Lucky final paper

When Alice Sebold began college she was brutally attacked and raped. In the book, Lucky, Alice tells her side of the attack as well as what she goes through when trying to deal with the raping. Alice wrote the book to tell others that being raped changes your life through her use of tone, word choice and imagery.
Throughout the book Alice uses tone to express the main message that being raped changes your life. For example, Alice returns home from college and her mother decides to tell the priest at their church what happened to Alice. The entire congregation then begins to treat her differently," As I walked into church I felt every ones eyes on me, I was no longer Alice the nice girl next door, but I was the filthy rape victim."(44) Alice's serious tone in this quote tells the reader that one aspect of her life that changed was how people viewed her. The tone also tells the reader that Alice wishes she was not viewed as "the rape victim". Another example of tone that expresses Alice's message is when she talks about Lila's family's reaction to Lila being raped and hanging out with Alice,"I was to be banished from seeing Lila. I had a disease, it was catching."(224) Alice's sad tone tells you she is upset that she no longer can see her friend Lila because of what happened to Alice in the past. Alice feels helpless and also responsible for what happened to her friend. Overall Alice Sebold's use of tone throughout the book, Lucky, shows the reader that being raped changes your life.
Another way that Alice expresses her main message throughout the book is by word choice. " I was now convinced no nice boy would ever want me. I was all those horrible words used for rape; I was changed, bloodied, damaged goods, ruined."(45) Alice uses alot of depressing words to describe how she feels about herself after being raped. Not only do others (nice boys) not want her, but she thinks of herself as horrible too. The grave word choice shows you that Alice is very serious about what she is saying. Another example is when Alice talks about how she sees herself after being raped,"The wounds on the outside are gone, but I am more wounded than ever."(78) The word choice in this quote tells you that Alice is emotional scared from the incident. The word ever is especially important because it tells you she is more hurt than she ever has been before. Alices sad and serious word choice shows the reader that being raped changed her life.
Lastly, Alice uses imagery to stress the main message she is trying to get across. When Alice describes the details of the night she was being raped she creates a mental picture in the readers mind that is so clear, its scary. She puts the reader in her position, a victim."He raped his hands around my neck and began to squeeze. I began to loose conciessnes. I could feel my life slowly slipping away. First I began to see spots, then I could barely think. I then ralized I was looking into the eyes of the man who would kill me"(8). The image Alice gives the reader is very clear. The reader is allowed to loose conciesness with Alice and expirience the raping first hand, wich later on allows you to be able to understand why Alices life changed after being raped. Alice Sebold's use of imagery strongly enforces to the reader that being raped changes your life.
In conclusion Alice Sebold wrote the book, Lucky, to tell others that being raped chagnes your life. She re-enforeced this message by using tone, word choice, and imagery. Wether Alice was talking about church, how people viewed her after being raped, or simply how she viewed herself, the literary techniques in the book strongly re-enforce the overal message the being raped changes your life.

Lucky FINAL POST

Alice begins dating a student named Steve. They become very close, but she also begins to date a student named Marc. Alice also moves into an apartment with Lila and a one of Lila's friends, Pat.
One day Alice is in class when she begins to feel sharp pains in her back. She tries to wait them out but eventually leaves class because they get so severe. Marc comes and picks Alice up and begins to drive her to her apartment. As soon as they drive up to the apartment Alice notices cop cars outside. She ran up to the first police man she saw. He tells her that her friend, Lila has been raped and is being looked at by a doctor in the ambulance in the parking lot.
Alice feels horrible. She feels responsible for what happened to Lila. She accompanies Lila to the hospital but things don't turn out well. Every officer, nurse and doctor focuses on Alice's success story and Lila begins to fade into the back round. They then go to the police department. Once again the officers pester Alice and forget about Lila. Finally Lila begins to look through mug shots to try and identify her rapist. She asks Alice to leave the room. Shortly after this Lila comes out of the room and tells Alice she no longer wants to look for her rapist and that she just wants to return to a normal life.
Lila and Alice move into a new apartment but things don't work out. Eventually Lila tells Alice that it is too hard for her to live with Alice, the strong rape victim, when Lila is not. She immediately disconnects from Alice and they never talk again.
The ending of the book is a brief summary of what has happened to Alice since. She moved to Texas and became a heroin user, with her new boyfriend John. They eventually broke up and Alice moved to California. After spending some time in California Alice was ready to move back to New York and began to stop "dabbling in heroin" as she puts it. She lived there for quite some time until returning again to California.

The Sea Inside - post 3

The main thing I noticed about the directors camera technique was a pattern he used very often through out the movie. He would begin a scene with a Trucking dolly followed by multiple extreme close-ups, mainly during conversations. It helped the reader to follow the movie better because the sequence was very fluid. It also gave the reader a better sense of what was going on in the movie because the close-ups showed you a lot more emotion in the characters faces. I think the director used this sequence because it gives the reader a feeling like they are apart of the conversation. For example, when you first start a conversation you look around and check out your surroundings(medium shot,then you begin to talk about more interesting topics and you focus mainly on the other person(extreme close-up).

The Sea Inside - post 2

The Sea Inside and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly were very different. The sea Inside is a movie that depicts a quadriplegic who simply can't move him limbs but can still talk and feel in his face. He request to be killed because he claims he is not living life the way he wants too. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly book was written by a man who lived with Locked in Syndrome, a disease where the patient is paralyzed except for blinking. This book is more focused on what it is like to have the disease and not at all about him wanting to die. I think that The Sea Inside was more powerful just because of the visual aspect of film. When you Ramon lying there in the bed unable to move, it makes the situation seam much more real. It also allows the watcher to understand the story better because you are not only seeing what is going on but you are hearing it as well. Of course the most obvious diffrence between the two is that one dies naturally and one man baisically commits suicide.

The sea Inside - post 1

I overall thought the movie was o.k. I think it got a little long towards the end. Although I did not get to see the entire movie I think overall it was entertaining and that about it. I didn't really understand the whole requested suicide thing? If he wanted to die, why now? Why not right after the accident? I thought the movie did a poor job of explaining why he wanted to die. I think the courts decision was right because they can't bend the law for certain people. I think it was right for his Friends to help him. They were doing what he wanted, which is all that matters. It is no different than him taking his own life he was just unable to do so. You could almost compare the situation to when people become brain dead, but are kept alive by machines. Ramon's case is the same except he is able to tell people to pull the plug himself.

Week 5 post #2

Alice comes to town for her trial with her dad. When they get to the airport they meet their escort for the weekend, detective John Murphy. Once they get to their hotel they go out to dinner with Gail, Alice's attorney. She tells them what the trial is going to be like, and what Alice should expect.
The following day is Alice's trial. Unfortunately, after Alice arrives they tell her that he father is not allowed in the court while it's in session. Although Alice is upset about this she still has to testify. Her lawyer asks her to re-tell the story of what happened the night of the rape and then shows her pictures of herself the night of the rape. Alice begins to cry hysterically on the stand. Once she is done being questioned by her attorney she get a ten minute break.
Then Alice is questioned by Madison's lawyer. He first tries to wear her out by asking her alot of pointless questions. Then he asks her about her glasses, her testimony she gave the police, her encounter with Madison in October and finaly the lineup. After causing Alice to cry again he finishes questioning her.
In the end the judge says the Madison was guilty on all 6 accounts and is sentenced for a minimum of 8 years.

I personally was very satisfied with the outcome of this section. Had her rapist gone free I probably would have really wanted to stop reading the book.
This section was very realistic. The way Alice describes the courtroom and what happens in the trial is very much how i would have pictured it. I also felt like the chapter may have been a little over dramatized. The trial was one of the most important parts of the book but all of the crying and gasping and twists and turns sidetracked me from the main story. I also thought that the outcome of the rapist being convicted was predictable.
Overall I thought this section was boring. I was not very interested in the trial because it was basically the same thing as the first trial. I am overall loosing a lot of interest in this book. I think that the plot is getting really old and no offense to the author but I'm just getting sick of hearing the story of the rape told over and over again.

Lucky week 4 part 2

Alice's trial starts for her rape case. This first trial is to see if the case will go to a jury. Alice's case is very strong. The rapist lawyer tells the rapist to not come to the trial. This way he is able to prove to the judge that Alice is yet to see her attacker in custody and that she doesn't know for sure if they have the right man. But luckily in the end the judge decides to send the case to a grand jury.
The book then fast forwards to the lineup created to try and get Alice to identify her attacker. As Alice moves through the lineup she realizes that two of the men are almost identical. One man, number four, is starring at the floor. The other man, number five, is starring straight at Alice. Alice then decides on number 5 because he looked like he would have killed her if there was no glass between them.
Alice is later told that she chose the wrong man in the line up. She had a feeling the entire day she had chose the wrong guy. Her lawyer then comes up to her and tells her these men do this a lot. It is the defendants civil right to have a Friend stand with him in the line up and these men do this for each other every time because they are identical.
The next chapter starts off with a girl at Alice's school attempting to commit suicide. Alice goes and visits her at the hospital where the girl tells her that she was raped as a child and the poem Alice wrote brought back all of the memories. They shared a very special bond together.
Gregory Madison's pubic hairs are tested with the pubic hairs taken from Alice the night of her rape. They match perfectly on all 17 accounts.

Lucky week 4

"I myself am not a fighter. If it comes down to giving up and getting raped or dying trying, I would choose giving up."(22- Lucky)
-I found this quote interesting because I have never thought of getting raped as a choice. Later on in the book Alice talks to her dad about how he thinks you physically can't be raped without somewhat consenting. I have never thought of rape in that way. This quote answers that question easily for the reader about Alice.

"They tried to trick you. Madison has done it many times before. He gets one of his friends to stand in the lineup with him who looks exactly like him. His friend stares at the person looking at the lineup and scares them into believing he was the murdered." (127- Lucky)
-This quote was really interesting because I would think that once a person has seen there attacker they could always identify them. It seams to me that their face would be burned in my mind. It goes to show you that fear can motivate someone to do weird things.

Diving Bell and the Butterfly Analysis

I think that the book, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was boring. Although it was interesting to here such an original story, I overall did not like the book. I thought that the author hopped around a lot to different events which left me confused and lost. He often talked about characters he had yet to talk about without explaining who they were, which also made me not like the book. All of these things made me not like the book as much, but the one thing that absolutely drove me crazy was how metaphoric the book was. I would try to interpret the metaphors, but most of the time not interpret them right, or I would not get the metaphor at all and just kept reading hoping that there would be clarification later in the book.
On the other hand I did like some things in the book. I liked the authors choice of descriptive language. I thought it really helped me, the reader, envision what was happening in the book. I also like how the book was short. The length helped you to not loose interest in the book. Lastly I thought the story itself was the best part of the book. I thought the idea of a man being locked in his body was really interesting to read about. For example, I never realized how often he must be uncomfortable. The idea of him feeling stiff and uncomfortable never really crossed my mind. I thought people who were paralyzed couldn't feel there bodies period.
In conclusion I would not recommend the book to other people. Instead, I would tell them to research the story itself. The flashbacks and metaphors made the book to confusing, so if someone researched the story I think that it would have a better effect on them than reading the book.

Week 3 posting #2

The beginning of the book was very exciting. It really got me interested in the book. Although hearing thing in depth details of her raping was at some points very hard to read through, i think it has really helped me to understand Alice's recovery process much more. I also thought the things that her raper said to her really showed the reader that a person who does this to someone is truly deranged. For example, the rapist is very mean to Alice and has a very stern tone through out the rape, but towards the end Alice is putting her clothes back on and he apologizes to her, but then he follows apologizing with calling her a bitch and asking what she is going to if she has a baby.
I thought the author really rushed through what happened after the rape, meaning going to the police, the hospital etc. I surprisingly liked this because it gave the reader a similar experience to the victim, that after something like that happens everything becomes a blur.
When Alice is finished with the police work she must fill out she call her mom to come and pick her up from school and bring her home. I didn't like this section of the book because it was very awkward. It didn't seam to really flow into the storyline.
Alice then tells the reader a lot of things about her childhood. I thought this part was interesting because it helped to make sense of how Alice reacted to the rape and calling her mother to come pick her up. But i also thought that some of the events were strange and not necessary for the book, this section of the book got a little long.
The next part of the book I read was a section about Alice choosing her college and then moving in. This section showed me that Alice is not a very social person, but tries to be. I get this feeling because her family is like this, which is why she wanted to go to school far away, to reinvent herself. Also the fact that she is unable to find any friends the first few weeks makes me think she is not very outgoing.
The latest section of the book I read would have been much more exciting had it not been spoiled for me while researching the author of the book. I though the section where Alice sees her attacker should have been much more exciting and fast pace. Instead the author kind of jumps around between making new friends and the police trying to find Alice's attacker.
Overall the book is o.k. I'm not dying to read it when i come home but when i do read it holds my attention mostly. I wish the raping was the end of the book or at least in another place in the book because now it kind of seams like the climax already happened and i am just waisting my time.

Week 3 posting

Alice Sebold She grew up in Philadelphia. She then went on to college at Syracuse University, where freshman year she was brutally attacked and raped at a park on campus. After months at home she came back to Syracuse to get her bachelors degree. After graduating Syracuse University she moved to Texas, and then back to Manhattan, where she experienced a two year drug use problem with heroin.

Alice wrote a bestseller in 202 titles The Lovely Bones, and is currently writing a book which is supposed to come out this year. She currently is married and lives in Southern California.

Part 2

The section starts off with Alice looking for colleges with her parents. She talks about her parents wanted her to stay close to home, but she wanted to go far away so that seh could "re-invent herself."

Alice decides on Syracuse but for the first couple of weeks does not like it. She thinks her roomate is too perfects and doesn't make any friends. Until one night when everyone in the dorm is out partying she hears her neighbor playing music. She knocked on the door and then met Mary Alice. They then hit it off and became great friends. Alice also became good friends with two boy who were in the arts program aswell.

Then the book switches to Alices parents finally allowing her to go back to college for her second year. Her parents plan out a very detailed schedule for her to obide to for school, including making her move into a single dorm room in an all girls dorm.

Alice begins to go to her new classes including a poetry workshop with her favorite poet, Ms. Galagher. Finally Ms. Galagher helps alice to open up and write a poem about her raping. The poem really allows Alice to let go of alot of emotions she was holding in.

On Alices way back from class she sees him, the rapist. She is stunned as he walks near and says," ha, do i know you from somewhere?" Alice is so stunned she walks to her next class and tells her proffesor she needs to go to the police.

The police arrive at her dorm, where she has made a very detailed sketch of her atttacker. They then proceed to take her out in the cop car to see if her attacker is still in the area. Unfortunaley they don't find him.

Alice is then escorted to the police station. She spends a few hours looking through book sof mug shots when a police officer comes in and tells her that a police officer has identified her raper and new his name, Gregory Madison. After this they issue a warrant for his arrest adn Alice is sent home.

Alice goes about a week before getting the good news that Gregory was caught and taken into custody. She invites her teacher, Mrs. Galagher to be with her at the trial where she is supposed to testify.