Tyler Smith

PreAP English 6th

April 20, 2015

JEKYLL AND HYDE BOOK VS JEKYLL AND HYDE MOVIE REVIEW

An original thriller novel from 1886 against a 1941 Hollywood production may seem like a strange comparison, and given their great differences in storytelling it may be, but both productions communicate the original ideas author Robert Louis Stevenson intended to use as a close to the moral paradigms of the book. But which one communicates these ideas better, in a more relatable and striking way?

In my own opinion, it is the novel that shows the greatest depth. By the story alignment brought to it by Utterson’s presence, Jekyll’s story shows a greater mystery and suspenseful set-up which as a moral allegory tied in a premise that predates other “detective stories” of the genre. Hyde is treated more seriously, with implied multiple showgirls he has scared into submission and proven murder of another character, and this makes Jekyll’s situation more serious and frightening, especially from the outside looking in.

The movie has its own merits, it characterizes Jekyll more effectively by giving to him a colored life of interaction with other personified individuals, especially in giving him a romantic life and a fiance. The attempt to strengthen the emotional connection to the characters is certainly present, but falls flat due to lack of true reason given to care about these interpretations, especially the two original main characters of the girls.

In all, the movie does a pretty good job as a standalone attempt to make a Hollywood production based on concepts of extreme multiple personality disorder. However, the suspenseful nature, dark tone, and gritty surreal realism of the novel make it the stronger contender of the two, and one that upholds Stevenson’s goal to create a story on the dangers of mankind’s dual-sided nature.

Tyler Smith

Pre-AP English 1  6th

November 4th, 2014

   CAREER CHOICE COMPARATIVE ESSAY

Because of my pop-culture driven lifestyle, I have never dreamed of working in a field other than that of the media empire. Of the many jobs available in that category, three caught my specific attention: art director, record producer, and writer.

All of these jobs were chosen for a reason, each pertaining to an interest of mine. Art director was chosen for my artistic passion, record producer for my love of music, and writer for my fondness for fiction.

Having these jobs in mind, I inspected their individual income, schedule, required education, and overall benefits to make an attempt at discovering which was right for me.

      ART DIRECTOR   RECORD PROD.         WRITER

Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics http://www.bls.gov/

Taking this information into account, the job I would deem to be the best for me would be the role of an art director, which involves supervising art direction of a product or project. This occupation boasts the highest salary, sitting at an average of $80,880, as well as only requiring a degree in Arts or Fine Arts, which would be multifunctional in use for future job search. I feel more attached to this line of work to boot, favoring traditional art and animation to music and literature.

My second choice lies upon the title of writer. By far, this job is the most flexible of the three, housing part-time schedules with no strict lines but deadlines, allowing for the setting of one’s own hours. When it pays, assuming that the book sells but isn’t acclaimed, it makes a comfortable $55,940 salary, right in middle class. However, getting a book published is reportedly difficult and stressful, with no guarantee of a decent profit.

Alas, the least of the jobs sits as record producer. These white-collar workers handle recording, mixing, and publication of musical tracks. I personally love music, as it is a big part of my daily life, but I feel I would lack the dedication to want to produce it. Music production for a record label company makes only $48,858 in comparison to my other choices, and working in such conditions would be the only chance of steady employment. This job also requires well-versed knowledge of MIDI structure and function as well, something that I lack the training for, and would have to get in addition to an expendable Music Production degree. I feel that this job does not offer much to me personally.

Though my opinions on each job have changed, for better or for worse, under intensive research, I am still heavily convinced on working in fields of entertainment. Pop-culture and entertainment media have always carried a large role to me, and I’ll always remember their impact.

Tyler Smith

Pre-AP English 1  6th

November 4th, 2014

   CAREER CHOICE COMPARATIVE ESSAY

Because of my pop-culture driven lifestyle, I have never dreamed of working in a field other than that of the media empire. Of the many jobs available in that category, three caught my specific attention: art director, record producer, and writer.

All of these jobs were chosen for a reason, each pertaining to an interest of mine. Art director was chosen for my artistic passion, record producer for my love of music, and writer for my fondness for fiction.

Having these jobs in mind, I inspected their individual income, schedule, required education, and overall benefits to make an attempt at discovering which was right for me.

      ART DIRECTOR   RECORD PROD.         WRITER

Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics http://www.bls.gov/

Taking this information into account, the job I would deem to be the best for me would be the role of an art director, which involves supervising art direction of a product or project. This occupation boasts the highest salary, sitting at an average of $80,880, as well as only requiring a degree in Arts or Fine Arts, which would be multifunctional in use for future job search. I feel more attached to this line of work to boot, favoring traditional art and animation to music and literature.

My second choice lies upon the title of writer. By far, this job is the most flexible of the three, housing part-time schedules with no strict lines but deadlines, allowing for the setting of one’s own hours. When it pays, assuming that the book sells but isn’t acclaimed, it makes a comfortable $55,940 salary, right in middle class. However, getting a book published is reportedly difficult and stressful, with no guarantee of a decent profit.

Alas, the least of the jobs sits as record producer. These white-collar workers handle recording, mixing, and publication of musical tracks. I personally love music, as it is a big part of my daily life, but I feel I would lack the dedication to want to produce it. Music production for a record label company makes only $48,858 in comparison to my other choices, and working in such conditions would be the only chance of steady employment. This job also requires well-versed knowledge of MIDI structure and function as well, something that I lack the training for, and would have to get in addition to an expendable Music Production degree. I feel that this job does not offer much to me personally.

Though my opinions on each job have changed, for better or for worse, under intensive research, I am still heavily convinced on working in fields of entertainment. Pop-culture and entertainment media have always carried a large role to me, and I’ll always remember their impact.

Tyler Smith

Pre-AP English 1 6th

May 6, 2015

RICHARD CORY vs THE UNKNOWN CITIZEN

The poems Richard Cory and The Unknown Citizen detail the lives of two dead men living in surprisingly similar situations. Richard Cory tells the tale of an aristocratic gentleman, envied and honored by all around him, while The Unknown Citizen was an ideally average government pawn who made no effort to bring out anything in himself but the facts the State knew him by. In appearance, these men had little in common, but that they had, by society’s definition, no reason to be in grief. In their deaths, however, they challenged these beliefs through their characterization, the point of view that describes them, and their social statuses.

In the cases of both characters, their authors’ accounts of their lives, absent of the all-important “fluff” detailing their interactions with others, create a view of their identity. To illustrate, in ‘Richard Cory’, descriptions of the titular character range from beliefs of the less privileged of him as a form of godlike or kinglike power and that he “glittered when he walked”, while others still seem surprised that “he was always human when he talked”. These people would not ever know of Cory’s state of being or mind because they look so far up to him that he could not safely climb down from the position. Their treatment of him as regal simply shows the error in man’s belief that being better off inherently means that a man is more pleased or content with himself or his life, making him “glittering when he walked” a result of his ‘happiness’ flowing over unto others, for “they thought he was everything”. It was likely this ‘lonely at the top’ complex made others keep themselves away due to thinking that they were not ‘worthy’ to associate with him, distancing Cory from society and kickstarting the process that made him so lonely, and later leads to his suicide. Conversely, ‘The Unknown Citizen’ shows little of its eponymous protagonist (if he could be called that), besides that he “served the Greater Community” and did little else than that to personify himself. The end question’s decree of “Was he happy? Was he free?” shows a connection to the citizen’s status as an idealized metaphorical “robot slave” of the State. He may have been ‘programmed’ with identity, but his will never overcame the ‘program’ that dictated his life into a simple arrangement of orders and compliance, and nothing above or below. Like Richard Cory, the citizen’s refusal to deny the social complex that consumed him made him end his life in a state of grief.

The opinions and observations provided by the sources of these men’s lives are just as important to their legacy, and their appearance from society’s point of view. For example, in ‘Richard Cory’, the society mistakes Cory being “rich– yes, richer than a king” for a form of ‘scouter reading’ on his ‘happiness level’, something their shallow views couldn’t provide. They see him as a hero for the “people on the pavement”, and mistake him for such. Aside from pushing him into loneliness and eventually (though unintentionally) spearheading his demise, the outlying folly of these “people on the pavement” is that, despite the clear message his death gave, they continued with their foolish beliefs and even went as far as to wonder what ‘possibly could have been wrong’. To them, Cory had no need for strife. In a similar case to Beowulf from the aptly named epic, he suffered through the guilt that came from his society misrepresenting him as a hero. In the end, this mistake killed Cory, like Beowulf’s mistake killed him. In ‘The Unknown Citizen’, an equal and opposite example appears from the State’s depiction of society and its people. The examinations of the political bureaucrat on the facts and stats that, to him, made up the citizen’s life are full of blatant straightness and over familiarity as if he were simply reading a business report as opposed to writing a pre-obituary statement. To the bureaucrat, the role of the citizen was simply to be an extra number for the State, nothing less, nothing more, as evidenced by ‘Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd”, and the The unknown citizen, in turn, played his role beautifully. Because of this, the false ‘perfection’ established in the citizen’s meaningfulness was just as poisonous to him as the detachment of Richard Cory from his own society.

This ‘perfection’ is what drives the meaning behind each man’s life and death, both from standpoint of their worlds and their authors’. Richard Cory was born of aristocracy, and because of it suffered from distinct issues as envy, misery, perhaps pride, at one point. All of these eventually came to crash around him and end with a simple message of his reason to exist. Richard Cory was created, both in the poem’s context and by the author, from the need for an example to change the minds of those who believe wrongly that higher status dictates the need or lack of need to separate an individual from the course of the community. The Unknown Citizen was born from anonymity, into anonymity, only to die in anonymity.The citizen was very ordinary, abnormally so, and he is remembered by as much as his tax payoffs and insurance policies. His allegory is aimed at those who would be content to sit comfortably and assume that simply being themselves is enough to warrant an identity. He went through life with this mentality and left with only a tag: JS/07/M/378. He and Cory are memoirs to the existence of such beliefs, challenging them in their own separate ways.
Both works establish these men differently, but in their final purpose they both assume the identity of an allegory, to warn of the effects their respective lies have on the whole of a community. “Richard Cory” does it with impact and flair, like the nature associated with it’s main character’s defining social group. “The Unknown Citizen”, like its titular character, leaves much open to interpretation and the imagination as far as the gritty details. Both poems, however, serve as a reminder of the pollution that so easily corrupts the human population.