The Frontier Myth (True Grit)

The classic western is apart of our American culture and contributes to a lot of fables. In short, what it represented in the film and novel True Grit was what is called a frontier myth. This is seen in media especially in films that featured John Wayne and Clint Eastwood when ‘spaghetti westerns were big. Frontier myths can be described as a way to romanticize the 'wild west', which can make a positive and negative impact. Through the 'wild west' tales, legends such as Jesses James, Buffalo Bill, and Wild Bill came into play with our culture and are still present in popular culture. 

Common traits and themes that follow through the wild west myths include; an unsettled land or country that has unlimited opportunity, having a cowboy, rancher, or gold miner, having one of three characters being glorified for being 'rough and tough' with great strength all around, the person seeking to avenge someone or a town, the character is put up against an antagonist to duel (gunfights/showdowns), is promised riches or in some kind of debt, and is known well for being as a 'lone wolf'. The main character (commonly a cowboy or a 'lone wolf') usually carries values of chivalry, self-dependence, individualism, and personal honesty. 

Now I believe that True Grit carries most of these traits, while it may not have exact cowboys, a country of opportunity, and doesn’t have a stereotype gunfight it follows through with the characteristics stated for the western folklore. Mattie and Rooster have the attributes of being ‘rough and tough’ or, to quote it, true grit. Mattie was looking to of course avenge her father’s murder by making Tom Chaney (the killer) pay. Ross asks Cogburn, a ‘lone wolf’-like character, to help her through a reward of money, which he gladly took. Mattie shows great levels of self-dependence and personal honest by going through with taking revenge for Chaney killing her father. To a certain degree, La Boeuf and Cogburn carry a small reminisce of chivalry. Finally to top everything off each character, while going after the same ‘villain’, hold strong individual traits. In fairness True Grit embodies these ideas and qualities more than I was expecting.

Pride and Prejudice: A Romantic Novel or an Overlooked Story of Enlightenment?

When getting a glimpse at the classic Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, I can say that I was expecting it for what most people were telling me, just a simple romantic story. However upon closer inspection I believe that this did not just carry a simplistic and presumed theme. Otherwise how else would this book be carried on for so many generations? It is clear that Austen was not just thinking on romance while writing, but was also trying to create an understanding in seeing people in an unbiased point of view instead of through high expectations that we put onto others. Expectations of which we created ourselves through opinions that eventual lead to a never ending loop of assumptions that become embedded into a culture or society.

Now I will admit I did not successfully get through the entire story, only about halfway or so, but as someone who is very familiar with Old English (Elizabethan and Edwardian) writing I could still see that theme carried through the text. This book did not only challenge the rolls women had in the 19th century but also the chivalrous expectations of men, essentially trying to break traditional rolls. So in all honesty I think it’s not quite fair to jump to the impression and interpretation that it is just a romantic novel and nothing more. I believe Jane Austen was trying to send out this message of breaking this narrow perspective and expectation, and wanted to challenge the reader to see that book as intended; unprejudiced. Which ironically differs from the title. So from that I conclude that this story truly is to have an open mind, and to have those freedoms to gain knowledge. It is a tale about breaking from human limitations in a society.

A Self Introduction (Origin, Influences, and Ideas)

My origin (at least for my family history) comes from my great grandfather Edward Galli (father's side) Who was an Italian immigrant of the late 1800s. On my mother's side was a hard working self business Italian immigrant man named Michael Taliento. Who struggled with several diseases, including leukemia, making a living side by side with his independent wife Wilma who came from a French immigrant family and worked as a nurse up until this year. Through all of my ancestors has been passed down from my parents and now on to me that the idea of success is to continue through hard work, perseverance, and love anything is possible and with the support of family ties (which is highly preached in my family). What gets me to continue this routine everyday is remembering the determination and the discrimination my grandparents, especially my great grandfather Edward, faced as immigrants and remembering the success, respect, and achievement that they all came out with in the end. That is what helps me to carry on their wisdom as well as the strength, love, passion, and acceptance that they gave to others, despite their own struggles.
I wish I could say that my very own 'story' of origin was as interesting as my grandparents and my great grandfathers, but I am a simple head strong person that came from Portland, Maine. A place that I will always consider to be home.

To be perfectly honest my influences don't include many highly praised figures. My influences come from my family, in particularly my two young brothers. They are the reason I am continuing what I love. To these young boys I am an example for them, as my father and mother was to me, of what a good human being should behave like. They give me hope to a brighter future and as someone that did more that just be their sister to them, practically raising them with my mother, watching them grow to become even wiser than myself gives me plenty to look forward to in their generation. It's amazing how at 14 and 10 they both already know how to critically think, take an interest in politics, and acknowledge equal opportunity and how that may not always create an equal outcome (something I never considered at their ages). However, my influence on how I will make out and survive as an adult would be fairly credited to my father. I aspired to be like him because, like his grandfather, he carries on perseverance, hard working, and is very knowledgable and vocally passionate on his beliefs. I will admit we will not see eye-to-eye sometimes but we know how to communicate properly and come to a common ground. For my entire life my father has been working, blood, sweat, and tears to try to give me, my sisters, my brothers, and my mother a better life. Never once being selfish about it, putting us first. It is that reason why I want to make him proud and to show him that I learn to do so by being under his 'wing'.

I believe people, by all means, have a right to vocalize their ideas, disagree on a topic, and challenge other ideas no matter how ignorant they may seem to another person. I have a strong belief in freedom of speech and chances are that I will be one of few or no students saying this, but I think it is slowly being pulled from beneath our feet starting with college campuses, one of the biggest places where free speech has always promoted. I notice myself when I call something into question I will be labeled a bigot and told that I'm not looking at the facts. Which is simply not true if I actually went through the research that included both spectrums of fact of the matter instead of "listening and believing" every first thing I see and read. I believe that if you do not agree with something, such as a certain person that is a presidential candidate, then you should be free disagree by providing yourself with facts and reason. There should always be a balance to do so. This should be perfectly all right, because to put it quiet simply; what a person thinks morally or ideologically should not effect your life to the point where it's the reason you are not doing what you want. Words frankly do not physically hurt, it is up to the person to shrug them off and move on or to take it literally and over react to something out of their control. By listening to opposing view points without shaming them or silencing them through childish tactics is opening yourself up to further knowledge. Knowledge is a basic right and if a person chooses to, they can learn all they want and use it to their advantage. This I think should include not just opposing views but censored works as well (such as books, music, posters, or even flags). Censored works, whether we like it or not, is a part of our history as humans, in particularly the United States, and history is a way for us to rightfully learn from past mistakes and achievements. I think "trigger warnings" could be included in this as well. Simply it shelters you from certain resources and literally indirectly censors you. It is not like people are being forced certain things they don't like. I know if I don't like something I read, I either keep going to see the other side, or put it down and start a new read.
To go a different topic, I generally believe that labels do more dividing than bringing together. The reason I say this is because the older I've gotten the more I've noticed that we've stopped looking at human beings as humans being, but rather focused on their differences such as gender, race, political views, religion, and the list goes on. It was like when a topic brought up in one of my classes about how a black character was not a main character, however there were many minor characters that were black that play a certain in the story. I, and other students pointed this out, however it seemed to be more important to focus on what they are as a label instead of focusing on character development or seeing a person for who they are. Thing is, is if you don't like how there aren't enough of a certain group presented, there is no stopping you from making a comic, book, movie, or game on your own that features said group. With tools like patreon and kick starter, you can make your own works that have diversity with the financial support from people that like your ideas. I mean that's how a game like Undertale by Toby Fox was made. Or get a job in the field where you can make your own shows, like how Rebecca Sugar did with her years of hard work that led her to create her own show called Steven Universe.  It is things like this that have made me step back and see that the more we promote these labels, the more divided we become as an actual community. We are all slowly stepping backwards from the diverse free country that people before us have worked so long and hard for.