'The Green Glass Sea' Ellen Klages 10.03.16

Prompt:You are a director of the movie version of The Green Glass Sea. Who would you cast family-wise as the protagonist, antagonist, and a minor character? Why? What does the author do to make you think of the person as the characters in the book? Do they act the same? Do they act different?


The first person that will be evaluated is the protagonist whose name is Dewey Kerrigan. As Ellen Klages describes Dewey, I imagine Dewey as my little sister Juliet. The author describes Dewey as, "small for her age, thin and wiry, with dark, unruly hair and big front teeth...her eyes are large and gray-green..." Although my sister does not have big front teeth or large gray-green eyes, my sister does match the rest of the description.

 My sister does not act as mature as Dewey does throughout the book, and she is not as interested in science as the protagonist. One thing Dewey and my sister do have in common is, they are both interested in building things. Juliet is constantly wanting to build science experiments to see chemical reactions. They are also both very intelligent for their age, and take interest in topics that are above their age level. 

As the antagonist, I would cast my cousin Shelby as the role. The author describes Suze, the antagonist, as "a stocky child with cinnamon-brown eyes...tall as most of the boys...a good runner and strong..." with blonde hair. I compare Suze and Shelby because of their physical attributes  are similar to each other. Shelby has blonde hair, is tall and has the same cinnamon-brown eyes as Suze. Shelby is also athletic is and from what I have seen, strong. Shelby doesn't act snobby or rude to people like Suze does. Shelby is little more like Dewey, because they are both on the shy side. Shelby is also not stocky, but has a more lean and wiry built. Shelby and Suze also share the 

For the minor characters, I would cast my cousins Omar and Matthew as Charlie and Jack. Charlie and Jack are, what seems to be Dewey's only friends. Charlie and Jack are brothers, like my cousins, and they are both hands on. The author describes Charlie and Jack as, "brothers had reddish blond crewcuts and freckles. Charlie was a half a head taller...they carried a long piece of lumber, dropping it onto a pile by their bikes..." Unlike the other characters and 'cast members', my cousins are practically the opposite in physical appearance to their book personas. Juice (Omar) , and Matthew have dark brown hair, with brown eyes and tanned skin, with no freckles. 

The comparison between the four boys is their activities. Charlie and Jack like to keep themselves bsuy with physical labor like building their treehouse, which is the reason for them hauling lumber in the abvoe quote. As sons of an architect, my cousins like to build structures out of wood and are all for physical entertainment like playing sports. One of the most obvious differences between the four males is their physical appearances. 

A difference for all of the characters and 'cast members' is their age and location. While the cast member's ages are very close, their birth years are nearly 60 years apart! As well as their location, 2/4 cast members live in Illinois, while the other half reside in Texas. 

'The Green Glass Sea' by Ellen Klages

Prompt: describe similarities and differences between the main character and you.
Pages read: 0-141

There are technically two protagonist in the book I am currently reading. The book flips between Suze's life and Dewey's life; two girls who live in a top-secret place, known as The Hill, where the world's smartest scientist are working together to create a top-secret gadget to stop World War II. The reader only knows The Hill is a place in New Mexico, in the middle of the desert. Every area inside The Hill is guarded and top-secret: guards walking around with guns and scientist being cramped into their labs for hours a day.

Suze lives with her mom and dad in The Hill. She often feels lonely because the other girls on The Hill don't want to play or talk to her, and she doesn't have any siblings. This is something like Suze and I. Of course, I have a plethora of siblings, enough to have our own volleyball team actually, but they are either out or cramped into their rooms. However, something different between Suze and I is, we obviously don't live in the same type of enviroment. Suze lives in a lock down, secluded area where she can't do much, and I live a completely free town that I am able to do anything as long as it is legal.

Dewey only lives with her dad in a tiny and messier part of The Hill. Although Suze's mom describes Dewey's dad as a very important scientist, he doesn't live in the nicer part town. One of the big character traits of Dewey is, she is very involved in STEM, but I guess that's what happens when you are the daughter of a scientist. According to Suze, all Dewey does is spend "every recess at one of the picnic tables next to the playground, fiddling with her stupid radio, or some broken garbage with wires and springs, taking notes about it, like it was homework." This expresses Dewey's involvement and loneliness. 

One big difference between Dewey and I is the involvement in STEM. Unlike Dewey, I greatly dislike math and science because I am not the best at it. I am more into Literature Arts and eclectic arts such as music and painting. Another difference between Dewey and I is she only lives with one parent, and at one time only with her grandmother. However, I live with both parents and have never lived with just my grandmother. 

"Life is Beautiful" vs. "Night"

Prompt: Based on the Holocaust literature and poetry we have read, what connections can be made between Life is Beautiful and our reading?  What events, scenes, or situations are similar or different? What is similar or different about the mood or tone of the pieces? Analyze how differences in points of view of characters create suspense or humor. How is life shown as beautiful throughout the film. Pull out at least two examples from different parts of the film and explain your rationale.

One connection that can be made between Life is Beautiful and other readings is the event that takes place. This is an obvious connection between the pieces, but the Holocaust was expressed throughout two different ways. Inside Life is Beautiful, the Holocaust is expressed inside a more humorous point of view. Guido substitutes the depressing event into a more humorous event such as when he creates the game for Giosue. The substitution of Holocaust expression is seen before Guido even understands the Holocaust, when Dora has her banquet with her soon to be fiancé, Guido rides into the banquet hall on the vandalized horse that has racial slurs written on it. This expresses humor to the movie because the SS officer I believe, is heiling Hitler while he rides in. 

The Holocaust inside Night is expressed in a completely different way than in Life is Beautiful. Elie expresses the Holocaust as a horrible event, which it really was. After the hangings in the middle of the book, someone calls out "for God's sake, where is God?' And from within me, I heard a voice answer. 'Where is He? This is where- hanging here from this gallows...'" The simplicity of Elie's reply shows the true horror the Holocaust has caused to the damaged souls. Although the sentence is related to religion, the gallows and hangings are events that took place in concentration camps. This resembles a complete opposite of Life is Beautiful. 

The mood of Life is Beautiful is the complete opposite of my Terezin poem. The movie's mood is happy and humorous.  Even though Guido, Dora, and Giosue are stuck under Hitler's rulings, Guido tries his best to elicit humor to keep everybody happy and smiling. This is seen throughout Giosue's and Guido's train ride to the camp. Giosue and Guido are clueless as to where they are going, but Guido makes up an entire story to give Giosue hope and happiness. Guido tells Giosue they are going to a very special place for his birthday. When they get to the camp, Guido creates the game and makes sure no one ruins it for Giosue, by "translating" the camp's rules into the game's rules, as mentioned previously. 

The mood of my poem, Terezin is more on the negative side. Like Night, the poem expresses the true horror of the Holocaust instead of eliciting humor. The mood is expressed through lines such as, "how tragic, then, is youth which lives with enemies, with gallows ropes." The poem is all about the author's dreams versus the author's reality. The reality of the poem is the Holocaust and how his life can never be an average youth's life. He is saying how a youth lives which is filled with enemies and gallows is tragic. Terezin also uses negative words like blood, tragic, hate, fear, dead, ect. 

Life is shown as beautiful throughout the film by just the simplicity of the love Guido and Dora has for their family. There are plethora of moments such as when Guido is walking with Giosue in the wheelbarrow, he risk his life to send a message to Dora over the intercom. Dora shows her love for her family when she orders to be put onto the train that is being sent to the concentration camp. These examples show that life is beautiful because when you have found someone who loves you whether it be a parent, sibling, or significant other, everything is beautiful.