Murderer, liar, manipulator; these are only a few words that describe the enigmatic Sergeant John Wilson. In the historical book, The Secret Lives of Sgt. John Wilson: A True Story of Love & Murder, written by Lois Simmie, we get acquainted with the complex balancing act of a life John Wilson lived. We find out about his two-faced love life, the bloody solution, and the elaborate cover up. In Simmie’s thought-provoking book, John Wilson abandons his family in Scotland, for a better life in Canada on the force. John battles debilitating sickness along with the decision to double-cross his wife. His young love interest Jessie cares for him as he battles tuberculosis. While, “many young women Jessie’s age would have had second thoughts about commitment …show more content…
Case one was in August of 1906 when John asked Polly Hutchison’s parents for permission to ask for Polly’s hand in marriage. They were all very excited about this “and a bit relieved after Jack’s dramatic announcement, that if he wasn’t allowed to marry Polly, he would blow his brains out” (8). People who have a stable mental state do not threaten to commit suicide, especially when it is hardly necessary. In another instance, Simmie mentions Jessie having to hide John’s guns; “she had hidden his service revolver more than once when he threatened to kill himself,” (110). A new wife having to hide her husband’s service revolver to prevent him from committing suicide is not normal and is just another reason Sergeant John Wilson is insane. As well, while John is fantasizing about a life with Jessie he considers how great his life could be if Polly “conveniently died”(56). Luckily for Polly, John decides not to proceed in that direction right away because many people in Regina know Polly, but he never once states murder would be wrong. John having thoughts of harming him or others for personal benefits is not a healthy mentality to
Literary villains are all around us. For instance, Voldemort from Harry Potter and Darth Vader from Star Wars. What makes a villain? They will go through anyone or damage anything to reach their goal. No matter how small or how tall they are, anyone can be a villain. One of the worst literary villains is Erik Fisher from Tangerine, written by Edward Bloor. He is a liar and a thief. Those traits are what makes the best villains. Throughout the book, Erik shows that he is a villain through his vile and offensive behavior, his need for power, and his insanity.
Doug Swieteck, from “Okay for Now”, by Gary D. Schmidt, lived a life in anger. At the beginning of the book, he was very hateful of everything. He had spent a long time in anger and disgust, trying to find a way in life. Near the beginning of the book, Joe Pepitone gave Doug his baseball cap and jacket in person, to Doug. But, Doug’s mean older brother took the cap and his dad took his jacket. That added to Doug’s anger even more. But, luckily he turned it around in the middle and end of the book. He ended being a lot happier and was able to control his emotions better.
It is often astounding how secrets can tear lives apart. The Secret Lives of Sgt. John Wilson gives testament to this fact. This story is the ultimate portrayal of deception and betrayal set amidst the serene, isolated canvas of the Saskatchewan prairies. What makes this story seems unbelievable is the fact that this is a true story which actually occurred as opposed to being fiction. John Wilson killed his loving unsuspecting wife Polly and hid her body in an isolated culvert in 1918 near Waldheim, Saskatchewan. Some years later he would be tried in a court of law, convicted and hung for his crime in Prince Alberta, Saskatchewan. He was the first and only Mountie to be hung in Canadian History. Once again, providing that the Mounties did get their man after intense justifying
“[Suddenly there was a tremendous explosion, Doc and Roberts clutch at the desk] ‘Roberts: Oh, my God! Doc: He wasn’t kidding’”!(400) They turn around to find Ensign Frank Pulver wearing a tattered uniform and a blackened face. This just one of Frank Pulver’s many childish and naive stunts in the play Mister Roberts by Joshua Logan. Throughout the play, Frank Pulver is indirectly characterized as being immature and foolish through his actions, humor, and dialogue.
Reverend John Hale is the character whose beliefs and principles change most throughout the arc of Arthur Miller's The Crucible, as he finds his morals, values, and intentions changing dramatically during the proceedings of the Salem Witch Trials.
“Their world didn’t allow them to take things easily, didn’t allow them to be sane, virtuous, happy" (Huxley 41). John The Savage is the son of the director and Linda. Tomakin abandoned them on the reservation. Tomakin did not even know John existed until he appeared in London as an adult. He is the only character to grow up in the outside world. John gets his name because he grew up on an Indian savage reservation in New Mexico. John is considered to be the protagonist of the story, and a figure of what the old world order used to be like. In Aldous Huxley’s book, Brave New World, John the Savage is clearly an unorthodox character because he does not fit in physically, intellectually, or morally.
In a time where the general population is overweight and obsessed with technology, there isn’t much time for the outside world. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson is about two corpulent men on a journey to walk the Appalachian Trail. At first their tale seems unlikely because of their weight and the fact that they have never hiked a day in their lives. However, it quickly turns into an inspiring story that we, as people, should use to spark our own adventure in the great unknown. Bryson writes A Walk in the Woods to encourage people to live a little and experience the great outdoors, to meet interesting people in it, and to encounter the enthralling wildlife that resides on the Appalachian Trail.
The play “A Raisin in the Sun” was written by Lorraine Hansberry marking her first ever written play. Lorraine Hansberry was the first African American woman to write a play that was to be produced on Broadway. Although a brilliant writer, Hansberry’s opportunities of writing were cut short when she died at the age of thirty-five from cancer. Lorraine lived from 1930 to 1965, dying on the day that Broadway closed her second play, “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window”. “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window” was written in 1964, only 5 years later than “A Raisin in the Sun” which was written in 1959. Later in 1959, “A Raisin in the Sun” won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, becoming the first
The Secret Lives of Sgt. John Wilson, written by Lois Simmie, is a hybrid book featuring a nonfiction storyline with a personal, albeit fabricated, flare which gives us a glimpse into what the interior dialogue of the individuals involved the novel might have felt. The essence in focus centres around John Wilson, sometimes referred to as Jack, and the double life which he opts to play. Throughout the plot of the novel, personalities clash and emotions formerly unseen rise to the surface. One action is used as a recurring theme anchoring all of the chapters and events together, that being deception. Betrayal and deception by the hands of John Wilson were shown towards the main individuals of the novel, namely Polly, Elizabeth, and Jessie.
The Crucible was the turning point in literature and in history. It showed how people were convicted with only a minute amount of evidence. The only thing that would have caused a person to be convicted was if people went into hysterics. However, for someone to be accused of using witchcraft, someone else has to say he or she had seen them practicing it or they were the only person who could see it. The trials caused some of the characters to learn new attributes about themselves. Elizabeth Proctor is more reserved. John Proctor, on the other hand, is more prideful; whereas, Reverend Hale is more confident. These three characters go through their own personal journeys and uncover the person within them beneath the surface, which in turn broadcasts their true identity to the audience.
Years after he had not returned and Polly was left without answers of his whereabouts, her love for her husband led her to travel blindly to find him and be by his side. Soon after she arrived in Canada a series of fateful events unfolded that led her untimely death. John Wilson had murdered his wife to be by the side of his young, unsuspecting mistress. Simmie states that “And as I wrote about Polly Wilson I thought often of my grandmother, Annie Thomson, who came to Ontario from Scotland as a young woman ----She was a courageous, resourceful woman with a strong faith and like Polly Wilson, she worked as a seamstress.” (p 216). This connection to her grandmother sparked a passion for the story and led her to begin her research into the Secret Lives of Sgt. John Wilson. John Wilson led a life of lies, much to the point that he no longer knew the truth. Simmie took every accurate detail of his recorded life, personal and professional, and used her knowledge to tell the story of a man so desperate and broken, no boundary was too far, the act of murder nothing but a means to an
...n his path to redemption. In order to save his life, he is tempted into admitting that he is indeed in league with the Devil. But if done he would be telling a terrible lie and is also blackening the names of all the other prisoners who've refused to give in. When John is asked to actually sign his name, he refuses. The act of putting his name to paper is just too much. By signing his name he would have signed away his soul. Though he would have saved his life, his goodness would've been forever out of his reach.
This is shown by the stigmatization that men where cowards if they didn’t fight in the war, and the representation of soldiers who where expected to be voiceless like the women of the time. With the little understanding of mental illness Pat Barker represents how the phycologists and society struggled to comprehend what these young men went through. Through this incredibly deep form of literature Barker establishes that there is a fine line between sanity and
Fences written by August Wilson portray’s a brute man named Troy. He has everything going for him and has a loving family. Troy hit only a double in the game of life because while he cares for his family’s well being, he has slip ups with how he treats his wife and son, and he gets caught up with another woman.
August Wilsons play, Fences, tells us the story of a man named Troy Maxson and his family. Troy Maxson did not live an easy life. He was raised in a time where African Americans were not welcome. The city where he was raised was flourishing and people were profiting. Wanting to take part of the city’s wealth, the African Americans were hopeful and packed their bags to move to the city. Wilson, says that “they came from places called the Carolinas and the Virginias, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee.” They came to take part of the growing economy. They were described coming to the city well prepared for their new journey. Wilson says, “they came strong, eager searching.” However because of their color they were