Analyzing The Humanities

Analyzing the Humanities

Rasmussen College

The Notebook Analysis

The Notebook was filmed in 2004 directed by Nick Cassavetas and based on the 1996 romantic drama novel by Nicholas Sparks. There are two settings within the movie. It first takes place in a present time with an elderly man named Duke, and an elderly woman named Allie. Throughout the film it goes back and forth to this setting to show the characters as they are older. The majority of the film does take place back in the 1940’s, with young Noah and Allie.

At the beginning of the movie we see Duke and Allie in a nursing home for Alzheimer’s patients. Duke is seen reading to Allie about their love story. The movie then takes you back to 1940 where Noah and Allie first meet at a carnival. At first Allie did not like Noah, in fact she tried everything to stay away from him. Until he kept pushing to go out on a date with her. Noah was a poor quarry worker and Allie was from a wealthy family. These two proved that opposites do attract. Noah and Allie were in separable for the rest of the summer falling deeper and deeper in love. During the movie Noah takes Allie to an abandoned house that he intends to buy and renovate for them. In this scene, Noah’s friend interrupts them to inform them that Allie’s parents called the police and they are looking for her. Noah returns Allie to her parent’s mansion and Allie’s mom calls Noah trash. He then leaves and Allie runs after him. Sadly, they got into a fight and broke up. The very next morning, Allie’s parents decided to go back to Charleston where they are from. Allie tries to find Noah to tell him she was leaving but she was unsuccessful in finding him, so she told his friend to tell him. Fin, Noah’s friend, tells Noah when he returns from working and he rushes over to Allie’s family’s house to realize they have already left.

After that day, Noah wrote letters to Allie every single day for a year, even when he was drafted to serve in the military. During this time, Allie volunteered at a hospital for wounded soldiers. While volunteering, she meets a captain named Lon who she eventually gets engaged to. Lon came from a wealthy family and is wealthy himself, which to her parents was a perfect match for her. Noah returned from the war to find that his father sold his house so he can buy the abandoned house to remodel. Noah then went to visit Charleston and catches a glimpse of Allie. He followed her to a restaurant and when he peeked inside he saw Allie kissing Lon and her parents there too. He convinced himself that he will restore the abandoned house and make it how Allie wanted it and she will fall back in love with him. On the day of Allie’s wedding dress fitting, she captured a glimpse at the newspaper where Noah was on the front cover in front of the house they shared a very special moment in. She then convinces her fiancé to allow her to take a trip before their wedding. She returns back to the old town and finds Noah. They rekindle their love and she breaks the news to Lon that she no longer wanted to get married to him.

The movie then switches to the present setting where Allie begins to panic that she doesn’t know who Noah is. Noah then has a heart attack and was transported to a hospital. Allie was also transported to the same hospital but to a wing that specializes in Alzheimer patients. Duke sneaks out of his room and goes and visits Allie. She knows who he is and Duke laid down next to her where they passed away together.

This movie is a wonderful love story that shows that no matter what love will prevail. It shows that true love will always find a way back to one another. The strength and love Duke showed for Allie is truly inspiring. It teaches you to never give up no matter how tough and rough love can be.

Plato and Aristotle

If I had a conversation with Plato about how we fall in love, he would say that love is a necessity. Plato believes that love is a necessity for human beings to be whole. He also believed that our body was divided in half to reduce our power so we wouldn’t over rule them one day. Plato thought process was that we humans were searching for our other halves to become whole again. He would continue to write that love is characterized by observing individuals as objects of love who has a desire to be together for the purpose of achieving long term satisfaction in our souls. In his belief, humans develop a craving to be together and he wrote that love brings wholeness and because of that it brings out the best in people. Plato also stated that love is the drive for immortality and love resulted in either procreation or birth to ideas in forms of art, also providing a form of immortality.

If I had a conversation with Aristotle about how we fall in love, he would say that love is the effort of man to achieve true happiness in life by fulfilling desire. Aristotle believed that finding happiness is the main purpose of human beings. He also believes that people gain happiness by establishing love from individuals. Aristotle writes that there is a need to exist in the middle of virtue and vices, which is the site at which people are their happiest. He also believed that people cannot cause harm or misfortune in life if they are experiencing love.

Both Plato and Aristotle have valid beliefs that are relevant even today. Everyday people are searching for happiness. We are drawn towards people who have the missing pieces we don’t have or see within ourselves. In other words, we are drawn to people who we feel will make us complete. Once we find love our next goal is to have children and to maintain long term happiness. This is an example of gaining immortality as described by Plato.

Compare and Contrast Poems

The rhythmic scheme for Petrarch’s sonnet is ABBAABBA format. In this sonnet, he discusses internal conflict of loving someone who doesn’t feel the same in return. The poem explains that even though he may be in pain for loving a person who doesn’t love him back and that he can’t have he would still rather feel the pain and experience the love than to not know what it would feel like at all. This piece of work describes letting go and moving on with life from a special person.

The rhythmic scheme for Dickenson’s poem is varied unlike Petrarch’s work. Her poem confers the delicate emotional state of a person after a devastating loss, inferring the death of a loved one. Dickenson wrote this poem as her way of expressing hidden pain, the type that hurts inside and really hurts the soul.

Both poems metrical unit is 2 stanzas in length. They both use very dramatic monologue to express heart ache and the struggle with emotional tragedies one has within themselves. It describes both the internal pain and external pain one can feel. In both poems they also explained letting go of a loved one and moving on with life. Both Petrarch and Dickenson have valid explanations of emotional feelings with loss and love. They both also have relevance today as people still fall in love with someone they cannot have and also lose loved ones and must learn to cope with letting them go and moving on.

Compare and Contrast Music

Beethoven’s Violin Romance number 2 was released in 1805 during the romantic period. This piece was created by an orchestra and the violin was the main focus of the recording. The violin plays for about 10 minutes long. Beethoven’s piece is performed in F major and also includes two-episode rondo format. This piece of music is peaceful and brings feelings of calmness and intellectual up-lifting. It brings a sense of relaxation and focus to the atmosphere which is why some people play Beethoven’s music to their babies.

Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag was released in 1899 which landed in the post romantic period. Maple Leaf Rag is a fast-paced piano piece, only lasting about 3 minutes long. This piece is played in A flat major shadowing a standard fixed form dance-piece pattern. This song brings more of an uplifting and playful tune which would make someone want to get up and dance around. While listening to this piece, I caught myself tapping my feet to the music. It reminds me of music that was on black and white tv shows.

I think that both pieces are very important today because it allows the young generation to get a sense of complexity music has and how it has evolved into music that is being composed today. They both come from historical times and were very popular in their time and even still today. Many people still listen to Beethoven and play it often for their children as a way to boost their intelligence.

Hero

The hero I chose to describe is Katniss Everdeen. A hero is typically from a normal place; however, Katniss is from a nation called Panem which is a place from a post- apocalyptic future. The Hunger Games consists one girl and one boy from each nation’s 12 districts which are chosen annually as tributes and are forced to compete in The Hunger Games. The Hunger Games are intricate televised fights to the death.

One reason she is a hero is because of her courage shown throughout the movie. The first movie tells the story of her father passing away and her having to take care of her mother and little sister. She would go outside the fenced off areas outside district 12 to find food to feed her family so they wouldn’t starve. Another scene that shows her courage is when she took her little sisters place to go to the Hunger Games. Her sister’s name was called, and she was very scared of having to go to the Hunger Games. Without hesitation, Katniss yelled out and told them she will volunteer and not to take her sister. She put herself in harm’s way to save her sister from getting hurt. Once joined in the Hunger Games, she embarks on a hero’s journey armed with only her bow and her arrows.

Another reason why she is a hero is her loyalty she showed to her friends and the people she loves. An example is Rue from district 11. Katniss befriended her and looked after her during their time in the Hunger Games. Katniss was injured and Rue took care of Katniss. Rue was later killed but Katniss didn’t let her go without paying tribute. She sang to Rue as she was dying and to show respect to her friend, she placed flowers around her body.

Katniss Everdeen fulfills the requirement of a hero’s journey several time in all the Hunger Games movies. Based on all of her efforts she is considered to be a hero in classical terms. Overall, she is a hero to not only her family, but to her people in Panem. As the movies progress she shows her strength and knowledge on defeating the Hunger Games. By volunteering for the Hunger Games she has saved the lives of her people and for that she is a great hero!

References

Ruetten, B. (October 18, 2017). “The Notebook.” Retrieved from https://medium.com/witty-film-reviews/the-notebook-55d3630dd674

Meinwald, C. (January 8, 2019). “Plato.” Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Plato