Malcolm Gladwell's "The Crooked Ladder" effectively uses two published texts --A Family Business: Kinship and Social Control in Organized Crime and On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City-- to compare and contrast how the relationship between social mobility and crime has changed from the 1960s to now. If one were to describe this essay under the heading of "Lost & Found," one could say that this essay explores how criminals in the past "found" legitimacy and how society and the law enforcement system have changed to make it so that today's criminals stay "lost" in their criminal endeavors.
If you had to compare and contrast two different "texts" (novels, scholarly texts, newspaper accounts, television shows, songs, movies) in your essay of "Lost & Found," which two texts would you use? Why?
The two texts I would use under the heading of "Lost and Found" are two songs by Super Junior: Evanesce and This is Love. Both songs talk about love. However, Evanesce talks about a loss of love and This is Love talks about finding love. Evanesce explains how "love is momentary" and that love seems to be like the setting sun. This is Love explains that love is "the clear sky, sun over the horizon" and when love is found, "Every day is a lovely day". The songs, Evanesce and This is Love, by Super Junior are an example of a "lost and found" story over love. They exemplify how a loss of love can easily occur and darken one's life, while finding love can bring happiness to one's life constantly.
ReplyDeleteThe two texts I would use under the heading of "Lost and Found" are short stories by Anton Chekhov and Leo Tolstoy. Anton Chekhov’s Ward No. 6 focuses on the nihilist perspective while delving into the pointlessness of existing while Leo Tolstoy’s A Confession traverses through religion and the purpose of life. I would choose these two texts to compare and contrast because they both focus on a grim perspective of living while questioning the meaning of creation and suffering. While Leo Tolstoy ends with enlightenment, Chekhov’s story ends with more suffering and questions left unanswered. I believe the two have similar approaches to questioning life, but very different outcomes.
ReplyDeleteThe two texts that I would use under the heading of "Lost and Found" are two different books by Nicholas Sparks. The first one is "The Notebook". This is about a couple who falls in love but as the couple grows old, the woman in the relationship starts forgeting things so she forgets she is even married and who her husband is. She becomes lost in her own mind and life. The next book by Nicholas Sparks that I would use is called "The Last Song", this book is about a young girl who goes to live with her dad for the summer and while she is there she finds love and stays with that guy the rest of her life. So she really found herself while she was there with her dad that summer. I think both of these books teach us to not that anything in life for granted and that we can never expect the unexpected. Both books have the couples meeting in the most unexpected ways, but that is how love works. It always occurs when you are least expecting it.
ReplyDeleteTwo movies that I would use to describe my life as “lost and found” are Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Parenthood. The first movie, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, deals with so many themes that I can relate to when I was a young teenager. Each character dealt with their own issue such as struggling for independence, or dating, or popularity, drugs, money, etc. As a teenager, or even young adult, these themes are bound to come up at some point and for me most of them did. Fast forward to today and the movie that represents me being “found” is Parenthood. Since becoming a wife and mother I feel like I have found what I am supposed to be doing at this moment in my life. Yes, being a parent is hard and exhausting, but it is also a funny and unique experience. I know that this stage of my life will not last forever, but for the time being it is what makes me feel like I have “found” what I should be doing.
ReplyDeleteI would chose to compare the novels "1984" by George Orwell and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey. Both of the books concern authority that controls the masses. In both cases, the masses are unaware of the extent of the control due to being reconditioned to believe that everything is being done for their good. They are similar in several ways, but also very different. Since I love both of these books very much and I'd recommend them for everyone to read, I do not want to give too much insight (just in case there are a few of you who actually do read other comments), but both books depict people who are lost, but they need to be found in the sense of who they are and the truth about their lifestyle. However, in one case, being lost leads to being found, while the other involves being found which leads to being lost.
ReplyDeleteThe two different “texts” I would like to compare and contrast are two completely different genres of songs that state that they hate certain things or everything about their spouses and yet they still happen to love them. The first song is “I hate everything about you” by Three Days Grace and the second song is “The seven things I hate about you” by Miley Cyrus. Three Days Grace is a rock band while Miley Cyrus is a contemporary hip hop singer. This lyric is taken from the band Three Days Grace, “I hate everything about you. Why do I love you?”, and this lyric is taken from Miley Cyrus “And the seventh thing I hate the most that you do, you make me love you.” While one song is far more playful than the other they are both love songs in their own way. When I interpret the song “I hate everything about you” I feel that this song is talking about a loss of a loved one however, the love for their partner is still there. When I interpret the song “The seven things I hate about you” I think of a couple play fighting and the love for their partner is found.
ReplyDeleteThe two texts that I would compare and contrast are song lyrics by Gary Allan. The story behind "Songs About Rain" illustrates a love that has been lost. The woman has remarried, while the man continues to dwell on what could have been. In this song, the man seems to be lost without his loved one and is heart broken over her moving on. The second song is called "Right Where I Need to Be" and is a story of how a man found that spending time with his woman meant more to him than his career. The lyrics explain: "I finally got all my priorities in line. I'm right where I need to be. Where when I hear her, I can see her. I can smell her sweet perfume. I can feel her skin against me when I sleep." These two songs compare and contrast love that has been lost and love that has been found again.
ReplyDeleteI would compare two women's stories from the book "Turning the Wheel: American Women Creating the New Buddhism" by Sandy Boucher. Judith Ragir and Michelle McDonald have both experienced sexual abuse and rely on Buddhism as a source of healing. I want to compare these stories to be able to identify similarities between them that have allowed them to expand their conciseness through Buddhism.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI will be comparing two song one is by Incubus "Love Hurts" this is by and American Rock band here from California. The second song is by Hunter Hayes "Wanted” this is more of a country song. Both of these songs are about loving someone. The first song talk about loving someone but it hurting them to love. The person loves the feeling they feel because it makes them feel alive. The second song talks about loving someone and always wanting to be with a person to love and making them want to feel like they are wanted. Both songs have different meanings but also very similar.
ReplyDeleteThe two text that I would compare "Lost and Found" to would be the film of Bonnie & Clyde. Clyde is a wanted criminal, in which Bonnie, who is a good country women, fell in love with Clyde and they went a killing spree. They were prohibited to be together, but refused to stay away from one another and both were wanted fugitives. The second text I am using is the movie, The Notebook, a man and woman were also prohibited to be together because of their social class and once they have grown old together, the woman is diagnosed with Alzheimers and eventually forgets who her beloved husband is. Both of these couples were prohibited to be together due to similar reasons, but they are both in love.
ReplyDeleteThe texts I would compare and contrast are the movie Elf and Blank Check. In Elf, the main characters father is a big editor of a book publishing company, spends long hours at work and never has time for his family until then end when he realizes he misses all the family’s big events such as Christmas Eve and Christmas, that he quits his job to be able to spend more time with his family. In Blank Check, the main character receives a blank check and cashes it for $1,000,000.00. Towards the end of the movie he realizes the true value of money and that it isn’t everything. The two movies compare what some may think as a virtue (having everything one has ever dreamed of) and what others may think as a disadvantage (having too much leading to losing everything).
ReplyDeleteThe texts I would compare and contrast are song lyrics from the rapper Eminem "Love the way you lie" and from Jason Mraz "The woman I love." Eminem's song talks about an abusive romantic relationship. It explains the difficulty of being in a relationship where the two are constantly at each others faces, but cannot seem to live without each other. The song by Jason Mraz is about how they both annoy each other but there is no reason for him to leave her. He will always be support her and make her feel loved. She is the reason why he keeps holding on to their relationship. Both songs explain how they cannot stand each other but there is nothing that can separate them.
ReplyDeleteIF I had to compare and contrast two “texts” into my “Lost & Found” essay I would compare two songs from two different genres: Welcome to My Life performed by Simple Plan and There Goes My Life performed by Kenny Chesney. Though both songs are about one’s personal life both have different perspectives of it. In Welcome to My Life, teen depression and all the conflicts that rise throughout puberty on growing in general. All those feelings and thought one gains when something is not going right in life or at the moment all become these questions that the lyrics to the song picture. In There Goes My Life, fear of losing dreams, fear of becoming an adult, fear of loving someone more that you love yourself, but yet the fear of losing the one you gave it all up for is portrait. In this song, the young man is letting go of his life to become a parent but later on realizes that his child is growing and going on her own way that’s when he realizes his life is going away too. In song one teens have lost hope and found that they’re not alone. In song two, the father has lost his dreams but found his dreams to just have changed with time.
ReplyDeleteThe two “texts” I would compare would be the movie “The Pursuit of Happiness” and a poem titled “A Blueprint for a Breakthrough” by Shane Koyczan. Both deal with going over and tackling life’s hurdles. In the movie, Christopher Gardner endures many hardships, and tries to get ahead for the sake of him and his son. The poem is by one of my favorite spoken word poets. Shane talks about his realization of what he is meant to do by first doing everything he isn’t. He talks about his personal experiences with finding himself and how fear was is number one enemy. Both of these beautiful pieces illustrate the difficulties life brings and how they overcame it. It delves into the concept of being lost in the process.
ReplyDeleteThe two texts I would try to compare is the song "Photograph" by Ed Sheeran alongside the movie "The Notebook." "The Notebook" is a class love story in which many hurdles are presented as well as the idea of a forever love story which is conflicted by the woman's diagnosis of a chronic debilitating disease, Alzheimer's. Due to the nature of this disease, the woman loses memories of the couple's love, but the husband preserves the essence and memoirs while remaining alongside his true love. The song "Photograph" discusses the preservation of love in picture form so that the beauty of the relationship will remain with the couple forever.
ReplyDeleteThe first text that came to mind when reading this prompt was Fleetwood Mac's song "Seven Wonders." The song emphasizes a special place/person that has touched a person's life. This person/moment has touched this person on such a deep level it is compared to the seven wonders. Ultimately, the seven wonders cannot be matched as this particular person/moment was truly once in a lifetime. I would compare another song by Fleetwood Mac "Songbird." This song emphasizes relationships in general. Many can relate to this song whether it is as lovers, friends, parents and their children etc. It is basically a love song that emphasizes on the importance a person can hold in anothers life. I would view "Seven Wonders" as lost. The moment or person was lost in time and "Songbird" as found.
ReplyDeleteThe two texts I would try to compare would be "Love in the Dark" by Adele and "Ring Off" by Beyonce.
ReplyDelete"Love in the Dark" is about loving someone, but no longer in love with the person. The song is explaining how it's hard for her to leave and how things have changed throughout the time they've been together. "Ring Off" is song from a daughter to her mother, supporting her choice to leave. The song is just describing that the daughter saw everything the mother did to make her husband happy and after a while she gave up, but that her life after the relationship isn't over, it's actually just starting. The song is actually an empowering break up-ish song, instead of gloomy.
Both songs are clearly about breakups and love, but the outlook is completely different. One is from a mature stand point, "love in the dark" and she even says she is thankful and did not regret anything, and even that she still loved him, as it was hard for her to leave. "Ring Off" was actually encouraging showing that i the breakup she gains new freedom and happiness. I think breakups and relationships have different effects on everyone and these two songs are prime examples of how each person handles life situations differently.
In my essay of "Lost and Found" I would compare two songs, "I wont give up" by Jason Mraz and "Say something" by A Great Big World, Christina Aguilera. Both of these songs are about a love between two people who are facing a difficult patch in their relationship even though they deal with the situation differently. The song "I won't give up" is about not giving up on the person you love. There is a verse in the song that says "And when you're needing your space to do some navigating I'll be here patiently waiting" which goes to show this person is willing to give that person time. In the other hand, the song "Say something" is about a person who is in love but is not quite willing to wait around for his or her lover to come around. The main chorus is " Say something I'm giving up on you.." which implies that they are ready to move on if that person won't come around. Relationships can be complicated and there's always going to be various options as to how deal with certain situations. These two songs show 2 different ways to cope with a relationship break up, you can either fight for your relationship or give up.
ReplyDeleteI can connect more with songs, than with movies and books. So, for my essay "Lost and Found," I will compare two songs that are about love. Love for a daughter and love in relation to woman and man united in marriage. The first song is "My Little Girl" by Tim McGraw. The singer describes his daughter as a baby and growing up to be a fine woman and no man will ever be good enough for her. He reminds her that he will always be there for her. The second song that I have chosen is A Thousand Years by Christina Perri. It is about the love she has had with her soulmate. The title implies that she has loved him for a thousand years, which means that forever she will love him, in every step of the way.
ReplyDeleteTwo texts that come to mind with this prompt are the songs "All You Had to Do Was Stay" by Taylor Swift and "Arms" by Christina Perri. The song "All You Had to Do Was Stay" expresses frustration and sadness about a love that has been lost and a significant other who walked away and gave up on the relationship. One lyric strongly conveys the sense of feeling lost: "The more I think about it now, the less I know. All I know is that you drove us off the road." The next song, "Arms," tells a much different story. This song conveys feeling as though you have been found and feeling at home in the arms of another person. This song talks about being in love and knowing that you have found where you are supposed to be. One lyric that sums this up is, "You put your arms around me and I'm home."
ReplyDeleteIf I had to compare and contrast two texts in my personal essay I would choose two songs. I would compare and contrast "All you had to do was stay" by Taylor swift and "Shut up and let me go" by The Ting Tings. These songs are in two completely ends of the spectrum. Taylor Swift's song focuses on how the singer is sad that her significant other left her. She feels devastated because he left her. This is the reason the chorus of the song she says, "All you had to do was stay". On the other hand we have The Ting Things with "shut up and let me go." This song also deals with separation but in a completely different way. The Ting Tings know that the relationship will not work therefore they want the significant other to leave by saying:
ReplyDelete"I ain't freaking
I ain't faking this
Shut up and let me go"
This songs show how there are many different ways of dealing with separation in a relationship.
Two text I would compare and contrast would be two from Gwen Stefani, "Make Me Like You" and "Cool". Both songs are about being in love. In the song "Make Me like You", she is scared to be in a relationship because she was heartbroken and didn't want to be in relationship, but it happened. It is explained in the lyrics, "I was fine before I met you, I was broken but fine, I was lost and uncertain, but my heart was still mine." While in the "Cool" lyrics: And after all the obstacles. It's good to see you now with someone else. And it's such a miracle that you and me are still good friends. After all that we've been through,I know we're cool.
ReplyDeleteIn the prior song, she was heart broken and now her and her ex are cool and friends. Breakups are usually never pretty and she never thought it would be possible, but it did happen and are still friends.
If I had to choose two text for my "Lost and Found" essay I would choose the songs "How to save a life" by the Fray and
ReplyDelete"Lucky" by Jason Mraz. The first song talks about a relationship that is going really bad and changes need to happen but they are so lost.
"Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life"
These lyrics can be translated into eventually one of them can't take it anymore and commits suicide. As for the other song it is about a couple who considers each other their best friend and are completely happy with each other. "Every time we say goodbye, I wish we had one more kiss." These two songs show how the spectrum for love can range. You can be so miserable it leads to taking your life or you can be so happy and in love with someone that you will wait for them forever regardless of where they go.