Analytical Essay - Stop and Stare by OneRepublic

In the song, "Stop and Stare" by OneRepublic, there are many literary devices used within the lyrics. Also, this song has a much deeper meaning. A meaning about life. The lyrics describe the acceptance of life and what it might throw at you, then taking those things and look at them through other people's eyes. For example, the lyric : "I'm shakin' off the rust," shows a representation of taking in the good things in life and shaking off the bad. Also, "...can you see what I see?", is  another lyric that portrays the meaning of looking at a situation through another person's eyes. However, this song has more meaning connected to it. For example, the lyrics help us realize that sometimes people have to "stop and stare" to notice what we have to do to get through a tough situation or move on from something that may feel as if it were the hardest thing to do. "And you'd give anything to get what's fair, but fair ain't what you really need." This quote represents the meaning to realize what you don't need and that everything in life is not fair or the way you want it to be. The quotes; "I've got my heart set on anywhere but here," and "Yeah, I know that everyone gets scared, but I've become what I can't be," are great examples of the meaning to move on from bad situations and just focus on the good things. Although this song is filled with meanings to life and great advice on how to live through tough times, the use of literary devices is also great. Some literary devices used are: personification, metaphor, hyperbole, and repetition. The first line of the song is; "This town is colder now, I think it's sick of us." This is an example of personification. An example of a hyperbole is; "Every glance is killing me." This is a hyperbole because of it's exaggeration of the glance that the artist is talking about. With all of these great meanings and uses of literary terms, the lyrics to this song are very deep and meaningful. However, when the actual song is played with all of the music and everything, the song gets ten times more inspirational.

Diary Entry

My name Kendall, and I live in France during the time of the Revolution. Everyone is rebelling against our king and it is getting pretty scary. Actually, I’m terrified, so I sit back and watch. Many people go outside and speak there minds. I later see them being beaten and taken to be imprisoned, and then a couple days later they face the guillotine. A man named,Robespierre, took over as our leader. He is a crazy man. Every single person that has spoke against him or the rebellion, have been sent to the guillotine and has been beheaded. When I walk around the, I must be careful of the people who I associate with. If I associate with the rich people, I could be accused of being against the rebellion and then be beheaded myself. If I associate with the Protestants, then people will assume I am all for the rebellion and try to convince me to get involved. At this point, it is easier for me to just not talk to anyone, and stay to myself. I just witnessed the beheading of King Louis, and Marie Antoinette. I didn't think that they were corrupt rulers, I just feel that they used the money unwisely. If people would have told them to stop spending a lot of money on worthless parties instead of killing everyone! I hope I am able to survive through this...

Hero Analysis - Odysseus

In The Odyssey, Homer portrays his main character, Odysseus, as a hero. Because Odysseus is the here of this story, he posses many heroic qualities. For example, Odysseus is fearless and very intelligent. These qualities are important traits that a hero should have.
Odysseus shows that he is fearless by going on this long journey home to Ithaca from the scene of the Trojan War. Not only does he show his brave side by accepting the journey but also by accepting the obstacles that are included. An example of an obstacle that Odysseus faces the group of giants known as Cyclopes. These are his first encounter.

When Odysseus reaches the Cyclopes, he still shows no fear. What he does show in his presence with the giants is his intelligence. 

Odysseus must kill all cyclopes in orde to successfully overdone the obstacle. Because the Cyclopes are so large, Odysseus must be clever to be able to trick them. How Odysseus trucks the cyclops is when the giant asks for Odysseus's name. Odysseus replies with "Nobody". This is clever because when Odysseus and his men begin their attack, the cyclops proclaims, "Nobody has wounded me." 

Although Odysseus is a typical hero with the heroic traits, he does have a flaw. His flaw is that he is careless of his men. Most of his men get killed along their journey home, but Odysseus does not show any emotion towards the deaths. This shows that Odysseus can be selfish. 

Avengers vs Odyssey

Avengers vs. Odysseus

In the movie The Avengers and in the book The Odyssey, all of the heroes go on journeys but slightly different ones. Both journeys include obstacles that the heroes must overcome. Just like most stories. Even though the Odyssey is much older than the Avengers, both story lines have similarities and differences within them, relating to the hero’s journey. 

In the Avengers, one main obstacle that the heros come to face in the very beginning is assembling a team.  Some members did not agree with bringing the team of Avengers back but others thought it was a good idea. This obstacle took a while to overcome but eventually they all decided to become the Avengers again. Another main trouble the team had was the big egos. Each hero had an ego which meant it was hard for the team to mesh like a team should. The Avengers had to learn to put aside their differences. 

Once the heroes finally decided to work together to save the planet, they still needed someone to take the reins and give out marching orders. If all The Avengers had just run off on their own with no guidance, it would’ve been chaos, and it wouldn’t have brought them any closer to their goal. Thankfully, Captain America stepped up by quickly and efficiently giving everyone instructions. This had also been a struggle for the Avengers; finding a leader. 

However, Odysseus’s journey in the Odyssey is slightly different. Odysseus went through many different struggles. Unlike the Avengers, where they had each other to depend upon. The first obstacle Odysseus faces is when he and his men arrive at Ismarus, where they sack the city but are later attacked. The next struggle is when they arrive in the Land of Lotus-eaters. Here, his men decide to eat lotus flowers, which cause the men to lose their desire to return home. Another struggle he faced was when he and his men were in the cave of the Cyclops, his men escape being eaten only by Odysseus blinding the one-eyed Polyphemus. He does this by claiming that his name is "No One." When Polyphemus screams, he says that "No One" is attacking him, so his fellow cyclopes do not come to his rescue. As a result, Poseidon threatens Odysseus with much suffering and the ultimate loss of his men. 

At this point in the Odyssey, Odysseus is now by himself due to the attack of the cyclopes. Odysseus now faces challenges alone unlike in the Avengers. The stories are the same because these challenges are faced but with a team effort. They are different because Odysseus ends up traveling alone for a while, where in the Avengers they always work as a team. Also, the stories are different because the obstacles are different but sort of tie together as well. 

Penelope's perspective

In the epic poem, "The Odyssey" written by Homer, the point of view is taken by Odysseus. Odysseus is the main character of the story. The story does not necessarily give the view of other characters. However, we can predict the views of other characters. For example, the view of Penelope, Odysseus's wife.
In the beginning, Penelope had been waiting for her husband to return from the ten year Trojan War. She went through a lot of grief the day the warriors returned home and her husband did not. Penelope knew that her son, Telemachus would have to take over her husbands land until he returned. While her husband was away, suitors invaded his land. They tried to force Penelope to remarry. She did not want to remarry because she wanted to stay faithful. People saw this as strange because there had been rumors that Odysseus was dead and he would not return. When Athena told Penelope that Odysseus was still alive and would return soon, Penelope knew she made the right choice in staying faithful and not choosing to remarry.

The Move

One day at Savannah High School, Trey Washington was having a normal day, not knowing that he had unexpected news coming. Trey is considered a big deal at Savannah High School. He was seen as any girl’s “dream guy”; tall, tan, and muscular. He was the captain and quarterback of the varsity football team and his family was very wealthy. Trey’s father worked for an oil company in Missouri, where his family lived. Trey was a junior in high school and was preparing for his senior year. Not only was he athletic and had the perfect personality, he was a great student and managed to keep good grades throughout all of highschool. 

Well, after football practice one day, when Trey got home his parents pulled him aside. They announced to their son that they would have to move after this school year. The reason for the family’s move had to do with his father’s job. After hearing this news, Trey grew very upset. He had his mark in the school. He did not want to have to start over, especially before his senior year. He was so nervous that he would not have the same popularity and respect as he did at Savannah High School. Trey also did not want to leave all the friends he had made in the past three years. 

When Trey’s junior year came to an end, he was more respected than ever. He took his team to the state championship in football, which made school history. It was very unfortunate to have to say goodbye to his teammates and friends in Missouri. On the last day of school, Trey’s father picked him up in a moving truck loaded with their belongings from their old house. It was time for them to start driving to what would be their new home in Idaho. 

At last, the family spent almost all summer unpacking and setting up the new house just to be more comfortable. Moving was very strange for Trey but he was making the best of it. In August, Trey became a senior at his new school. On the first day he felt hatred in the air. For some odd reason, Trey felt out of place. He did not feel as respected as he did in Missouri. Trey did not let the bad feelings get to him; he stayed confident and just could not wait to get out on the field and show his new coaches what he could do. 

When school came to an end that day, Trey was eager to get out on the field. The coaches seemed to be very interested in Trey. They saw him as a strong and aggressive player, which is what the team needed. This started to be an eye opener for the other kids on the team. They started to look up to him. Football became the start to his new friendships in the schools. 

After that first week of school, Trey gained more friends but two of which were closer than others. Their names were Zac and Ben. The boys hung out almost every day after school. They always went to Trey’s house because of how big is was and how it was practically isolated on a hill. However, one day, the boys noticed something strange when at Trey’s house. 

The thing Zac and Ben noticed was a little, ragged house at the bottom of the hill where Trey’s house was located. Trey became curious about the house himself and wanted to figure out if it was empty of not. The house looked very old and dirty as if no one lived there. The boys’ curiosity grew larger and larger to the point where they had to figure out what was in that house. At this point, nothing stood in their way. 

The three boys pondered down towards the house where they noticed many warning signs. Without hesitation, Trey knocked on the front door not expecting an answer. Surprisingly, a little, old woman poked her head out of the door and responded the knocking as obnoxious and annoying and told the three boys to leave immediately. The boys left respectfully after apologizing to the woman. When they got back to Trey’s house, they questioned themselves about the lady and predicted  why she may have been so irritated by the knocking. 

After a while, Zac and Ben began to lose interest in the old lady, but Trey did not. He became very curious about her and wanted to know more about her. To get the information he wanted, Trey asked his friends at school if they knew anything about her. Lucky enough, Trey’s friend Justin knew a little of the the woman’s background. Justin told Trey that she was evil and known as the “neighborhood witch”. “It’s said that she is slowly trying to take over the world and she plans on doing it by creating a device that magically brainwashes people into praising her,” Justin whispered to Trey. When Trey heard this, he wanted to tell Zac and Ben, but he had told Justin that he would keep it to himself. 

The next day after football, Zac and Ben asked to go to Trey’s house, but Trey told them that he had too much homework and needed to keep focus. Zac and Ben seemed to get annoyed by his decline, but went along with it anyways. When Trey got home he went for a walk around the neighborhood just to see if he saw anything suspicious going on in the old woman’s house. When a few hours went by, Trey did noticed a few glowing lights coming from the main windows in the woman’s home. Trey did not know what they were, but from the story he had heard, he figured it was the magical device that Justin had mentioned. Though this was the first time Trey had ever seen the lights through her window, he did not want to jump to conclusions, so he decided that he would keep going on walks everyday to see if he notices them each time. 

Trey keeps this routine going for a long while. During this time, he began to stop hanging out with Zac and Ben but eventually made a new best friend, who had almost the same features as Trey. This new friend was Jason. Jason and Trey became really close and eventually, Trey told Jason about the woman down the hill and the rumors about her plans to take over the world. At first, Jason though Trey was crazy for the things he thought but things began to make more sense to Jason the more Trey explained his observations. Also, Trey began to fall for a girl named Taylor. Taylor is a senior with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. In the beginning, Taylor and Trey did not see each other as interesting people and Taylor did not see anything special about Trey, as any other girl would. Trey began to fall really hard for Taylor but he could not get the message if she felt the same way. Their relationship was up in the air. However, this did not stop Trey from being who he was. He stayed focused on school and football and also kept questioning the strange, old woman. 

Days went on and on and Trey began to notice that the woman’s windows were not glowing like they had been for the past month or so. “Maybe she gave up. Or maybe she’s taking a break...,” Trey thought to himself. Either way, Trey was not giving up until he figured out what the woman was up to. Trey informed Jason about what had been going on in the house. Usually when Jason was informed he would show interest and ask questions, but this time he did not react to it the same way. He just shrugged his shoulders and looked at Trey as if he should of said or done something else as if it was a big deal. 

From that point on, Trey knew that something was going on with Jason. Something was making him upset and not act like the best friend that he was. When Trey noticed this he immediately asked Jason what had been going on and why he had been acting differently. Jason responded by saying that Trey was stealing Taylor away from him. When Trey heard this from Jason, he was suddenly very confused. Jason grew so angry and began to scream at Trey and told him that he had loved Taylor for the longest time and now that Trey had stepped in the middle of it all, Jason was losing his chances. None of this was true. Jason only started to fall for Taylor right after Trey announced that he was falling for her. This put Taylor in an awkward position, but she managed to solve the problem calmly. Taylor pulled Jason aside and told him that he had to stop trying to come in between her and Trey’s soon-to-be relationship. 

Jason took her advice well, but still did not want to confess his issues. However, when Taylor was giving this advice to Jason, he just fell more in love with her and did not want to leave her alone. This caused many problems between Trey and Jason. They were no longer best friends and now became enemies. 

Trey was exhausted from all of the drama he had been going through in this year, he could not wait till his senior year was over and could have time to relax. But, along with school, there was one last thing on his mind; to find out what was going on in that house. Trey began his explorations again after a week. Once again, he sees the glowing, neon lights coming through the woman’s windows. He decides to run up to the windows and peak through. He sees the woman staring at this device that looks like nothing but a huge pile of metal objects and glowing lights. He notices the old woman’s lips moving, so he puts his ear of the the window. “Tonight, tonight will be the night that everyone will finally be under me. I will be their queen, their ruler. They have no choice, this is my time,” the woman whispers to herself. 

When Trey heard this statement, he knew he had no other choice but to stop her while he can. With his intense football player strength, Trey breaks through the window and snatches up the was of metal pieces and throws it across the room. The woman’s anger emerged and she threw bolts of light from her hands towards Trey causing him to be thrown up against a wall. The woman began to sob over what had been her “masterpiece”. She was too busy crying to notice that Trey had left for the police station. When Trey and the police arrived back at the old woman’s house, she was instantly arrested. No one knew what the device would have been used for, but it was put into research. However, Trey was thanked by the police department for stopping the woman when he had the chance. 

When the results of the device were resolved, they announced that it was being used to destroy mankind. The scientists did not fully understand how, but they knew why and that is all that mattered. Because of his bravery, Trey’s story was published all over the world and he had become more popular than he ever was before. When he saw his story as the headline in the local newspaper, he thought to himself, “Maybe moving wasn’t such a bad thing after all.”

Practice of Myths

The practice and role of ancient myths in society have changed over time. In ancient Greece, myths were looked at as stories that were actually true. Ancient Greeks believe this because of the belief in many gods. These gods were the main characters of myths, which made them seem believable.
Today, myths are seen as entertainment to people, making them less believable. Mythology itself is not as big as it used to be. This shows that something about the myths have changed the minds of people throughout time. That something is the storylines within the myths.
Myths have been changed and constructs many times that they become unbelievable. Even the most common Greek myths have been changed throughout time. They change due to how others view the story. However, many countries still read and have belief in the myths.