17

Sheandra Jackson


Paper 1

31 January 2012


American monster films, books, and television shows influences and shape Americans’

creativity, imagination, and increases interest in science. The question is whether monsters influence

Americans or if Americans influence monsters? Historically, monsters started long ago in American

culture with book like Beowulf and Frankenstein. Throughout history, Americans have changed stories

around in details to keep them more appealing and modern. For example, The Hulk is a modern version

of the story of Frankenstein. American monster films, books, and television shows influences monsters

because human artifice keeps Americans interested in science fiction films. In other words, Americans’

creativity keeps them interested in science fiction films. Monster films, books, and television shows

influence Americans to question themselves as humans. Americans begun to realize the only difference

between them and monsters are their appearances. In the articles, “Monsters and the Moral Imagination”

by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and the Science Fiction Film” by J.P. Telotte exposed reasons

monsters exist in our modern culture and the reasons they still exist passed American ancestors.

According to articles “Monsters and the Moral Imagination” by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and

the Science Fiction Film” by J.P. Telotte, Americans’ films, books, and television shows influence their

audience to respond by questioning themselves as humans.

To begin with, article, “Human Artifice and the Science Fiction Film”, J.P. Telotte,

discusses the fact that human creativity and science fiction film influence each other. J.P. Telotte

explains the influences of science fiction film affect humans. Telotte believes science fiction films

Page 18

increase human interest and attitude towards science. The author begins his paper by stating the most

recent important films have the same theme or recurring subject, which is "the potential doubling of the

human body"(Telotte). A doubling of the body would be considered a monster in modern films, books,

and television shows because clones are beyond society’s’ definition of “normal”. . These recent films

increased American interest in science because it influences human cloning. Telotte believes that

American film influence their audiences to question what make them human. The audiences begin to

evaluate not only the world, but also others and themselves. American films influence audiences to look

at life from the outside in, and see that there is no difference between Americans and monsters beyond

their appearance.

To put in differently, article, “Monsters and the Moral Imagination”, the author, Stephen T.

Asma draws attention to the morals of pass and current concepts behind the monster theme. The article

is an attempt to define cultural interest in monsters in the 21st century. Monster stories influences an

individual's thoughts in make believe situations. For an example, the movie I am Legend directed by

Francis Lawrence and starting Will Smith is an example of that film that will never happen. In the

movie, everyone was infected then later became vampires. Will Smith’s character was the only survivor,

and he tried to find other humans who could have possibly survived. The movie seemed real because

Americans could relate to the feeling of being scared that the character Will Smith played made them

feel, so it caused Americans to believe the situation could happen. The audiences were forced to ask

themselves these two questions “what has caused this increase in the monster culture, and why are so

many Americans interested in monster stories and movies” (Asma), and that made them question

themselves as being human. Currently, there could be many possible answers to the two questions

above. For example, "maybe it's social anxiety in the post 9/11 decade, or the conflict in Iraq" (Asma).

Every audience member has a different perspective of monsters, so an exact answer to these questions

Page 19

would be impossible. Asma explains science fiction films influence audiences because, “we are

vulnerable to both the inner and the outer forces" (Asma). For example, audiences are addicted to

monster movies because they can relate to the characters in the movies. Not all audience members are

the same, for what one might consider a monster others may not. "Monsters are a part of our attempt to

envision the good life or at least the secure life"(Asma). This quote is a good example that explains why


Comparing the two articles, I found that both article are very similar. They both explain why

monsters are an important part of American culture, such as films, books, and television shows.

Monsters influence so much more than fear in a human beings, they influence Americans creativity and

interest in science. American creativity keeps Americans interested in monster films, books, and

television shows. Americans are consistently coming up with new ideas of monsters to replace other

monsters. For example, The Hulk film is a modern remake of Frankenstein film. The two articles

“Monsters and the Moral Imagination” by Stephen Asma and “Human Artifice and the "Science Fiction

Film” by J.P. Telotte, are eye openers that reveal American films, books, and television shows influence

Americans’ association or responses with monsters.

Page 20

Word Cited




Page 21

Formatted: Right, Right: 0.25"



Paper 2

28 February 2012 The Power of Light Can Portray so Many Perspectives

The Contrasting Points Can Not Get Any Better Then This

dDirectors of No Country for Old Men, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen are Academy Award winners

for Best Directing Oscars.The directors used their talent in this violent and mayhem-filled film, No

Country for Old Men to create a thrill, suspenseful, and tense mood. In No Country for Old Men, the

Coens use lighting in order to portray the contrast between good and evil, and weakness and

strengthong, and control and no controland powerless.

On the contrary, the Coen brothers use a very interesting way to portray the contrast between

weakness and strength. the The Coens use the source of light in the film to represent the weakness and

strength of characters. contrast of lighting to show the contrast between weak and strong. At first glance,

Llewelyn can barley is barley seen in the darkness in this particular scene. The newly arrive Mexicans

began to chase Llewlyn in to the break of dawn as the sun began to rise. , the lighting starts off dark and

then gradually brighten as the sun begins to rise. The lighting of the scene at this time is coming from

the truck chasing Llewelyn. The Coen brothers use the dark lighting choice to show Llewelyn’s as being weak and tired from being chase made this choice of lighting to portray Llewelyn’s weakness

and tiredness from the chase, so the directors use dark lighting. He is running for his life. As the scene

begins to brighten, Llewelyn becomes able to gets further away from the Mexican drug dealers. By the

end of the scene, the directors show the fully risen sun, so Llewelyn can be seen in the natural sunlight

showing anger, fear, and triumph after shooting the dog. At this point in of the scene, the Coens use

Comment [SJ1]: Off to a very good start!Comment [SJ2]: Thesis statement is very interesting.

Comment [SJ3]: I love this sentence.

Page 22


bright lighting to portray Llewelyn finding his inner strength. Llewelyn’s personality heightens to a

stronger level gains confident after shooting the dog, which explains the brightness of the scene.

During the same scene, the Coens use light and dark to show good and evil. At first, the Coens

make it difficult to pin point whether Llewelyn portrays an evil or good character. The raising and

falling of the sun causes eerie long shadows of Llewelyn. The Coens use the eerie shadows to give

Llewelyn both evil and good character lighting. At the end of the scene, the directors shows bright

lighting as who Llewelyn goes to save his wife from the people chasing him after he shot the dog.

portrays, after he murders the dog because he was being nice by going to the desert to bring one

of the drug dealers water.

In the same way, the Coens use several scenes where light to dark establishes a sense of strength

and weakness. The scene where Llewelyn crosses the Mexican border at night shows his lack of strength

because the setting appears pitch black except for the hint of the street lamps barely showing the dark

crimson blood exuding from his body. His injury sustained caused by Chigurh causes him to vomit next

to the barely lit streetlight, which demonstrates darkness as Llewelyn dangerously tries to get away from

Chigurh. In the next shot, the rising of the sun shows strength because Llewelyn survives yet again after

appearing half dead near a church in Mexico. The Coens show the sun rising to portray that Llewelyn

Llewelyn during dawn rather than a fully lit scene to portray is notLlewleyn is not fully recovered from

his injuries. The reasons the directors use darkness this choice because they wanted to symbolize

weakness, loneliness, and fear.

With good intentions, tThe Coen brothers use lighting to show the contrast good and evil in the

scene where Chigurh blows up the pharmacy. In this scene, the natural illumination shows his

expression as being angry, vengeful and in pain from the battle with Llewelyn. The Coens use natural

lighting in this scene to portray Chigurh as being the victim because Llwelyn hurt him. The scene also

Comment [SJ4]: Great transitional phrase.

Page 23


appears bright to portray Chigurh, the evil person as being strong because he is able to get the supplies

he needs by blowing a car up.. The Coens also use this scene to demonstrate the horror and fear

portrayed from the customers in the pharmacy.


control. The Coens use bright sunlit lighting in the Sheriff scene to show the strength, empowerment,

and control the Sheriff has, and his intelligence is displayed by watching his expressions on his face

while he analyzes what has happened and showing the details of all the dead bodies lying on the ground.

The sheriff was able to find evidence in the bright light, which provides evidence of the bright scene.The

harsh desert lighting casts shadows off of the people. The reason the Coens choose the harsh lighting on

the dead people is to show they were “the bad guys”. The harsh lighting provided shadows on the dead

bodies portraying them as being evil because the dead people were drug dealers. The Coens use the

bight lighting of the sun to show that the sheriff was in control and was the “good guy” trying to figure

out what happened in this desert and continuing the search for Chigurh.

In the shoot out scene, the Coens use gave little lighting visual to Anton Chigurh, who shows

emotionless, demonic, and immoral characteristics. The directors make it harder to see Chigurh in the

shoot out, so Chigurh is easier to slip away in the distancecould lose Llwelyn. The use of street lighting

casting on Llewelyn is important because it displays the concern on Lewelyn’s face while hiding beside

the car in the dark away from Anton, the killing machine. The Coens choice of soft lighting giving off

from the streetlights allows focusing on certain details. For example, the trail of blood from Anton

Chigurh can be seen with great detail with the help of the streetlights. The directors did this to make the

where about of Anton Chigurh difficult to figure out. This is important because the use of the streetlight

and the soft lighting in this dark scene portrayed Chigurh as the one who is weak and helpless at this

point in the film.

Page 24


In conclusionContrasting, the Coens use of natural lighting, and the details of street lighting, we

found that lighting in this film brought out the realism in the movie, and set the mood of the film. The

directors compelling cinematography and emphasis on the use of shadowing, light, and dark contrast to

depict the despair in the characters emotions to give this movie the perfect atmosphere. They use the

light and darkness to increase the suspense, and represents good and evil that takes place in each

character..“The cinematography is the heart the art of telling a story using light and dark” (Antagony and

Ecstasy).

. Word Cited No County for Old Men. Directors Ethan Coen & Joel Coen. Perf. Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Barden, &Josh Brolin. Miramax, 2007. Film Formatted: Centered

Formatted: Indent: First line: 0.5"

Page 25



Paper 2

28 February 2012 The Power of Light Can Portray so Many Perspectives

The directors of No Country for Old Men, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen are Academy Award

winners for Best Directing The directors used their talent in this violent and mayhem-filled film, No

Country for Old Men to create a suspenseful, and tense mood. In No Country for Old Men, the Coens

use lighting in order to portray the contrast between good and evil, weakness and strength, and control

and powerless.

On the contrary, the Coen brothers use a very interesting way to portray the contrast between

weakness and strength. The Coens use the source of light in the film to represent the weakness and

strength of characters. At first glance, Llewelyn is barley seen in the darkness in this particular scene.

The newly arrive Mexicans began to chase Llewlyn in to the break of dawn as the sun began to rise. The

lighting of the scene at this time is coming from the truck chasing Llewelyn. The Coen brothers use the dark lighting choice to show Llewelyn’s as being weak and tired from being chase He is running for

his life. As the scene begins to brighten, Llewelyn gets further away from the Mexican drug dealers. By

the end of the scene, the directors show the fully risen sun, so Llewelyn can be seen in the natural

sunlight showing anger, fear, and triumph after shooting the dog. At this point in the scene, the Coens

use bright lighting to portray Llewelyn finding his inner strength. Llewelyn’s personality gains confident

after shooting the dog, which explains the brightness of the scene.

During the same scene, the Coens use light and dark to show good and evil. At first, the Coens

make it difficult to pin point whether Llewelyn portrays an evil or good character. The raising and

Page 26

falling of the sun causes eerie long shadows of Llewelyn. The Coens use the eerie shadows to give

Llewelyn both evil and good character lighting. At the end of the scene, the directors shows bright

lighting as Llewelyn goes to save his wife from the people chasing him after he shot the dog.

In the same way, the Coens use several scenes where light to dark establishes a sense of strength

and weakness. The scene where Llewelyn crosses the Mexican border at night shows his lack of strength

because the setting appears pitch black except for the hint of the street lamps barely showing the dark

crimson blood exuding from his body. His injury caused by Chigurh causes him to vomit next to the

barely lit streetlight, which demonstrates darkness as Llewelyn dangerously tries to get away from

Chigurh. In the next shot, the rising of the sun shows strength because Llewelyn survives yet again after

appearing half dead near a church in Mexico. The Coens show Llewelyn during dawn rather than a fully

lit scene to portray Llewleyn is not fully recovered from his injuries. The reasons the directors use this

choice because they wanted to symbolize weakness, loneliness, and fear.

With good intentions, the Coen brothers use lighting to show the contrast good and evil in the

scene where Chigurh blows up the pharmacy. In this scene, the natural illumination shows his

expression as being angry, vengeful and in pain from the battle with Llewelyn. The Coens use natural

lighting in this scene to portray Chigurh as being the victim because Llwelyn hurt him. The scene also

appears bright to portray Chigurh, the evil person as being strong because he is able to get the supplies

he needs by blowing a car up.


control. The Coens use bright sunlit lighting in the Sheriff scene to show the strength, empowerment,

and control the Sheriff has, and his intelligence is displayed by watching his expressions on his face

while he analyzes what has happened and showing the details of all the dead bodies lying on the ground.

The harsh desert lighting casts shadows off of the people. The reason the Coens choose the harsh

Page 27

lighting on the dead people is to show they were “the bad guys”. The harsh lighting provided shadows

on the dead bodies portraying them as being evil because the dead people were drug dealers. The Coens

use the bight lighting of the sun to show that the sheriff was in control and was the “good guy” trying to

figure out what happened in this desert and continuing the search for Chigurh.

In the shoot out scene, the Coens use gave little lighting visual to Anton Chigurh, who shows

emotionless, demonic, and immoral characteristics. The directors make it harder to see Chigurh in the

shoot out, so Chigurh could lose Llwelyn. The use of street lighting casting on Llewelyn is important

because it displays the concern on Lewelyn’s face while hiding beside the car in the dark away from

Anton, the killing machine. The Coens choice of soft lighting giving off from the streetlights allows

focusing on certain details. For example, the trail of blood from Chigurh can be seen with great detail

with the help of the streetlights. The directors did this to make the where about of Chigurh difficult to

figure out. This is important because the use of the streetlight and the soft lighting in this dark scene

portrayed Chigurh as the one who is weak and helpless at this point in the film.

Contrasting the Coens use of natural lighting, and the details of street lighting, we found that lighting in

this film brought out the realism in the movie, and set the mood of the film. The directors compelling

cinematography and emphasis on the use of shadowing, light, and dark contrast to depict the despair in

the characters emotions to give this movie the perfect atmosphere. They use the light and darkness to

increase the suspense, and represents good and evil that takes place in each character. .

Page 28

Word Cited No County for Old Men. Directors Ethan Coen & Joel Coen. Perf. Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Barden, &Josh Brolin. Miramax, 2007. Film

Page 29

Sheandra Jackson

Professor Horton

English 1101

03 November 2011

Difficult School Experiences: Social Education

Louis Menand, author of the article “Live and Learn,” observed the differences between

college students who attend public university versus college students who attend private

institutions. After Louis Menand was fired from the private institution, he got a job at a public

university. While working at the public university he noticed, “Many of these Students were the

first in their family to attend college, and any distractions they had were not social. Many of

them worked, and some had complicated family responsibilities.” After reading the quote, I

reflected on the increasing number of college students being the first to attend college in their

families, and how this might affect their college experience. In particular, the quote made me

focus on my experience as being the first member of my family to attend college. I believe being

the first person in a family to attend college affects that person successfulness in college. Being

the first member in my family to attend college, I can’t always depend on my family to help me

in difficult situations, dealinglike dealing with academics problems. For example, I can’t come

to any of my family members with academic problems because they do not have any experience

to lend advice.

School has always been an important part of my life. I have always been an advance, well

prepared, and honor roll student. I have never failed a class, attended in school suspension, or

been expelled from school. My life as a student took a turn for the worse with the devastating

death of my grandmother. My grandmother and I had a very close bond, and her death impacted

Page 30

my work at school dramatically. My grades grades senior year began to drop because my life

seemed to be at pause, while yet everything around me was still going on. I did not know how to

handle the death of my grandmother, and deal with my academics at the same time. At this time

of my high school education, I was taking very difficult college-level classes, including

advanced economics, advanced statistics, and advanced chemistry. Being in an emotional wreck,

I refused to attend school., which madeThis made me fall behind in my classes because I missed

class lessons, chapters, projects, and major tests. I realized I need help because I had no

motivation to get my academics grades where I need them to be. For future situations, I have

learned that my family is not always the best choice to turn to for academic problems, but instead

I should turn to counselors.

I am lucky to have people in my family available to help me with the death of my

grandmother. My family helped me more emotionally than academically. They could not help

me academically because no one in my family had been through any educational experience to

know what I was going through, in order to give me any academic advice. My mother had gotten

pregnant with me at a very young age, and because of that she decided to dropped out high

school her freshman year. She attempted to return to high school only to drop out again her

sophomore year due to the fact because she was pregnant with my brother. She did not return to

school afterwards. My father, aunts, and uncles dropped out of high school because of negative

influences. Many of them got involved into drugs, gang banging, and hanging out in the streets.

My families helped with me more emotionally by helping me cope with the death of my

grandmother. They helped me accept the death. My family helped me express the feelings I had

built inside. I am very grateful for the their help I received emotionally, but I needed help

Page 31

academically. I knew eventually I would get over my grandmother death, but I only get one

chance to walk across the stage to get my diploma with my graduating class.

The person I turned to in order to help me academically was my school guidance

counselor. Going back to school was difficult for me without wanting to give up. I was very far

behind in my classes, and I missed a lot of important information that played a big part in my

grades. I missed research projects, midterm testing, and notes from class sessions. My guidance

counselor gave me a call one afternoon, and we had a deep conversation about my future

educational goals. That conversation we had that day encouraged me to go back to school. After

that conversation on the phone, I meet with my guidance counselor at least twice a week to

discuss how well my academics were going. We discussed not only how to raise my academic

status to a level that would qualify me to graduate, but also how to raise my grades to qualify for

the Hope Scholarship. My guidance counselor encouraged me to talk to my teacher, and let them

know what going on in my life. It was difficult finding tutors to help with catch up with my

school work, but somehow my guidance counselor when went over and beyond to find someone

to help me.

It may come surprising to people that I had turn to my school guidance counselor for help

academically from somethingfor something that evolved from a family issue, but my

grandmother death turned into an academic issue because it affected my academics goals. It

made me realize, we as people chose different people for different situations. I need my family’s

help emotionally because I was down, angry, and borderline depressed with the death of my

grandmother. My family was the right choice to help deal with the emotional aspect because I

was not the only person to lose someone special special because everyone in my family lost the

same person. We all shared our emotions, and were able to give advice and encourage one

Page 32

another to help cope with the death. The academic aspect was not perfect choice for me to

choose my family. From the For academic aspect help, my school reached out to me. I am

grateful that my guidance counselor reached out to me because if it was not for her, I probably

would not have succeeded as much as I have in continuing my education. I had giving up with

school, and said it was not possible for me to catch up with a passing grade of at least a C. My

guidance counselor was beneficial with helping me with my academics help was beneficial

because she had experience, and training with dealing with these types of circumstances.

What an experience to finish my high school education? I was able to get though the

tough moment with the help of my guidance counselor. Even now as a college student, I am

seeking help of a guidance counselor at school. I am having trouble with keeping up my

academic performance because of family issues. My family can’t help me because at some extent

they are the problem. The problem is beginning to affect my academics at an early stage of my

college career. Now that I am a college student, my school work is more intense, so I have no

room to mess up. My life at home places a lot of pressure on my shoulders. I have to work a lot

in order to make enough money to provide for my family as well as , and do all of doing my

school work. The situation is causing me a lot of stress. Once again, I am turning to a guidance

counselor for help. The quote in Louis Menand article, “Many of these Students were the first in

their family to attend college, and any distractions they had were not social. Many of them

worked, and some had complicated family responsibilities,” helped me come to the conclusion

that some issuesthe issues I deal with its ok for me to cause me to reach out for help. With me

being the first person in my family to attend college, academically my family could not help me

and I am ok okay with that.

Comment [GSC1]: This sentence was confusing. To correct it I took out some of the words, and make it a simple and easier sentence to read.

Page 33

Word Cited

Menand, Louis. “Live and Learn.” The New Yorker Magazine. The New Yorker Company, 6

June 2011. Web. 23 October 2011

Formatted: Centered

Formatted: Indent: First line: 0"

Formatted: Left, Indent: First line: 0"

Page 34

Sheandra Jackson

Professor Horton

English 1101

03 November 2011

Difficult School Experiences: Social Education

Louis Menand, author of the article “Live and Learn,” observed the differences between

college students who attend public university versus college students who attend private

institutions. After Louis Menand was fired from the private institution, he got a job at a public

university. While working at the public university he noticed, “Many of these Students were the

first in their family to attend college, and any distractions they had were not social. Many of

them worked, and some had complicated family responsibilities.” After reading the quote, I

reflected on the increasing number of college students being the first to attend college in their

families, and how this might affect their college experience. In particular, the quote made me

focus on my experience as being the first member of my family to attend college. I believe being

the first person in a family to attend college affects that person successfulness in college. Being

the first member in my family to attend college, I can’t always depend on my family to help me

in difficult situations, like dealing with academics problems. For example, I can’t come to any of

my family members with academic problems because they do not have any experience to lend

advice.

School has always been an important part of my life. I have always been an advance, well

prepared, and honor roll student. I have never failed a class, attended in school suspension, or

been expelled from school. My life as a student took a turn for the worse with the devastating

death of my grandmother. My grandmother and I had a very close bond, and her death impacted

Page 35

my work at school dramatically. My grades senior year began to drop because my life seemed to

be at pause, yet everything around me was still going on. I did not know how to handle the death

of my grandmother, and deal with my academics at the same time. At this time of my high

school education, I was taking very difficult college-level classes, including advanced

economics, advanced statistics, and advanced chemistry. Being in an emotional wreck, I refused

to attend school. This made me fall behind in my classes because I missed class lessons,

chapters, projects, and major tests. I realized I need help because I had no motivation to get my

academics grades where I need them to be. For future situations, I have learned that my family is

not always the best choice to turn to for academic problems, but instead I should turn to

counselors.

I am lucky to have people in my family available to help me with the death of my

grandmother. My family helped me more emotionally than academically. They could not help

me academically because no one in my family had been through any educational experience to

know what I was going through, in order to give me any academic advice. My mother had gotten

pregnant with me at a very young age, and because of that she decided to dropped out high

school her freshman year. She attempted to return to high school only to drop out again her

sophomore year because she was pregnant with my brother. She did not return to school

afterwards. My father, aunts, and uncles dropped out of high school because of negative

influences. Many of them got involved into drugs, gang banging, and hanging out in the streets.

My families helped me more emotionally by helping me cope with the death of my grandmother.

They helped me accept the death. My family helped me express the feelings I had built inside. I

am very grateful for their help I received emotionally, but I needed help academically. I knew

Page 36

eventually I would get over my grandmother death, but I only get one chance to walk across the

stage to get my diploma with my graduating class.

The person I turned to in order to help me academically was my school guidance

counselor. Going back to school was difficult for me without wanting to give up. I was very far

behind in my classes, and I missed a lot of important information that played a big part in my

grades. I missed research projects, midterm testing, and notes from class sessions. My guidance

counselor gave me a call one afternoon, and we had a conversation about my future educational

goals. That conversation we had that day encouraged me to go back to school. After that

conversation on the phone, I meet with my guidance counselor at least twice a week to discuss

how well my academics were going. We discussed not only how to raise my academic status to a

level that would qualify me to graduate, but also how to raise my grades to qualify for the Hope

Scholarship. My guidance counselor encouraged me to talk to my teacher, and let them know

what going on in my life. It was difficult finding tutors to help with catch up with my school

work, but somehow my guidance counselor went over and beyond to find someone to help me.

It may come surprising to people that I had turn to my school guidance counselor for help

academically for something that evolved from a family issue, but my grandmother death turned

into an academic issue because it affected my academics goals. It made me realize, we as people

chose different people for different situations. I need my family’s help emotionally because I was

down, angry, and borderline depressed with the death of my grandmother. My family was the

right choice to help deal with the emotional aspect because I was not the only person to lose

someone special because everyone in my family lost the same person. We all shared our

emotions, and were able to give advice and encourage one another to help cope with the death.

The academic aspect was not perfect choice for me to choose my family. For academic help, my

Page 37

school reached out to me. I am grateful that my guidance counselor reached out to me because if

it was not for her, I probably would not have succeeded as much as I have in continuing my

education. I had giving up with school, and said it was not possible for me to catch up with a

passing grade of at least a C. My guidance counselor help was beneficial because she had

experience, and training with dealing with these types of circumstances.

What an experience to finish my high school education? I was able to get though the

tough moment with the help of my guidance counselor. Even now as a college student, I am

seeking help of a guidance counselor at school. I am having trouble with keeping up my

academic performance because of family issues. My family can’t help me because at some extent

they are the problem. The problem is beginning to affect my academics at an early stage of my

college career. Now that I am a college student, my school work is more intense, so I have no

room to mess up. My life at home places a lot of pressure on my shoulders. I have to work a lot

in order to make enough money to provide for my family, and do all of my school work. The

situation is causing me a lot of stress. Once again, I am turning to a guidance counselor for help.

The quote in Louis Menand article, “Many of these Students were the first in their family to

attend college, and any distractions they had were not social. Many of them worked, and some

had complicated family responsibilities,” helped me come to the conclusion that the issues I deal

with cause me to reach out for help. With me being the first person in my family to attend

college, academically my family could not help me and I am okay with that.

Page 38

Word Cited

Menand, Louis. “Live and Learn.” The New Yorker Magazine. The New Yorker Company, 6

June 2011. Web. 23 October 2011

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