To Be Known: King Lear

In the Shakespearean play King Lear many characters are obsessed with being known or the opposite, being unknown. In a group discussion we came to the following conclusion, you always want what you don't have, but once you have it you no longer want it. It goes along with the saying "the grass is always greener on the other side". The best examples of this in the play are the two characters who want to be known, Lear and Edmund, and the two characters that do not want to be known, Edgar and Kent.
In the beginning of the story Lear gives away his crown and power but attempts to keep his title, so that he will remain known. Despite the fact that he retained the title of King, no one referred to him as it and that enraged him, he spent the entire play trying to be known, trying to make it to that greener grass.
Edmund was known as a bastard and was disliked because of the fact. He was attempting to change how he was known, instead of bastard by few, he wanted noble and great by many. He was known by few and not known well, he wanted the fame and fortune of his brother and friends, willing to sabotage and betray them in the process.
Both Edgar and Kent were well known and liked by many in the beginning of the play, but then had to disguise themselves and hide their identities later on to avoid danger. Both characters were known by far too many for the wrong reasons and had to make themselves less known in order to protect themselves and still aid the ones they love. Edgar was betrayed by Edmund and forced into his position by no fault of his own. Kent spoke out righteously against the King in defense of poor Cordelia. Kent refused to back down from his position and was banished by Lear.
In short, the characters that were known desired to be anonymous while the unknown characters craved fame and recognition. It is just like today's world, everyone wants to be famous and to be recognized by others, yet we always hear the news stories where celebrities beg for just one normal day where they can go about there business and not get recognized. Celebrities even disguise themselves sometimes just like Kent and Edgar in order to achieve anonymity.  We always want what we don't have and the grass is greener on the other side.

Charley and Me

In the play Death of a Salesman there is a character named Charley. Charley is neighbors with the protagonist Willy Loman and they don't exactly get along. Willy has a temper on him and doesn't really get along with anyone except himself and his dead brother, who may not even be real. Even though Willy is a hard man to get along with Charley tries. He tries to be friends with Willy, talks to him casually, wants to play cards all the time, and he always helps Willy when Willy needs it, expecting nothing in return. I like to think of myself like Charley, trying to befriend everybody and helping whoever I can. When I help someone I don't expect something in return, I do it simply because I want to help, in this way I think I relate to Charley.

Section 5

In the final section of this heated page turner Montag manages to escape the mechanical hound by masking his scent with Faber’s and floating down the river. After he is sure the hound is gone he climbs the bank and walks until he finds train tracks. He follows the train tracks a group of Einstein hobos. This is my name for them because they have novels, plural, memorized, word for word. After that the books ends and the story is left incomplete,yearning for a sequel that will never come.

Text to Self Connection: This past summer I myself floated down a river. Although there were no killer robot dogs… or Einstein hobos… but still, when I read about him floating down the river my mind jumped back to several weeks ago when I floated down the Provo River with a bunch of French Exchange Students.

Text to Text Connection: Speaking of killer dogs that reminds me of hagrid’s giant three headed dog named Cerberus that guarded the Sorcerer's Stone in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Section 4

In this section Montag starts out by reading a poem to his wife and her friends. This starts a trail of unfortunate events in which he gets turned in by his own wife, is forced to burn down his own house, and then he cooks his captain with a flamethrower! That last part isn’t too bad i guess, I mean who wouldn’t want to flamethrower their boss? But then he ends up on the run with a mechanical hound, the unstoppable killing machine, hunting him down.

Text to Self Connection: Sometimes we all feel like taking a flamethrower to our superiors. They can just get on your nerves and push your buttons. I applaud Montag for what he did and soon, metaphorically of course, I will release my anger in a flaming torrent.

Text to Text Connection: In this novel there is the savage death of Beatty. In the book Lone Survivor Marcus and his comrades fought for their lives on top of a mountain in the Middle East, the 4 of them against hundreds. They fought their way down the mountain, getting severely wounded but killing many enemies. They caused many, many savage deaths.

Section 3

Last we left Montag he had decided to investigate the reason behind firemen and their actions, but even with his best effort, he was stumped. Sure he could read but did not understand! He had no clue what he was reading because he couldn’t think complex enough to understand the concepts. He seeked help from a scholar he had met in the park one year ago. He found him and convinced him to help. This new dynamic duo sets out to save books, and move the country towards a revolution.

Text to Self Connection: Whenever I am confused or lost I also seek out the help of friends or family. I hate floundering in my own confusion and seek out help to guide me to understanding. If at first I don’t get it, I try, and try again.

Text to Text Connection: Montag in this section reminded me of Stanley Yelnats from Holes. Montag has trouble understanding what he is reading, so he goes off and finds Faber to help him. In Holes, Stanley can’t dig his holes by himself, so he finds Zero, another boy at the camp to help him dig. They both struggled and instead of drowning chose to find someone to teach them how to swim.

Section 2

In this section everything changes. It starts with Montag and the other firemen going on another call, burning another house. Same old story. Except this time not only does Montag save a book from the flames, but they also burn a woman. With Clarisse, the burned woman, and even Fire Captain Beatty pushing him along, Montag started reading his collection of books he has acquired over the years, he wants to know what’s so special about them… He starts thinking on his own, which is the very danger that books were outlawed for in the first place. Self thought does not lead to bliss.

Text to Self Connection: Like Montag I also want to know why I do something. I don’t want to just have a job that has me do misleading work for no reason. I want to know my purpose and the reason behind my actions, so in Montag’s position I would do the same, I would read the book.

Text to Text Connection: In the book Stormbreaker the protagonist Alex Rider is also curious about his purpose in life. With the recent death of his uncle, odd people keep showing up and his life is put in danger. Like Montag he sets out on his own mission to not only find himself and his purpose, but to discover the cause behind his uncle’s murder.

Section 1

In Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 we meet the protagonist as he burns down a house. His name is Montag, and he doesn’t really burn down the house, just the inside of it because in this futuristic world all houses are fireproofed. Montag is a fireman unlike the ones we know in real life. In this story firemen are more or less fire starters. What they do is go into houses and burn books because reading is illegal. After we meet Montag we are quickly introduced to another character named Clarisse, and Clarisse surprises Montag by asking him questions he has never thought about, she gets him thinking about life.

Text to Self Connection: This last year I have met many new people and with each person I meet they change the way I look at something. They affect my thinking and leave an impression on me that never fades, just like Clarisse does to Montag.

Text to Text Connection: When Montag met Clarisse, she caused him to rethink his entire being and life, this similarly occurred in the novel Eragon when Eragon met Saphira, she completely changed his view on life and what is possible.