The Golden Girl
By: Britton Brophy
October 20 2017
Brophy 2
Leslie Van Houten was finally found suitable for parole after 46 years in prison and 21 appearances before California’s Board of Parole Hearings. But if recent history is any indication, this participant in one of the most shocking crimes in American history likely won’t go free. In the justice system there are a lot of shocking turns and twists that could go since this trial is very popular since the late 60s. Manson who mostly in the U.S. knows about, was not just a serial killer he had a cult/ group of followers in is scheme to somehow murder famous people in the Los Angeles area. When Van Houten was arrested and paraded into court with Manson’s
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In both his groundbreaking account of Smith’s murders, and in his later writings, Capote described seeing himself in Smith, as they were both ostracized in their youth, though Capote’s circumstantial privilege allowed him to engage with his own unhappiness by creating art. In 1976, Leslie’s original conviction was thrown out due to “ineffectual counsel” (her original lawyer drowned in the middle of her trial and was replaced) and she was given a new trial in 1977. This time, she was all by herself as a defendant in the courtroom. Remorse had started to creep in soon after she was imprisoned away from Manson. Locked away forever, Leslie, Susan, and Patricia were of no further use to Charlie and he dropped them quickly. The outsider voices of reason from the prison social workers started to seep in and Leslie began to see the holes in Manson’s brainwashing. “When I’d be questioned,” she later told author Karlene Faith for her very insightful and intelligent but little known book The Long Prison Journey of Leslie Van Houten, “I’d go blank and become frustrated like when a machine jams and just sits there making noise. In my head nothing was functioning. I was trying to understand, breaking down stiff little slogans that had been drilled into me.” When two other “Manson girls”, Mary Brunner and Catherine Shaw, a.k.a. “Gypsy”, were sent to jail and placed with Leslie, Susan and Patricia, Leslie grew tired of listening to their Manson talk and confided to Patricia that “I’ve changed. I’m not into this.” “It took three years to understand” and five or six years of therapy to “take responsibility” for the terrible crime she had helped commit. After reading and watching videos about these killers it would strongly believe that Leslie Van Houten should get another chance at
In his most recent album, Kanye West raps, “Now if I fuck this model/ And she just bleached her asshole/ And I get bleach on my T-shirt/ I 'mma feel like an asshole.” He suggests that it is the girl’s fault for getting bleach on his tee shirt, which she only did to make herself more sexually appealing. This misogyny in hip-hop culture is recognized to bring about problems. For instance, the women around these rappers believe they can only do well in life if they submit themselves to the men and allow themselves to be cared for in exchange for physical pleasure. In her essay, “From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Hoes”, Joan Morgan argues that the same rap music that dehumanizes women can be a powerful platform for gender equality if implemented correctly.
The film Capote, based on the how the writer of “In Cold Blood” did his research to write his book, a masterpiece of literature, has portrayed Capote’s behavior during his research vividly. Capote’s behavior during the years Perry waits on death row in order to get personal testimony of the night of killings is a controversial topic. Some argue that what Capote did was absolutely necessary for an ambitious writer to create such a master piece while other argue that human ethics is more important than the creation of an ideal “non-fiction noble” and the paths he took to get there are morally ambiguous. Even though he gave the world a milestone in literature, his behaviors seem unethical because he lied, pretended to be a friend of an accused murderer who was in a death row, and did not have any empathy to him.
The book, Memoirs of a Geisha, is about a girl, Chiyo, who was born in a fishing village in Yoroido, Japan. Chiyo was born into a lower income village; she and her sister, Satsu, were sold by their father into the geisha society to make up for the lack of medicine that her mom needed. Satsu ended up in the pleasure district in Kyoto and Chiyo was forced to go to an Okiya house to work to become a Geisha for the rest of her life. The meaning of a geisha is artisan, it is a Japanese hostess trained to entertain men with conversation, dance, and song.
As a child he was sent to many reform schools. He has spent the last four decades behind bars. He will never get out prison. He will eventually die in prison. This is the life of Charles Manson. Charles Manson is a sick and cruel criminal.
There are so many things I like about Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad, it’s difficult to figure out where to start. There are many characters in the novel, and I can only think of a handful whose lives aren’t intricately laid out for the reader. Not only are these characters interesting and full of life, but they are all intertwined with one another throughout. The novel jumps through time to each of the characters in various points in their lives, in a way that highlights the peaks and valleys of their lives.
We are born into this world with the realization that life is hard and that life is like a box of chocolates and it is hard to take it at face value. The majority of our time is spent trying to answer an endless stream of questions only to find the answers to be a complex path of even more questions. This film tells the story of Harold, a twenty year old lost in life and haunted by answerless questions. Harold is infatuated with death until he meets a good role model in Maude, an eighty year old woman that is obsessed with life and its avails. However, Maude does not answer all of Harold’s questions but she leads him to realize that there is a light at the end of everyone’s tunnel if you pursue it to utmost extremes by being whatever you want to be. Nevertheless, they are a highly unlikely match but they obviously help each other in many ways in the film.
My Mise-en-scene analysis is on American Beauty on page 217: number 1(The dinner scene). The frame itself is a very closed, tight shot; there is no way for the characters to escape and they're left with only confronting each other in this very little space. The shot of the camera isn't necessarily far away or close either. It's neutral, and we can see the full action of the family's dinner conversation happening right in front of us. My eyes were immediately attracted to the bright, white table and then my eyes focused on the faces of the family. The scene's texture is slightly fuzzy, and is not very detailed. But the character's faces are still recognizable. The foreground of this scene is the table with the man and woman sitting at each end; the middle is the girl-who is
Everyone dreams of having the perfect life. For hundreds of years, America has remained the land of opportunities. The American Dream is simply what lured millions to start the lives in America. It’s theoretically the basis of American life. However, in post World War 2, the American Dream seemed to be only targeted to white males. The American Dream seemed unattainable for racial minorities. Not only was life hard for non-white Americans, women also had a difficult time fulfilling their dreams. White males reigned supreme while everyone else was left in the dark. A Raisin in the Sun does a stupendous job of painting a picture of what hardships and injustices non-whites and women faced in the segregated 1950’s. A raisin in the sun focuses on
In Langston Hughes’ poem, the author gives us vivid examples of how dreams get lost in the weariness of everyday life. The author uses words like dry, fester, rot, and stink, to give us a picture of how something that was originally intended for good, could end up in defeat. Throughout the play, I was able to feel how each character seemed to have their dreams that fell apart as the story went on. I believe the central theme of the play has everything to do with the pain each character goes thru after losing control of the plans they had in mind. I will attempt to break down each character’s dream and how they each fell apart as the play went on.
The appearance, mannerisms and attitude of the main character, Matthew Poncelet, in "Dead Man Walking," closely resembled those of real-life death row convict Robert Lee Willie, whom Sister Prejean spiritually counseled. Also, the experience of the victim, Hope Percy, in the movie and the reaction of her family, closely paralleled those of the young girl, Faith Hathaway, who was savagely raped, beaten, and killed by Willie. And since Sister Prejean deliberately intended that her book rally people against the death penalty, and because this book served as the central groundwork for the movie "Dead Man Walking," I believe it is important that people be made aware ...
John Milton’s epic Paradise Lost and Mark Water’s movie Mean Girls display how different parental styles affect children. Parents are important characters in all works, whether it be a novel, play, movie, epic, or television show. As a result of the many mediums in which parents are portrayed, often different representations of parents can appear. This is the case with Paradise Lost and Mean Girls. Not only do these works showcase the different ways parental figures govern over children, but they also show how the reactions children have to these controls can be very similar even in different situations. As is apparent with the parent and/or divine leader roles of God the Father and Satan in Paradise Lost and Mrs. George and Mr. and Mrs. Heron in Mean Girls. An analysis of both Paradise Lost and Mean Girls
In Truman Capote’s famous non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood, there is evidence that supports the injustices of the trial: death penalty. The final outcome of the trail was never to be any different than death. “Of all the people in all the world, the Clutters were the least likely to be murdered” (Capote 85). We know the two men who killed the Clutter family, Perry Smith and Bill Hickock, preplanned the crime with malice and forethought. Although the actions were crul and grusome, does Death Row fit what they did if their pasts, childhood environments and situation, are bad. Capote shows the effect of childhood on the killers and if the death penalty is fair. Capote gives the killers a voice to show their humanity by giving childhood accounts of their lives. He questions the justice of is the death penalty fair, and if inherent evil is a product of childhood or society. Is it nature or nurture? Capote gives a look into the minds of the killers and the nature vs. nurture theory. The detailed account the killers’ childhoods makes the reader sympathize with the Clutter family’s killers Smith and Hickock. Should they reserve the death penalty? Did Truman Capote take a stand on the death penalty? By giving the readers a detailed accounting of Perry Smith’s and Dick Hickock’s childhood, Capote sets up the reader for nurture vs. nature debate on the death penalty. The question then becomes, do the effects (if any) caused by environment in childhood make for a trained killer or a natural born one?
The biological differences that set apart the male and female gender throughout any culture remain eminent. Men are perceived as the stronger and dominant gender; women play the role of the weaker. In each culture the expectation of the manner in which men and women behave are influenced by the ideals and customs of that culture. In most predominant cultures, the man undertakes the role as a leader, and the woman devotes her life to the husband. Throughout history, traditions and literature provide a template to the identities of various cultures. Sleeping Beauty’s classic tale of a beautiful princess takes a central precept that previous patriarchal archetypes dominated during the 17th Century. The archetypal perceptions of women resulted from conscious and unconscious literature influenced by male-dominated perspectives and social standards.
In the short story, “Girl,” the narrator describes certain tasks a woman should be responsible for based on the narrator’s culture, time period, and social standing. This story also reflects the coming of age of this girl, her transition into a lady, and shows the age gap between the mother and the daughter. The mother has certain beliefs that she is trying to pass to her daughter for her well-being, but the daughter is confused by this regimented life style. The author, Jamaica Kincaid, uses various tones to show a second person point of view and repetition to demonstrate what these responsibilities felt like, how she had to behave based on her social standing, and how to follow traditional customs.
The movie, “Mona Lisa Smile” is an inspirational film that explores life through feminism, marriage, and education lead by a modernist teacher at the end of a traditional era. It begins by introducing the lead character, Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts), a liberal-minded novice professor from California, who lands a job in the art history department at a snobbish, all-girl college, called Wellesley, in the fall of 1953. Despite warnings from her boyfriend Paul that a Boston Brahmin environment was out of her element, Katherine was thrilled at the prospect of educating some of the brightest young women in the country however, her image of Wellesley quickly fizzles after her first day of class, in which, was more like a baptism by fire. Her smug students flaunted their exhaustive knowledge of the text and humiliated her in front of a supervisor. However, Katherine, determined not to buckle under pressure, departs from the syllabus in order to regain the upper hand. She quickly challenged the girls’ idea of what constituted art and exposed them to modern artist not endorsed by the school board. She dared them to think for themselves, and explore outside of their traditional views. This form of art was unacceptable by the students at first however, overtime Katherine penetrated her student’s distain and earned their esteem.