Ex- Best Friend

Dear Best friend,

                What has this relationship come to? We started in the beginning with an amazing thing between us. Everything was new and fresh. We both had never been in a relationship like this before. We were closer than we were with anyone else and there was no way we were going to fall apart. I mean we were labeled as the best friends according to everyone. People would assume wherever I was going you were going and wherever you were going I was going. We would walk down the hallways and be able to spot each other from all the way down the hall way. I could find you in a crowd in a matter of minutes. I remember walking to fourth block with you every day. Before I even said a word to you, I would know how your day was going and likewise with you. I could give you a look and that would mean more than all the words I could say. We were never going to change, right?

                Well of course, those few things soon changed. We weren’t the same and we both knew it. Everything wasn’t picture perfect any more, but that was expected I mean we couldn’t stay that way forever right? We no longer had to be by each other’s side at every moment, of every second, of every day.  I remember the day I was walking home and I saw you walking with someone else and I wasn’t invited. What a surprise that was. Were you ever planning on telling me that I wasn’t number one anymore?  

                We started to drift further and further apart. We saw each other occasionally but we, correction you, were too busy to put any more time into me. Your new friends that apparently gave you a better social status were much more important than me.  That day between third and fourth block when you completely ignored me in the hall way made me realize that I’m no longer important to you, so why should you be important to me? If you want a good friendship back contact me your former best friend.

                                                                                                                                                                Love,

                                                                                                                                                                  Emily

Revenge

 

       The feeling inside you that you just want to get rid of, you can’t help feeling the hatred, the pain, the annoyance you get every time you see that one person, that feeling in your spine that makes you just want to scream, hit, slap, or push. You would do anything to inflict some sort of pain. You want this person to feel what you felt. To suffer. If their pain doesn’t equal or become more than what you felt, it’s not enough. Nothing may ever be enough to suffice you. It scares you, but it also drives you. It drives you to madness if you don't succeed. You become a person that’s not you. You’re driven by solely one thing, revenge.
       Revenge is something not everyone experiences in life. I believe there has to be something that majorly impacts your life to give you true feelings of revenge. Something has to make you feel hurt enough to want to avenge yourself, or another person. These feelings have to drive your revenge. Feelings of hurt, pain, suffering, sorrow, and many others that all build up to that breaking point when you make the decision to avenge. There are many real life scenarios where people have been driven to this point. Many murders have been committed because one person has to take revenge on another. People see it every day, all the time. There have also been many great movies that are created by the topic of revenge.
       A recent movie series that came out is Taken. The first Taken wasn't based on revenge. Bryan Mills, a retired CIA agent, had been living a pretty simple life. He was divorced with a seventeen year old daughter whom he cares for very much. She convinces him to let her go to Paris with a friend for a vacation, when she gets taken by human traffickers. Bryan, played by Liam Neeson, uses his former CIA skills to track her down in Europe. In the process he kills, sometimes brutally, anyone who got in his way. In the second movie, Taken 2, the families to who Bryan killed seek revenge on him. They will do anything to make him feel the pain they felt. They take him and his ex-wife while they are traveling in Istanbul with their daughter. This time it’s the daughter’s job to save them before they are killed by the same people who almost killed her. The movie trailor, Taken 2, represents the anger towards him and the actions taken by the people in the movie.
       Often times revenge isn't as obvious as it was in Taken 2, it is often hidden and not seen by other people. It can take a lot of planning by another person to be able to act on their revenge. A person who is mad with revenge may do things they wouldn’t normally do if they were in the right state of mind. This is where brutal murders and killing come in, and often times a person might kill themselves they've gone so crazy. One song that shows what a person will do for revenge is Two Black Cadillac’s by Carrie Underwood. The music video displays what she does to get revenge.

 

       I believe there are many different types of revenge. For example, the revenge taken in Taken 2 is a very vengeful, frightening, and murderous revenge that is terrifying for the person who is the target. All revenges are meant to be this way, but some like Two Black Cadillac’s, is more secretive and not seen by people in their everyday surroundings. In the famous play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, there is a presence of both these acts of revenge. Hamlet, the main character, has a goal to avenge his father after being killed by his uncle. He begins to act mad towards everyone around him so that he can plan a way to seek his revenge. On the outside it looks like he’s going crazy, but in his mind he holds the secret that it is all just an act. He's very secretive and manipulative throughout the play, but in the end his revenge fueled by anger and hurt comes out causing the ending to turn into an all out vengeful murder of more than just one person. Revenge can drive anyone to do things they wouldn’t do in the first place. It is a frightening thing to most people and isn’t acted on a lot, but when it is, the outcome can be a tragic event.



          Satire. What does it mean? How is it used? Well I have all those questions myself but I have found it is actually much easier to find, and use once you realize what it means and what it is used in. The definition of Satire is a literary work holding human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn. In other words it is literature or art that is meant to point out and make fun of the flaws of humans and our behavior. There are many forms of satire out there such as the Jon Stewart show, the Onion news source, or something as simple as a movie such as Shrek. Satire isn’t directly pointed out in most works, it has to be looked into and noticed by a reader first before they realize that it’s actually there. Once it’s realized though, it does its job. It makes you think about those flaws and behaviors you have as a person and realize that those things you see and do every day aren’t justified just because everyone does it, and there is some room for change.
         When a person watched the movie Shrek, they may not realize the Satire that is present. Most families watch it with their younger children as a fun, entertaining and innocent movie but there’s more to it. Shrek satirizes the idea of fantasy movies. It points out the small things in those movies that are set standard in most of them. The idea that the princess must always be saved by the gallant knight in shining armor is lost in this movie and replaced by the opposite. The fact that there’s always a side kick in the movie that is noble and worthy of the knight is also lost and instead replaced with a donkey. In most fantasy movies the king is similar to the knight in shining armor. He is noble, handsome, brave, and chivalrous, among other things but in Shrek you also get that exact opposite. Lord Farquad is the king of Dulac. To "improve" his kingdom he attempts to get rid of all the fairy tale creatures. So they evacuate the kingdom and show up at Shrek’s home. They expect Shrek to protect them but he doesn’t want to and prefers them to leave. To get them to leave, he must travel to Dulac and prove to Lord Farquad that he can save the sleeping princess form her tower. He journeys with his sidekick, Donkey to save her. Donkey isn't the normal side kick either; he's an actual Donkey who's clumsy, annoying, and scared of a lot. When Shrek and Donkey get to the castle to save Fiona, the princess, she does not want to be saved by them. She’s expecting the knight in shining armor and when she doesn’t get that she fights to stay where she is. The rest of the movie consists of Shrek, Fiona, and Donkeys travels back to the kingdom, and the hardships they face in their travels. Some of the satire is shown in the short preview of the movie. Shrek Trailor This movie has some hidden satire in it. It points out the flaws to fairy tales and the ideas in them that shouldn’t be there to influence the viewers. It criticizes the idea of the "Damsel in distress" who needs the knight to save her, instead it shows a more independent women who is willing to stand up to herself. It brings attention to the viewer of what a fairy tale really means.

        Many people criticize fairy tale stories, for example this picture shows all the Disney Princesses who are looked up to by little girls all over the world and shows some of the actual meaning of their stories that most people don't see. The way all their actions seem so innocent in the movies but in reality are flawed and only add up to one thing, a woman needs a man in order to have a good life. This picture satirizes the Disney princesses, by blatantly pointing out the wrongs in each movie and the sexist views they contain.

         Neither of these examples are considered great literary works but still have good meaning to them that can be compared to the famous novel "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". In the book Twain criticize the mentality of the south during a time period where slavery was very common and many people acted in ways that wouldn’t even be considered as a way to act now. He pairs up two very unlikely characters that travel down the Mississippi river in search of freedom. These two characters, whose names are Huckleberry Finn and a slave named Jim, go through a lot of experiences that represent the people of the South. Just the fact that the two of them, a white boy and a black man, were traveling together with no problems and had mutual respect for each other is a way that twain uses satire. The fact that almost every person during this time wouldn’t have even considered this possible makes the reader think about relations between different races. Their experience such as Huck living with a noble family of the south, and Huck experiencing a religious revival ceremony silently ridicules the south for their gullibility and trust. Twain's work has been greatly criticized for his use of satire, as has the Disney princess movies. Each aspect in the book and movies can be critized and brought to the public eye as negative. The satire in both works does what it is made for, and works well in these pieces.