A Civil Action

A Civil Action: The Game

To me, everything in life is a game. You give it all you got and sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and every once in a while you tie. Some things take skill and others take luck. For example, you may brush your teeth two times everyday and you go to the dentist and find out you have three cavities, so that means you lost and the cavities won. Or let’s say you never brush your teeth, maybe once a week, and you go to the dentist and they tell you that you have perfect teeth, so that means you win, but you won with luck, not skill.

In the movie A Civil Action, it is just like a game for everyone. The families and community lost children that cannot be replaced. Not even a win in the court will bring their game back to a tie. Yet, the prosecutors and defendants are not there to lose or tie, they have to win for the money. But, what really makes me like this movie is when Jan Schlichtmann literally gives up everything in his business and personal life to get these families back in the game. He fights for them, instead of himself. He is no longer by himself, he is on a team. And, there is nothing better to me in the world than giving it all you got and being on a team you can trust and being able to do anything for them to survive the game. A Civil Action is a good movie because it shows how sometimes in life it is not just about winning the game, but it is about how you win it.

There were three characters in the movie that really took part in playing the game; Jan Schlichmann, played by John Travolta, Jerome Facher, played by Robert Duvall, and Judge Skinner, played by John Lithgow. John Travolta did an excellent job on portraying his character. He played the part of a male lawyer, which meant he had a serious character role to take. And so, he looked like a lawyer by the way he dressed and he acted like a lawyer by the way he spoke. The tone in his voice was all we needed from John to connect with him, whether we were against what he was doing or not. Also, Robert Duvall did a great job with becoming his character of Jerome Facher. His actions allowed us to know that he was a very weird man and that money was all he wanted. Lastly, John Lithgow was brilliant with the way he played Judge Skinner. He really showed how he is the most powerful one in the court and that what ever he says goes. But, what I think really helped these characters perform the way they did was the way they dressed. Travolta and Duvall were always wearing suits, which showed that they had a pretty high-class job, and it was important to them. And, of course, Lithgow wore a robe to play the part of a judge. I also think the glasses he wore helped because it made him seem really sophisticated and that he was always right. The way the characters acted and dressed really helped me feel like I was part of the movie and the game they were playing.

Throughout the movie there was a fantastic use of cinematic aspects of film. First at the beginning of the movie when there is blues’ music playing while Jan and his partners go get something to drink, shows that he has a good life and the game is going the way he wants at this point. Another example of cinematic aspects is a long shot where Jan is at the meeting with the people of the community who want him to fight the case. The distance makes it seem like he doesn’t care much about this case. But, what is ironic, through another use of cinematic aspects is when there is an extreme close-up of Jan cutting the chain off the fence from the factory. It shows that he is powerful and is will to do anything to help these families get the water clean. To him, this game wasn’t important; he thought it would do nothing to change him or his company. But, the use of the cinematic aspects really showed how much Jan wanted to win this game, not for the money, but for the families.

So, we read the book All My Sons by Arthur Miller and watched the movie A Civil Action, and they have a similar dilemma but they differ in how it is solved. The dilemma in both the book and the movie is that innocent people are being killed for unnecessary reasons. In the book, Joe Keller sends in bad parts to the army, which causes 21 men to die. And, in the movie, the factory is polluting the water, which is causing people to get sick. Joe decides not to tell anyone what he did until it had to come out and eventually killed himself for embarrassing his family. While Al Love, a man who worked at the factory, decided to speak out and tell the truth with what was going on. The problem for both of them was how do you win a game when you’re already behind? They both knew what they did was wrong; Joe just took it the wrong way and believed he lost and gave up. Where as, Al decided that he needed to not just get himself back in the game, but the families who lost children because of his job. Both the book and movie had a similar dilemma, but they were resolved in completely different ways.

I think this movie was fantastic and I strongly recommend it. The theme that emerges in the movie is to never stop playing the game. Because no matter how far you are behind, it’s never over and anything can happen for you to get right back in it. And, as one small game ends, another one is just beginning; it doesn’t stop until your life does. It can connect to anyone’s life, and I think it is a good moral to keep playing the game until the entire thing is over. This movie taught me a lesson, and I think it could do the same for anyone who sees it.

Post B3

Dear Jodi,

Oh my goodness. I'm so addicted to this book I don't even know what to say. It's so scary because I feel like it is just like my life. Like the events that happen to the characters in the book like 9/11 have happened to me also. No, I have never been in a school shooting, but how it happened in the story makes it feel like anything can happen and it's scary. It's exactly how high school is, you have your group of friends that your always with. You talk about things you like and do things you like. The friends you had in elementary or even middle school might no longer be a part of your life. Because things change and things happen. One day your part of the crowd that nobody likes, you look in the mirror and decide no more am I who they make fun of, I am one of them. You change to fit in, and you lose all the senses of what it was like to be who you used to be. Because to make yourself feel better, you have to make someone else feel worse. And that's what Peter went through, Josie left him because she realized that if she kept hanging out with him she would become him and would never belong. It's just like every school and it's scary how well you express this in your story. It's like you know me or something. It's crazy, but I love it and I can't wait to find out what happens.

Post A3

*Vocab*
1. embellish (158): to add ornamental or fictitious details to
2. furtively (149): taken, done, used, etc., by stealth; secret

*Figurative Language*
1. "...although Peter no longer came to her house and vice versa, they still hung out together in school, and he was the last person in the world Josie could imagine doing anything illegal" (152). This is an example of irony because it was said (thought about) six years before Peter actually did do something illegal when he killed people at school.
2. "...they seemed so fake sometimes that Josie thought if she poked one of them with a sharp pencil they'd burst like a balloon" (152). This is an example of a simile because the word like is used to show how fragile the girls are and if she did anything to them they would burst like a balloon.
3. "You can fell people staring; it's like heat that rises from the pavement during summer, like a poker in the small of your back" (161). This is an example of two similes because it uses like to compare the feeling of someone staring at you and how it gets to your head with little things that bug you.

*Quote*
"Josie stood up, backing away from him. "I'll see you around, Peter," she said, and she walked out of his life" (160). The importance of this quote is that as soon as Josie started putting on make-up and hanging around with different people she realized she was a different person and could no longer hang out with Peter.

*Theme*
I think an emerging theme in the book is that it's alright to make new friends and try new things, but you can't leave behind your old self and old friends because no matter what they are still there.

Post B2

"Whether or not you believe in Fate comes down to one thing: who you blame when something goes wrong. Do you think it's your fault- that if you'd tried better, or worked harder, it wouldn't have happened? Or you do you just chalk it up to circumstance?
I know people who'll hear about the people who died, and will say it was God's will. I know people who'll say it was bad luck. And then there's my personal favorite: They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time" (89).

OK, this quote is so cool. Because when I'm at hockey for example, when the game doesn't go well, I always think, what if I took that shot? Or what if I passed the puck faster? Could the game have gone our way if I didn't make that stupid mistake? Or wait, was it even my fault? It could have been someone else's fault. Usually for some reason I just accept the fact that it was my fault and become really crabby until I get over it, which takes some time. I wonder sometimes if it was supposed to happen like God had planned it or if I really made it happen myself, like I made the choice I wasn't supposed to make. But, I guess I will never really understand.
But, my mind changes when it comes to the fact that someone dies. I feel like it is God's Will when someone dies just because I feel like the people that do die to soon are always the people we don't want to leave. It is almost like we don't deserve someone like that because they are so good. Many disagree with my view, but I just think that people are taken at the right time and at the right place.

Post A2

*Vocab*
1. solace (99): comfort in sorrow, misfortune, or trouble
2. inept (99): generally awkward or clumsy; haplessly incompetent

*Figurative Language*
1. "An arraignment at a courthouse fit like a Band-Aid over a wound that really needed a tourniquet" (114). This is a simile because it uses the word like to compare the arraignment and Band-Aid.
2. "Closure, apparently, meant that she was supposed to realize that losing a normal was something you got over, like losing a soccer game or a favorite T-shirt" (117). This is a simile because it uses the word like to compare closure with losing a soccer game or a T-shirt.
3. "You could divide by zero; it felt like a canyon where your heart used to be" (129). This is a simile because it uses like to compare a canyon with where your heart used to be.

*Quote*
"Everyone wants their kid to grow up and go to Harvard or be a quarterback for the Patriots. No one ever looks at their baby and thinks, Oh, I hope my kid grows up and becomes a freak. I hope he gets to school every day and prays he won't catch anyone's attention. But you know what? Kids grow up like that every single day" (136). The importance of this quote is that Peter is the one who said it and it's how he feels he grew up. He was known as the freak and he doesn't think his parents care, where as everybody else's parents want their kids to be perfect. And, it was hard for him to control himself after so many years of being picked on.

*Theme*
Another theme that is emerging is to be able to put yourself in other people's shoes because Peter wants people to know what it feels like to be him and how difficult it is.

Post B

Dear Jodi,

First of all, I fell in love with this book after the first chapter, which is amazing because I'm not a big reader, but when I love a book all I want to do is read, which is how exactly what this book does to me. There is a quote in the book that I feel relates completely with every child growing up. "I wish I could give you a better explanation, but the fact is, some kids are simply magnets for teasing. Other children see a weakness, and they exploit it" (72). This is exactly what happens in every school, there is no perfect school to prevent teasing, but yet there is no perfect person. So, why is it really necessary for one child to pick on another. Everyone knows as we get older that the kid that gets picked on like no tomorrow will one day come out and do whatever they need to do to prove to people they are someone they don't see. Now, how they express that is completely up to them, it could be just a simple conversation with them to tell them to stop, or the worst of the worst (which is what happened in your story), is for them to go on a shooting rampage at the school. Yes, it's entirely the child who shot the gun's fault, but the reason they picked the gun up in the first place was because of the kids who were picking on them. And, I think Peter should be punished, but he needs to be punished fairly, and I hope that the trial he is given is fair to him and the students of Sterling High.

Sincerely,
Ellie

Post A

*Vocab*
1. recidivism (32): a tendency to lapse into a previous pattern of behavior, especially a pattern of criminal habits
2. cataclysmic (32): resulting from a violent upheaval that causes great destruction or brings about a fundamental change

*Figurative Language*
1. "By now, he'd turned tomato-red, his skin so and angry and soft that his soft fuzz hair glowed like platinum" (33). - This is a simile because it uses the word like to describe Peter's hair.
2. "My daughter has been coming over to your house for how long now, and you've got guns lying around" (81)?- This is an example of irony because when this happened Peter and Josie were only about 6 years old and Peter (the boy whose father owns the guns) is the one who was the shooter at the school.
3. "...the way the sun bounced off its snub yellow nose, the door hinged like the jaw of a dragon, the dramatic sighs when it came to a stop" (65). - This is an example of personification because the author is giving the bus characteristics of humans (or animals).

*Quote*
"I wish I could give you a better explanation, but the fact is, some kids are simply magnets for teasing. Other children see a weakness, and they exploit it" (72). The significance of this quote, I think, is the reason Peter Houghton decided to go and shoot kids in the school. Ever since the first day of kindergarten, Peter had been picked on constantly by other kids, he never really fit in.

*Theme*
I think an emerging theme of the book is to not pick on or make fun of kids because you never know what will happen the day they want to get back at you.

Where are the major threats to the environment?

Former President Jimmy Carter’s states in his article that unlike other political issues, politicians don’t always agree with other members of their political party when it comes to environmental issues. Both Republican and Democratic presidents have supported legislation protecting the environment. I agree with former President Carter’s opinion that there are a number of things that threaten our environment. I agree that we are causing our environment to change by allowing the build up of gases which keeps the earth warm, melts glaciers and makes water levels rise. This is called the “Greenhouse” effect. I am concerned about how the Greenhouse effect will impact animals like polar bears. I am also concerned that this will impact humans as well. According to President Carter, Presidents Bush and Clinton were both concerned about the Greenhouse effect. They both worked hard to try to reach an agreement with other countries like Germany and England to reduce Greenhouse gases. Over 100 different countries were involved in the agreement. However, the current President Bush does not think it is possible for the United States to meet the requirements of the agreement because the United States has energy problems and because it would cost too much money to comply with the agreement. President Carter states that Americans are interested in protecting our environment and that we are will to pay taxes to make sure we do protect our environment. He believes that our current President is ignoring the views of Americans and the hard work of Republicans and Democrats who want to protect the environment.