Coloring in the Lines is Overrated and Robotic

A tad bit about myself:
Back when I was under 5 feet tall, I always kept myself busy I was never bored. Since I am an only child I had to entertain myself because adults were always in their own little worlds,never wanting to play and there was never any kids around ( I didn't have cousins on either side of the family until I was 10!). I usually drew or read,barely used coloring books because coloring in the lines was overrated and seemed a bit robotic in my 5 year old mind. I would draw my family and everything around me like most little kids as well as creating my own types of animals: the griffafish (part eagle part fish) and the dragon snake. Once I emerged myself into the world of chapter books I was unable to put a book down. I mostly read historical fiction books (royal diaries) and books with magic involved (Harry Potter). The books I read and what I drew really made me who I am today. I see beyond what is given in many problems I face wither it be people or the math problem in front of me. It is both a gift and weakness because I can see beyond what most people see but in some cases it I have the most bizarre of thought processes. It is said when you grow older your imagination dies. Mine has not; I blame it on those chapter books, they made my mind grow and lead me to be a bit of a dreamer. Yet with dreams, they are bound to come true if you really want them to.




When I run off to college I plan to major in Photography and go to art school. I have visited and talked to art schools and I always get this question about photography: What do you like better, digital or film? I have trouble answering it because I love every aspect of photography both film and digital. Film photography is always a bit of a surprise because you never know how the film will turn out or how well a shot came out. It is more stressful than digital photography because when you develop the film the smallest mistakes in the chemistry can completely ruin all of your pictures. Once I remove the film from the chemistry, my heart starts to beat out of excitement and fear: excitement for how the shoot came out and the fear that the chemistry was wrong thus no good negatives. Digital feels like cheating. When I received my new digital camera, I could control over the same things as my film camera but I did not have to deal with any form of chemistry or film. I load it on the computer, photoshop it and print it out. Done. Another question I get is: Why would you major in photography? Why wouldn't I? I love showing someone what it is like to look through my view finder and what I like visually. The same can be expressed in drawing and painting (which I also love) but there is something special about photo. I can't place it but it just feels that way. It is like when you love someone, there are parts about that person you like physically and mentally, yet there is something else you are attracted to which you cannot pick out.That's what passion is I guess. Art is like going up and screaming to the whole world, you show everyone your opinions but in a silent way. Someday I hope to shoot for fashion magazines like i-D and Dazed and Confused. Therefore I can scream to the world through my photos.

Oh No She Didn't!!

East of Eden should be changed to Tales of an Evil Woman and How She Ruins Lives. Once Cathy marries Adam and has her twins with him everything goes downhill. She shoots Adam in the shoulder (he almost dies of infection) and ditches the Trask Ranch. Thus leaving behind her children (which she has no affection for)as well as a soon to be depressed husband. Cathy changes her name to Kate and returns to the life of whoring. It is how she stays busy (no pun intended) and continues her manipulative behavior. Kate manages to charm the Madam of the whorehouse. To gain the potential ownership of the house, Kate brings forth her charming, sweet and "daughter-like" side to Faye the Madam. Faye submits herself to Kate's spell quite easily by believing her stories and treating her as her own daughter. In Faye's will, Kate is the receive everything that belongs to Faye.
The text implies that Kate no longer sees the point in Faye's existence on this Earth. After a series of foolish drunken insults toward Faye (alcohol is Kate's only weakness; it reveals the monster inside of her), Kate poses it as a bad dream Faye had. Shortly after Kate poisons her; the other girls in the house see that the cause of death was due to natural causes since Faye had not been feeling well recently.
Finally Kate/Cathy has gotten what she truly wanted: power. She has attempted this when she lived with her parents, when she was involved with the prostitute ring in the east and a life with Adam Trask. Kate is free to be an intelligent business woman. In this process she killed her parents, got attacked, got married, had twins, left them and her husband as well as shooting her husband. Determined in the most evil of cases. It is amazing how far one will go to get what one desires. She is unaware of how emotionally scarred her children will be without the maternal presence in their lives. Adam has not been able to function properly after Kate's departure. The twins are a year old and they still do not have names; they are unacknowledged or loved by their only parent. The closest loving being to the twins is Lee, the Chinese servant. Kate's children will be deprived of a normal childhood and it will affect their futures.

Me Talkee Chinese Talk

No this is not a typo or a pointless title. This is actually a quote from East of Eden in Chinese Pidgin. Pidgin is a simplified and broken down version of a language.In the novel the Trask family hires a Chinese servant named Lee. Lee talks in broken English such as "Got more name. Lee papa family name. Call Lee."
Lee's background is revealed to the reader through the next few sections. At first he appears as a background servant character, yet Steinbeck exposes racism in s subtle way. Lee is a Chinese-American who is born in the U.S. to Chinese immigrant parents. When Lee grew older he went to American university (as he later explains in proper English). Once he graduated and started to interact in the business world with other Americans they did not recognize him as an American or a Chinese man. He was simply an alien. Alienation was not what Lee desired of the world. He returned as a servant who spoke in broken English as a part of "self-protection" and comprehension among other Chinese. He says that Americans do not understand properly spoken English when it comes out of the mouth of Chinese. It is expected by stereotypes that all Chinese must say "Me Talkee Chinese Talk". Lee even mentions that he went to China and was seen as a complete stranger with his "strange" Western ways. In either direction Lee is a stranger representing that humans pick out the differences in one another instead of seeing past it. It is not necessary to stay with one's stereotype. Its just what people sometimes do as protection and unification.

Connections

I have finished the first part of East of Eden. So the characters are all introduced. There was a brief introduction of the Irish American family the Hamiltons in California. Yet the first part mainly focuses on the Trask brothers in Connecticut. A new character is introduced by the name of Cathy Ames. The narrator describes her as "a monster". Compares her personality to birth defects. Explaining that she was born without a heart. This flaw is concealed by her immense charm and uses sex as a power above all. She is truly evil, she killed her parents in a house fire and fled to become a prostitute. The murder is later discovered by Mr. Edwards who runs the prostitute ring. After being charmed by this Lilith (biblical reference) he comes to consciousness about her character and attempts to kill her. Yet Kathy lives and drags her broken body to the Trask door, charms the eldest brother. The first part ends with the hasty marriage.
Choosing East of Eden has been the best decision. I love the Steinbeck's character introductions. For every character he introduces into the plot, he gives a good 1-2 chapters on their life story. That is probably why the book is so thick and will be near to impossible to finish by next Friday. My favorite character introduction is of Cathy. She is such an evil character but Steinbeck doesn't describe her as a "a selfish tramp" as most authors would at that time. She is portrayed as cunning and manipulative with a shell of innocence to cover her heartless soul. Steinbeck introduces the chapter about Cathy with "I believe there are ,monsters born in the world to human parents." The next paragraph continues to "And just as there are physical monsters, can there not be mental or psychic monsters born? The face and body may be perfect, but if a twisted gene or a malformed egg can produce physical monsters, may not the same process produce a malformed soul?". There is more depth to this female character than other books around that time. I predict that Cathy will turn the plot around.

The Trasks and the Hamiltons

East of Eden is such a good book so far. Since it is Steinbeck there is a lot of description. I started reading it in the beginning of health class and with he amount of description it was hard to get into it with all the distractions around me. When I went home I curled up on a chair on the back porch and immersed myself into it.
After the opening (the intense imagery of California flowers)the Hamiltons were introduced. The mother and father are Irish immigrants raising a large family on a California ranch. The land is not that fertile due the the dry climate.
The next chapter shifts the the Trask family. The father is a veteran of the Civil War with a missing leg. He raises his two children in a militaristic way. The one brother Adam is the more quiet type; not quite meant to fight. His brother Charles on the other hand is more aggressive. There is the allusion of Cain and Abel with the relationship between the brothers. The father prefers Adam above Charles, thus leading to jealousy and aggression.

Oh Decisions

With the end of the AP exams there comes a time where a High School student can take a few minutes to sit down, take a breather and read. Whenever there is the decision to start a new book there are the constant thoughts and fears: "Will I like it?" "Will I give up?" "Is it so unbearably dull that I would rather reread the AP U.S. History Textbook?"
I have picked a grand total of three books and great classics and American literature or listed in sample open essays (most of them).
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The synopsis in the cover flap of the novel opens up to a description of the Salinas Valley in California and the intertwining destinies of two families: the Trasks and the Hamiltons. The synopsis provides the biblical illusion of Adam and Eve, Cain and Able and applies it to this family. Which is quite intriguing as well as the positive feed back. It's a classic it should be on the list of books to read before you die.
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier sounded interesting as well. It has a Civil War setting and is much shorter than Gone With the Wind (which I later plan to read). It provides has examples of the never ending love for a man for this woman back home. With adventures in between describing his journey back. I've seen the movie with Nicole Kidman and Jude Law which was quite good. The whole reason why this book is even on this list is because of that movie. Books are often better than movies; why not read it?
The next book choice is quite a surprise and completely unexpected so brace yourself: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. A captivating children's book which has entranced minds since 1969; including my own. I have read this book more than any other book. The colors simply amaze me and the wording is so simplistic but gets the point straight across. An aspect well forgotten among the older population. There are more meanings behind this book as one thinks deeper. It is so simplistic that it leaves room for the imagination and lets the reader take control. One may infer that The Very Hungry Caterpillar was not just hungry, maybe emotional hunger; a hunger to fill the empty gap in his heart from his parents abandonment when he was such a small egg. Such trauma would easily cause anyone the need to eat three times their body weight.
From this much deliberation I feel that East of Eden has the most interest currently, it may be long but worth it. The Very Hungry Caterpillar was a close call though. Time to sit back and enjoy the finest of American literature.