Good Country People

I think some of the names in this story do hold symbolic, yet at times ironic, meaning. As the story opens, the readers meet the two characters, one of which is Mrs. Hopewell. Mrs. Hopewell's name contains the word "hope;" readers see throughout the story that Mrs. Hopewell contains hope. She has hope that her daugher will have a normal life and that everything will go well with her new employees, The Freeman's. She is also rather postive, however, her positive attitude comes with a twist. She does not have hope in the spiritual sense; readers see later in the passage, when she is angered by the persuasion to buy a bible, that she is not all that spiritual. Aside from the spiritual sense of hope, she often lies about her hope. She appears that she is very hopeful, yet longs for her daughter to be as smart and as beautiful others, and longs to be like Mrs. Freeman. Unlike Mrs. Freeman, who is the second character readers meet as the story opens, Mrs. Hopewell is not "free" and is in a constant state of worry for her daughters. Mrs. Freeman is free and does not have to worry about her independant daughters.

Mrs. Hopewell's daughter, Joy, is named for Mrs. Hopewell's hopefulness and denyal of her daughter's true nature. Mrs. Hopewell has named her daughter Joy because she wants her to have a normal, beautiful life and hates that she has a heart condition and a wooden leg. When we think of Joy, we think of happy and postive. Joy's name is ironic in its meaning because she downplays things for herself and always looks on the negative side of everything. In the story, Joy changes her name to a more fitting name: Hulga. Her mother proclaims that it is the ugliest name she could have changed it to. The name Helga represents her spitefulness towards life and her belief that she is ugly because of her wooden leg. With the name Joy, her hatredness is mearly"sugarcoated."

In the story, Hulga meets a bible seller named Manley Pointer. His name is ironic to its meaning. The name Manley reminds reader's of the word "manly." With this name and his occupation, readers thoughts are directly pointed to the phrase "good man." While his character seems like a good man at first, readers later learn that he is a twisted manipulator without morals. His name can also be true to its meaning. If reader's set aside his occupation and just think of "Manley," they might assume that he is a "manly man" and is a player who gets what he wants; by the end of the story, readers learn that this is true.

A Spinster's Tale

Our group chose "A Spinster's Tale" to base our project on. We chose this story beause, as we were reading, we saw literary elements that would work well for this project. With the stories' flashback and first person point of view, we thought it would be a great choice. In this story, there are many thoughts described by the main character (also who is telling the story) and insighful references to her character that would work well for status updates and group discussions (on a group page).

"The Conversion of the Jews" and "Angel Levine"

I do not feel that the adults in "The Conversion of the Jews" handled Ozzie's questions the correct way at all. When Ozzie poses questions about God to his mother and to the rabbi, all he gets in response is anger and frustration. In this story, I feel like he is wrongly being punished for his own thoughts. I do not think he was out-of-line at all for asking such questions. Everybody has a right to their own beliefs! Ozzie is mearly just expressing them. His mother and the rabbi do not like that his beliefs are not the same as theirs, and they lash out at him. In this story, Ozzie says "He shouldn't hit me. You shouldn't hit me about God, mamma. You should never hit anybody about God." He knows that the rabbi and his mother are wrong, and he stands by his beliefs.

In "Angel Levine," the main character poses questions about God, but in a very different way. In the story, the main character has lost his store, his children and his wife is on her death bed. Because of this, he begins to question his beliefs. He blames God for all the pain in his life. I think that his questions, unlike Ozzie's, are extremely wrong. I can understand that, if in his situation, one could be caused to questions their beliefs and blame God, but God should not be held accountable. There is a reason for the suffering in his life, but the reason is not that God is making his life this way.

Author's Note

At this time, I have completed the outline drafts and I am in the finishing stages of my film adaptation proposal. I have finished typing it, but still need to go over it to finalize the details and correct any errors. I am very excited about my piece and the story on which I have chosen for it to be based. The context, for which my proposal is based, is the story of "A Rose for Emily." After reading this story, I chose to make it into a movie because the plot was both exciting and mystifying. I knew this would be a fun proposal to write and a good story to adapt into a movie! The story, "A Rose for Emily" is full of possiblities for expanding it's literary elements! The mysterious plot, the symbolism, and the irony of the story was presented in such an intriguing way, that expanding them was a fairly swift process. I started by thinking how I could extend the plot, irony, and symbolism to develop the story into a full length film. In the original story, there was no background information that pertained to Emily's life; in my film, the audience is presented with such information. I expanded the story to include more symbolism and added childhood flashbacks that serve as building block for audiences' creative scenarios about the mysterious plot.

I enjoyed this assignment and am very excited about my proposal! I also liked this assignment beause it presented me with a challenge. My goal was to pitch my movie and persuade it to be turned into a full length production. After I proceeded to expand the plot of the story, ideas flooded my brain! I got so wrapped up in my film version, that I could visualize my movie as I wrote it!

Overall I liked writing my proposal for this assignment, but I did not always enjoy it. I found this assignment a little difficult at times. When the proposal was assigned to me, I started to write and develop a formal essay. After a little under halfway through the paper, I was unsure how to connect all of the parts and make them flow together. All of the parts that were requried were about the same movie, but I never figured out how to make smooth transitions within the paper. I thought the "characters" portion of this assignment would turn out to be a random part that did not really fit with the rest of the paper. After I started over, I developed a letter to the producer and then an attatchment of the portions of the movie. I am happy with the way I chose to complete this assignment and I hope you will too!

Paul's Case

New York City is so wonderful and different for Paul because he can be his own person there. Back home, Paul lives his life feeling "trapped" by his father; in New York he is free from that. He feels like his life disappoints his father. In the story, readers can sense that his father wishes Paul was different and had a life that he approves of. At the bottom of page 240 and at the top of page 241, while Paul's father is talking to one of the magnates of a great steel corperation, the narrorator explains to readers the father's comparison to that man and his wishes that Paul was and will become different. This man "was daily held up to Paul as a model, and after whom is was his father's dearest hope that he would pattern" and "was look upon as a man with a future." From this, the reader's sense that Paul's father wishes for him to have a bright future just like this man, but is not going the right way to achieve it.

Paul likes New York City because, not only is he free from his father, but he is finally accepted into society. In the city, noone knows him and is telling him what to do. He does not have anybody lecturing him about a bright future. Paul is also very enumerated, among other ways, because he has noone to please or displease (such as his father), He can also make and follow his own decisions about life.

Royal Beatings

In this story, I think that the character, Rose, is a victum of Flo's lies. Flo, her stepmother, is someone that her father's will automatically listen to in times of conflict. Her father silences Rose and refuses to hear what she has to say. The only voice he hears, is Flo's angry remarks towards Rose. I think that Flo, having years of built up anger towards her life, lashes out a Rose.

Flo, like Rose, is also a victum in this story. She is a victum of her own anger. She is angry because she entered into a life she didn't want. In the story, Flo tells Rose that she is is the ONLY reason she is here; she sacrificed her life to be with Rose. This lets the reader know that, if Flo told Rose that, there may be some negativity that she has towards her life. Also, in addition to this anger, is fear. In the story, after she gets Rose's father to deal with her, she is quickly apologetic that she disturbs her husband from work. After Rose's beating, Flo and her father have a fight. From this, the reader gets a sense of power that Rose's father has over Flo. As we read, we also get the sense that Flo is fearful because she distracted him while he was working and is afraid of what he might do to her.

Film Adaptation Proposal Plan

This is an outline for how I plan to cover all six aspects of this proposal:

Title: The title will be changed to "The Rose Garden." This change is important to the plot because the rose garden and the roses within it have special symbolic and ironic meaning. It is also important because much of the story is told from the rose garden surrounding the backside of Emily's house.

Characters:

• Miss Emily Grierson; played by Christina Ricci: In the film (unlike the story), Miss Emily is an attractive, young, mysterious, and very isolated woman. Her slender figure, dark hair, and dark eyes make her physically appropriate for the part of Miss Emily, but she is also very skillful in the potrayal of dark and misunderstood characters; such as in “The Addams Family."
• The Rose Gardener; played my Morgan Freeman: In my film, the rose gardner is a wise, old man who has servered Emily’s family for years and has watched and oversaw Emily from childhood to adulthood. In many movies, such as "Batman Begins," he seems to play the “all seeing,” brainic whose intellect proves to be worthwile to the characters around him.
• Homer Barron; played by Denzel Washington: In my movie, Homer Barron is an attractive, strong-willed road worker who, at his own risk, becomes romantically involved with Emily. A relationship such a Emily’s and Homer’s, that was mixed raced and social class, was not only a high risk to ridicule, but also hate crimes. Homer, despite the odds for Emily and him, entered into a such a relationship. Denzel's dashing looks make him physically appropriate for the part, but also his roles headstrong characters, such as in "Remember the Titans."
• The servant who first discovered the room; played by Joseph Marcell:
  In my film, this is a short part, but like the gardner, provides us with information on what goes on inside the house. Joseph is perfect for this role in my story because, similar to Geoffery in "The Fresh Price of Bel Air," his curiousness reveals charactristics from the people around him.

Setting: Like in the short story, much of the setting will be in Emily's house. I chose to keep the setting in the house to add mystery and skepticism to the story. Much of the stoy will also be set in the rose garden; where our narrorator (gardner) works. The story will include his personal encounters from inside the house and in the rose garden.

Plot/Conflict: In this film, a wealthy, light-skinned southern belle (Emily) who’s childhood witnesses of murder and adultery play a significant and dark role in her adult life. As a child, Emily's mother cheats on her father with one of their servents. Out of fear that her husband would leave her, and because her affair is now unveiled (which the audience does not know) she kills him. This story is told from the rose gardner, who has been with the family for years and has witnessed Emily's broken childhood. This mystery is set in a world torn by the isolations of social status and rasism (early 1900's). She falls in love with an attractive dark skinned worker named Homer Barron. After months of townspeople seeing them together, he vanishes suddenly. Towards the end of the movie, the viewer does not know why she has killed Homer, but they are taken to a bridal room containing Homer's body, that is filled with roses. Laying next to Homer, she (wearing a wedding dress with a bouquet or red roses laying on her chest) lights the room on fire and kills herself.

Symbolism/irony:

• Roses (from the rose garden): her life (ironic because her life is not beautiful like a rose); herself as very attractive; the delicate state (like a flower) of her life; how, like a rose, her life "wilts" over time.
• Color of roses: Red-murders and dirty blood
• Rose petals: Innocence, over time a rose looses its petals-Emily looses her innocence
• Color of brial dress: Yellow-decay of her life
• House: Isolation