Literary Analysis #2: On the Road

1. The plot of On the Road follows the "adventures" of the narrator Sal Paradise as he travels to and from the coasts of America with his pal Dean Moriarty. From New York to Denver, from San Fran to New Orleans and even Mexico City, the two as well as other buddies traveled all over the map. The real story however is less in the destinations the pair reached however but in the relationship that grew and matured between them, ending with both older and more certain with their positions in life.

2 . The theme of On the Road gravitates around the central ideals of Beat. On the Road in it's purest form is a portrait of the 1950's Beat lifestyle, epitomizing values such as the romance of  anti-materialism, non-conformity and Dean at the foremost, hedonism. Though the relationship between Sal and Dean evolved into symbiotic bromance, even at the very end Dean remained Beat personified and ultimately left Sal.

3. Kerouac's tone could be described as lonesome and marked by always in search of comraderie:
    -A pain stabbed my heart, as it did every time I saw a girl I loved who was going the opposite direction in this too-big world.
    -Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.
    -LA is the loneliest and most brutal of American cities; New York gets god-awful cold in the winter but there's a feeling of wacky comradeship somewhere in some streets

4:Kerouac is very descriptive in his writing, often directly being symbolic in his descriptions; which fares well for someone who isnt the biggest fan of Hemingway (me). His often romantic depictions of life on the road has a natural appeal to pathos:
       -The air was soft, the stars so fine, the promise of every cobbled alley so great, that I thought I was in a dream.
       - What is that feeling when you're driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? — it's the too-huge world vaulting us, and it's good-by. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies
       -Every now and then a clear harmonic cry gave new suggestions of a tune that would someday be the only tune in the world and would raise men's souls to joy.

Tools That Change the Way We Think

I think a better word to describe the use of technology in our research process would be efficient, rather than lazy which I've been seeing on a lot of people posts. There's no sufficient reason to do something the hard way when the easy way is sitting on your desk. Why would I push my car when I can drive it? I fail to see the issue with instantaneous gratification, it's simply more efficient than having to open an encyclopedia or worse, walk my booty over to library up hill in the snow, which is the common experience most curmudgeons bitch about, in order to access one. This brings up point however that I couldn't imagine a time in which I can't imagine a time in which I didn't have a cornucopia of information sitting in front of me, but in the end, what does it matter? I do have it and I don't see it leaving anytime soon. Trenton P.2

In search of

The TED vid was an eye opening experience. To think, I cant get on the inter webs and search for a topic without some algorithm butting its nose into the process. Deprived would be an accurate word to describe how I feel on the subject matter. Deprived of the truth! Deprived of a wealth of information because of a mathematical assumption.   

Who was Shakespeare?

Shakespeare was born in 1564, his actual date of birth not known, but it is accepted to say he was born on the 23 of April. He attended grammar school at the age of 7 until he was 13 or 14.  He married the then 26 Anne Hathaway. Shakespeare went on to make such historic plays as Romeo and Juliet and so on. His name now brings on both sighs of awe and admiration as well as frustration and despair in students today. I personally am not the biggest fan of Shakespeare but tolerance is wonderful trait.

I googled the name Shakespeare and clicked on Shakespeare-online which appeared to be the most informative site without cheating and just using a wiki article.

To Facebook or not to Facebook

In my own opinion, I do not believe Facebook does more harm than good. I find much satisfaction in owning one myself; I know others do as well for similar reasons. Both the connection between friends and the fact that it serves as a food source to feed my own inner vanity are two concepts I am full on board with. I would go to the point that I accept my position as a commodity to Mark Cheeseburger; if being an inanimate cog in his capitalistic machine means the opportunity to find notifications at the end of the day is fine with me. As far as Facebook being after the children, eh. Its not cigarettes, its social media. They're both cool and one is statistically less lethal. Rules are taught on how to behave at a friends how house, I suppose rules could be established on what's safe and proper behavior on the inter-webs.