Greetings,
Below you will find the following:
1. Handout distributed today in class: three sample introduction paragraphs to out of class essay 3--all excellent examples.
2. Two sample student essays. Please print these out and bring to class tomorrow.
Good Enough
Everyone wants to feel wanted or feel like they are worth something; constantly trying to live up to other people's expectations. Jesse Pinkman, in the television seriesBreaking Bad, just wants to fit in. He will go to any lengths to feel like he is part of something, even if it means abusing and distributing meth. Jesse is a follower, and gets caught up in the drug world after being rejected by his parents. He has tremendous potential but it will be up to him whether he uses his artistic ability for good or evil.
The bar started off high with Jesse when it came to his parents. This is evident from how his parent's act with Jesse's younger brother Jake. Jesse's parents had different goals for him than what he wanted. This is what caused Jesse to rebel. Jesse has a passion for art, and he is really good at it. This is depicted beautifully in the scene where Jesse is going through his old trunk at the end of his bed. Jesse finds multiple school papers with low grades on them but also towards the bottom finds the talented drawings from when he was younger. Jesse even refers to cooking meth as art while talking to Walt in the RV. Jesse's relationship with his parents is now distant. You can see this when instead of going to his front door he tries to sneak in the back when he goes to their house. Jesse’s little act of just setting the table for his families dinner, gives his parents a little bit of hope that Jesse might have changed. Jesse’s broken relationship with his parents is shown when they find out about the joint Jake hid next to Jesse’s bed. His parents wouldn’t listen to anything he was going to say and he knew that so he just stayed quiet and left again. Due to his broken relationship with his parents, Jesse must find other places to get affection.
As much as Jesse tries to hide it, he sees Walt as a father figure. He is constantly seeking approval from Walt and confides in him. Jesse also tries to hide things from Walt that he knows Walt wouldn't approve of. This is illustrated in the scene where Jesse is smoking meth in his bathroom and locks the door and tells Walt to give him some privacy. When Walt and Jesse are in the desert cooking meth and Walt is sitting in the chair with his shirt open, Jesse notices the patch on Walt’s chest from where he got radiation. He even recommends Walt putting an ice pack on his head during chemotherapy because it helps with the hair loss. This scene portrays Jesse's affection for Walt. Jesse tries impressing Walter every chance he gets. The fact that Jesse tries to get a honest job to look good for Walt is great support for this claim. Another great example of this is when Jesse finds an "in" with Tuco and tries to make a deal with him and ends up in the hospital after being beat. You see how strong of relationship Jesse and Walt have when Walt goes back to Tuco after finding out what happened to Jesse, and gets revenge. Walt and Jesse may have started out rocky, but the dedication both of them have for their work, allows them to become extremely close. It seems that Jesse looks to Walt as a father figure, but the feeling is mutual and Walt looks at him as a son.
Jesses relationship with his parents is very distant. Not having a relationship with his parents, forces Jesse to find attention wherever he can get it. Jesse will go to any lengths for friends and lovers, even if it means buying them. This is depicted in the scenes where Jesse pays a prostitute to sleep with him and when Jesse agrees to smoke meth, against his will, so his friends will stay at his house. It is very evident that Jesse cannot handle being alone, and goes the wrong way about dealing with his loneliness. Jesse seems to want to smoke meth every time he is alone at home because he starts thinking about the things that he has been doing and it gets to him. Its ironic that after he smokes the meth he starts having illusions that people are coming to his house and trying to get him. This is what makes him run away to his parents in the first place. It’s obvious that Jesse has some anxiety issues, which doesn’t help when it comes to him being alone.
On the surface, Jesse tries to act unafraid and tough, but deep down Jesse is really scared. Jesse is all bark but no bite. This is illustrated when he goes to crazy eights house the first time to sell the meth that him and Walt cooked for the first time. He puts up a front and acts like he’s not afraid of the bulldog. Another perfect example of this is when Jesse goes to talk to Tuco and Tuco doesn't agree to pay up front. It is apparent that Jesse is skeptical about standing up for himself, but he grabs the bag of meth and tries to run away. The famous "coin flip" scene gives a great example of Jesse's true self. He comes off as someone who would be down to kill if he had to, especially after being almost killed by the same person. Before Walt suggests flipping the coin Jesse chooses to dispose of the already dead carcass instead of having to kill crazy eight.
Jesse’s childish ways allows for him to be easily manipulated. He’s always claiming that he’s the man. He even referred to himself as “capn cook.” This front that he puts up doesn’t change the fact that he is always working for someone. Jesse always has someone he has to report to. In a way, Walt even manipulates Jesse. Jesse does anything Walt asks him to do. When they need to dispose of the body and they need certain supplies, Jesse is always the one that has to go out and get them. And as stated above, Jesse reports to Walt for everything. The scene where Walt needs Jesse to get a list of supplies for them to make meth without psuedo portrays this well. Walt even tells Jesse that the supplies would be difficult to obtain and says “figure out a way to get them, we need them.” Another illustration is of this is when Walt complains to Jesse about the amount of meth he sold because it wasn’t enough. Jesse was fine with getting by with the bare minimum, but Walter, having to pay a lot for his chemo, gets impatient.
Jesse is a lost adolescent with a lot of potential. Having been pressured by his parents to be someone he wasn't or to do something he didn’t want to do caused him to rebel and to be thrown into the life of a drug dealer. It is here where he tries to do what he does best, create art. In his search for being accepted he makes choices that’s digs him deeper down in a hole called the drug world. With the proper rehabilitation and motivation to be something better, Jesse has a really good chance of becoming a decent member of society. Parents, instead of choosing their children’s lives for them, should allow their kids to choose what they want to do and be who they want to be. Being overbearing can cause a child to go down a completely wrong path in life and destroy their future.
********************************
Cloudy, With a Chance of Revelation
Breaking Bad is a highly rated television drama about drugs, violence, family values and justice. While incredibly entertaining at face value, the underlying themes and motifs are what differentiate it from other primetime programming. The depth of the characters is so realistic that the viewer begins to know each of them personally and can start to get into their heads. Jesse Pinkman, viewed by most as a low life criminal, is a very intricate and complicated person. Early on it seems that all he cares about is just getting by, making enough money to survive. He appears to have no ambitions. But as the show develops, it becomes clear that is not the case. Damaged by past events, Jesse has taken to a life of crime to get by, but deep down he is a good person who is just lonely and is desperately trying to find himself.
Jesse does not fit into the criminal world, but he tries very hard to make people think that he does. The charade that he pulls off as “Cap’n Cook” is not very convincing. A real criminal would not identify himself on his license plate. This is either an example that he is an idiot, or that he is not very committed to his life of crime. He adds chili powder to his methamphetamine, saying nonsense like “chili p is my signature.” The fact that he thinks that people would want spicy ingredients in something that they are going to smoke or snort is a clear indication that he has no idea what he is doing. His answering machine makes it very clear that he is trying very hard to fit in, which is further developed when his “friends” are over at his house and he gives them drugs so that they will not leave. Their actions make it very clear that his position in the drug world is not as good as he tries to make it seem. Another example of lack of criminal knowledge is the barrel debacle. Instead of rolling or using a handcart, Jesse and Walter carry the barrel out of the warehouse. The DEA agents reviewing this tape openly laugh at his lack of criminal skill. This scene is important because it demonstrates that Jesse is just as bad at being a criminal as Walter.
Jesse has had a very hard life. On the surface, he grew up in a middle class family, went to a nice school and should have been on a much better course in life. But when certain events are taken into consideration it is clear that his life was not so cut and dry. His aunt, the relative that he was the closest to, was diagnosed with cancer and ultimately died. Jesse was there for the whole thing, caring for her as her condition deteriorated, and this was a devastating blow to him. Less loving than his aunt, his oh-so-perfect parents are incredibly overbearing, and likely drove him away instead of helping him succeed. It is clear that they impossible standards for their children as seen when Jesse interacts with his younger brother. When he looks through the box of items from his childhood, the gleam in his eye betrays his true passion, art. However, his parents obviously did not support his dreams as his art is all hidden in a box. Later, when his girlfriend dies in season two it is clear that the pain that he is feeling is very real. It is the pain felt by a damaged person who has found peace in life, only to have it shattered. Even worse he feels responsible for her death, although it was only indirectly caused by him.
Even though Jesse routinely performs a wide range of criminal acts he is not a bad person. He has a good heart which is conveyed in scene with Walter in the desert. Walter reveals his[CF1] cancer and Jesse gives him advice about treatment based off of his experience with his aunt. The dialogue promotes the idea that under the surface, Jesse is capable of compassion. Jesse also has a staunch aversion to murder. The coin flip scene exposes his feelings when he repeatedly calls on the sanctity of the coin flip which got him out of doing the deed. When Walter tells him to get the money and drugs back from Spooge in season two, Jesse is very uncomfortable about having to confront the man because he believes that Walter wants him killed. Later, in seasons two and three, Jesse demonstrates compassion for children and a need to protect them. His interactions with Tomas, Spooge’s child and Andrea’s son all paint a clear love of children. These actions all point to the moral conflict presented to Jesse, the struggle of being a criminal with a good heart.
Jesse is undeniably lonely. His constant drug use has left him estranged from his righteous parents and his overprotected younger brother. His favorite aunt, who took him in when no else would, died from lung cancer. His old friends have all moved on in their lives as shown when Jesse is kicked out of his aunt’s house. He contacts friends in an attempt to find a place to stay, finally finding one who will take him in. However, the friend’s new wife is very disapproving of Jesse and ultimately kicks him out. At this moment Jesse knows how alone he truly is. He knows that his only other friends hang out with him because he has access to drugs. The only two people he truly has in his life are Wendy, a drugged out disgusting prostitute, and Walt who he doesn’t recognize is there for him. As absolute proof of his loneliness, when he finally finds a girlfriend he is willing to uproot his entire life and move to New Zealand with her. Sadly, this is not to be and her death throws him right back into his lonely pit of despair.
Jesse is confused about who he really is and is trying to find himself. It is clear that his heart is not really in the criminal life he leads and that it is just the thing that he knows. When he becomes paranoid from taking meth, he stumbles to the only place that he has ever felt that he was a part of, his childhood home. While there, the viewer gets a glimpse into his aspirations. His pride in his younger brother’s accomplishments, his box of drawings, and the graded exams all show that he unhappy with his current path. After leaving he makes an attempt at finding a real job, something that his parents will be proud of. Only after he discovers that he will have to start all over again does he go back to crime. The most revealing scene takes place in season three, while he is in the hospital after being beaten by Hank. He refuses to work will Walt and Gus, and is finally swayed when Walt admits that Jesse’s meth is as good as his. This scene reveals that Jesse is seeking acknowledgment in his life, however it can be acquired. He is still very immature and has not yet become sure enough of himself to grow out of it. He refers to Walter as “Mr. White,” as he did in high school. He is often snarky and sarcastic in serious situations. He acts out when he needs approval or doesn’t like something. These are the actions of a teenager who has not yet accepted life or figured out their part in it. These are the actions of somebody who is actively trying to find themselves, without even realizing it.
Jesse Pinkman wears crime like a mask to cover up his helplessness. Underneath the childlike actions and blatant disregard for the law is a vulnerable, lonely person who doesn’t know what to do. He puts on a show of strength and apathy towards crime, but he cannot hide the fact that he is a good person and that he does not have it in him to be a criminal. He is searching for his true self and in that process is growing up. With the aid of Walt, who surreptitiously acts as a father figure, he has a real chance of living up to his fullest potential.
No comments:
Post a Comment