The Sea Inside post 3

In The Sea Inside, they directors used films of shots like high angle. They used high angle and low angle when Julia was talking to Ramon. There was a close up on Ramon’s face and alternating between Ramon and Julia. Using high angle, it made Ramon seem a little less important, and using the low angle it made Julia look taller. It seemed like she was more important than Ramon. Also, in the beginning of the movie they used fire hosing, which made it feel first person, and that the audience was in the movie. This was important because it made the movie feel more real. Another shot/ film technique that the director used was the extreme close ups. By using extreme close ups, people watching the movie could see the actors emotions, which helped throughout the movie to show how the affect of assisted suicide on the family members and friends. Throughout the movie the director used many techniques which helped the message of the movie be told.

The Sea Inside post 2

The Sea Inside Reflection
The Sea Inside and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly are similar in many ways. First, in The Sea Inside, the main character Ramon was a quadriplegic, and in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Jean-Dominique had locked-in-syndrome. Both people were trapped in their bodies, and Jean-Dominique and Ramon both wanted to die. Also, they wrote a book. Jean-Dominique wrote a book about his stroke which lead to locked in syndrome and the life after. Ramon wrote a book on some poems that he had written earlier in his life. Some differences are that Ramon killed himself with help and Jean-Dominique did die, but not with help. Also, Ramon was able to talk, and Jean-Dominique was only able to blink an eye lid. This was hard, when he was writing his book. Ramon could easily speak his mind, but Jean-Dominique could not. I felt that the movie The Sea Inside had a bigger impact on me than the book The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. The Sea Inside was more powerful, because I could actually see him, his life, and how boring it must have been, being in a bed all the time, and having people tending to his every need. In The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, I could not picture it as easily because the book confused me.

The Sea Inside- post 1

I was shocked that Ramon actually got help from his friends to commit suicide, because all of the times he was going to and it didn’t happen. When the book was published Julia said that she would bring him the first copy of the book and then that would be the day that he would die. She mailed him a copy therefore extending his day of death. It seemed like he would not get help from people. I think it is wrong that he asked for assisted suicide, because I think it is wrong because he was going to end his life and he should be happy that he is alive. I thought that the court’s response was the correct response, and I don’t think that what Ramon did was the right thing. He should not have killed himself, because he had a life, he could still talk to his family and friends. He also had people who cared about him. His friends, who agreed to help him with his death, did the wrong thing. They were assisting to murder, and I do not believe that that was the right thing to do.

Week 6- Post 2- Essay

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Outside Reading Book Essay

“When you’re dead, you’re dead. That’s it” actress Marlene Dietrich once said. People are going to die, but most do not know when. Morrie Schwartz knew he was going to die due to his diagnosis of ALS; ALS is a disease which causes degeneration throughout the body. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom is about Mitch and Morrie’s conversations, discussions, and stories during Morrie’s last months. The message is the importance of life, which is shown through passages, tone and imagery.
Through passages from the memoir, Mitch shows the importance of life. ‘“There’s a big confusion in this country over what we want versus what we need”’ (126). People are constantly being told what to do based on peer pressure. They are blind to the fact that life is not just about what other people think. “I did not keep in touch” (14). Mitch went a separate way after college, and forgot over the years about the meaning of life. “a thousand miles away, in my house on the hill, I was casually flipping channels. I heard these words from the TV set- “Who is Morrie Schwartz?”- and went numb” (23). Mitch got so wrapped up in his own life that he forgot about his professor. The message is explained in passages from the memoir.
Tone is used to help show the message of the memoir. “everyone knows they’re going to die, but nobody believes it”(80). The tone helped him say that life is too important and people need to think about death, but most of the people in the world do not believe that this will happen.
‘“Sometimes, in the mornings,” he said. “That’s when I mourn. I feel around my body, I move my fingers and my hands--whatever I can still move-- and I mourn what I’ve lost… but then I stop mourning…I give myself a good cry if I need it. But then I concentrate on all the good things still in my life’” (56-57).
He mourns, but gets over it because life is too important to waste time on such little things such as mourning. Also, Mitch gives up all his Tuesdays to be with Morrie. The message is shown through tone of the book.
Also, the importance of life is shown through imagery. “Morrie was in a wheelchair full-time now”(18). To be able to walk or not being able to walk, is important. Also: “his shaky handwriting was now indecipherable to everyone but him”(82). His body has become too weak that other people can not read his handwriting anymore. He is decaying quickly, his muscles in his legs went first and now hitting his hands. “Morrie weakly lifted a hand, halfway to his belly”(161). Now barely being able to lift a hand, his body had decayed even more. It shows one important thing in life, being healthy.
Though Morrie is decaying, he can still send the message of the memoir. From not being healthy, not mourning, and not keeping in touch, shows how life should be about people, not get wrapped up so tight in life, that people cant find the meaning of life until its almost too late.

Week 6- Final Summary

The thirteenth Tuesday had come around, they (Mitch and Morrie) talked about what Morrie’s perfect day would be. It was described as a perfect day to Morrie, but seemed like a normal day to Mitch, and then Mitch finally understood the point of his perfect day. Morrie decided that he wanted to be cremated, and he was coughing almost all the time. The fourteenth Tuesday had also came, and Morrie and Mitch had said there goodbyes. Morrie could barely talk, and was sleeping most of the time. He died on Saturday, with his immediate family with him. His funeral was on a Tuesday, a small funeral with close friends and family.

Week 5- Part 2

Mitch came to visit Morrie (the 10th Tuesday). Mitch brought along his wife Janine. The disease had just begun to hit Morrie's lungs. He was almost on full oxygen through the night, and eating mostly liquid supplements, and eating it through a straw. This Tuesday they talked about marriage. Morrie explained that in Mitch's generation people are getting divorced more often than before. People are either too selfish or rush into marriage and end up getting divorced quickly. The next Tuesday (the 11th Tuesday), the talked about culture. The disease has taken over more of his lungs. Morrie explained to Mitch about culture, about how people are only mean when they are threatened. Night Line had came back for the third and last interview, and the 12th Tuesday they had talked about forgiveness. He explained that people need to forgive other people and yourself. Forgiving yourself about the things you didn't do, and not to wait to start forgiving people.

Reaction:

My reaction to this section of reading is that this is very sad. Morrie is decaying quickly. When they had started this television interviews about a little bit after he had been diagnosed with ALS, he was still able to eat real food, and now the disease had hit his lungs, and all he is eating is liquid supplements. That happened in six months. When it progresses to the lungs, he will not be able to breath, and then he will die. He used to be able to dance and move around, now he is stuck in his chair or bed. He can not walk and lift his arm above his halfway up his belly. It is sad what ALS does to people’s body. The conversations that Mitch and Morrie have are really interesting, like how he said to Mitch that people not only have to forgive other people but also themselves.

Week 4- Part 2

This part of the reading is about Morrie and Mitch's conversations. They talk about the found fear of aging, money, and about how love goes on. Aging, a common fear of many people, but Morrie explains to Mitch that aging is not only growing older, but gaining more knowledge. People who were wishing that they were younger, really haven't found the meaning of life. Morrie also explains money. People don't need money to be happy, but people think that they do. Morrie said that when he died he would want all his family around him, because he didn't want any phone calls and telegrams about his death like how he and his family learned about his mother's death.

Week 4- Part 1

'"Everyone knows they're going to die," he said again,"But nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently."'- Mitch Albom (81) Tuesdays with Morrie. I find this is important because it is the truth. Just like the quote says everybody is going to die, but they do not believe it, and if people knew when they were going to die. They would do more things in life. Maybe travel, or just do things differently. Morrie knows he is going to die, and it is important to the book, because it helped a conversation about death. He knows and he is doing things differently because of his body decaying, if he did not know about his death or his disease, he would probably be doing different things than he is.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly reflection

I both liked and disliked The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I thought the book was good because it was a good story about the struggles he went through, with the nurses and having them not being able to understand him, and how he felt being trapped in his own body. I also thought that the book was bad because of the randomness.
I thought the book was good because it was interesting about how he wrote the book. How he tried to get along with his nurses and doctors, and about how he tried to communicate. The book was good because of the describing of his everyday life. He tried to describe his everyday life like his food that he gets through a feeding tube, and other things like his daily baths.
I did not like The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I thought that it was random. I could not understand it because in one section he would be talking about present day, and then he would talk about a dream and it was never clear to me when he changed tenses. He talked about dreams then go into present day then past life and experiences. It seemed odd to me about the changes in the tenses. I also did not like the fact that he would talk about moments in his past life or a dream that did not seem clear why they were in the memoir. I wished that he (Jean-Dominique Bauby) explained more about his dreams or his experiences that he put in the book. I thought the book was a too random.

Week 3, Part 2

The book’s strengths are that it’s a good story. The weakness is that I thought there would be a little bit more about Morrie getting sicker, and what the disease is doing to the body. This book relates to my life because a family friend just died this summer from ALS, and its sad about what the disease does to people. I think this is a very sad book. I predict that Morrie is going to die very soon in the book.

Week 3, Part 1

Mitch visits Morrie. He wants to record his conversations on a tape recorder, so he can have his life lessons. Mitch wrote down a list of the subjects that he wants to talk to Morrie about. They are death, fear, aging, greed, marriage, family, society, forgiveness, and a meaningful life. Nightline had came back and did another interview/story on Morrie. Morrie talked about his childhood. His mother died when he was young. His father was in and out of work, his brother got sick with polio. They were poor, and he was trying to figure out a job that he would make money, and never had to live being poor again. He decided that he could not be a doctor, or a lawyer, and he decided that he wanted to become a teacher. Morrie discussed death the fourth tuesday he had came to visit.

Mitch Albom was raised in Philadelphia. He graduated from Brandeis University. He has written 9 books. Two of his books (Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet In Heaven) have been made into movies. Also Tuesdays with Morrie has been made into a play.

Albom, Mitch. Mitch Albom.com. 2006. 7 Oct. 2007 <http://www.albom.com/biography.html>.

Hartlaub,Joe. Authors on the Web. Donadio, Tom, Emralino, Marisa. 2003. 7 Oct. 2007 <http://www.authorsontheweb.com/features/authormonth/0309albom/albom-mitch.asp.asp>.

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