The short story "The Thing That Grows in the Gasoline Tank" is a contemporary psychological thriller written by Brian Brett. Stranded on an Indian reserve, a white government agent has no transportation when his car stops running. Although a minority, the government agent acts as a majority when an old native man offers to fix his car. As the events unravel and the agent's car lies in pieces, he loses his composure and realizes he has no control over the situation. "The Thing That Grows in the Gasoline Tank" sends a powerful message by relating to the readers stereotypical, prejudice and racist views.
American Myth in the Western Film Stagecoach’s Dallas: America’s Sweetheart Many regard John Ford’s Stagecoach (1939) as the film that brought the Western genre back to life. The movie made John Wayne a star, and the racing zoom shot that introduces his character has been cited by film scholars and studied by directors as one of the iconic shots in movie storytelling. The film became the standard by which all subsequent Westerns would be compared to for years to come. It can be considered a classic western because it includes stock elements such as the character archetypes- the heroic cowboy, the damsel in distress, the loud and sloppy town drunk, etc.- but unlike many others in the genre, it went deeper to examine human nature with an emotional complexity that had not been seen in Western films before. Ford put these characters in the claustrophobic space of a stagecoach as it left civilization and reeled through the desert, and then turned these genre archetypes upside down.
He appoints a sluggish noblemen, Fernando de Guzman, as emperor of their rebellion, however it is Aguirre who is running the show through his intimidation and showmanship. As they venture deeper into the wilderness on the Amazon river their hardships become more apparent with the hostile Indians and the jungle itself. Guzman's leadership dwindles when he acts superior to his noblemen, and blunders when he gets rid of Clark, 2 their only horse on the
Savaged Beast In the book, The Devil’s Highway, Luis Alberto Urrea describes the impact of coyotes and polleros for the undocumented entrants. In May of 2001, a group of illegal Mexican walkers were left dying, stranded in the Devil’s Highway, after trekking for days in the wrong direction, through mountains and desert, with only a small amount of water and few personal items. Coyotes do not care about the lives of the walkers, if the walkers are raped by them or the border patrol, and if the walkers live or die. Immigrants trying to cross the border are human beings like everyone else that has had the bad fortune of facing tough economic conditions. Some immigrants get to the U.S.A by paying a large price to human smugglers.
The descriptions of the motorcycle and the “greasy character,” both produce the tough image that the narrator, Jeff, and Digby yearn for, whereas the narrator’s mother’s “whining” station wagon does not (125, 127). When the narrator, Jeff, and Digby retreat to the woods and the lake after their attempted rape, the narrator’s car is demolished and trashed by the angry greasy man, and two “blond types [wearing] fraternity jackets” that appear in a Trans-Am. The demolition of the narrator’s car symbolizes how weak and vulnerable he is, like a little school boy getting beaten up by an older, tougher bully, and takes away whatever “bad” boy image he had left. After emerging from their hide outs in the lake, the boys return to their car the next morning and are greeted by two
Despite the documentary many Europeans were killed during these massacres as well as Indians. The director not showing the Europeans being killed is a form of selection of detail. This takes away our traditional views of Indians from the old Cowboy and Indian movies where Indians kidnapped women and children and the white people were there savior. When the Europeans settled in America they tried to recreate Britain in this land but the climate, plants and animals were totally different so they were upsetting the natural ecosystem of the land. Whereas this is what the Indians had successfully not done by harvesting only what they need.
The nature of the way the Congolese live is considered savage by the Europeans due to how uncivilized they are. Furthermore, the natives attack Marlow’s steamer while he is on his way to the Inner Station. The river is perfectly quiet, until “[the boat is] being shot at!... [Marlow makes] out, deep in the tangled gloom, naked breasts, arms, legs, glaring eyes—the bush [is] swarming with human limbs in movement, glistening of bronze colour” (74). The natives, for no apparent reason ambush the steamer, further confirming the barbaric nature of the Congolese peoples.
An example of that would be when Peter and Pavel, two lonesome Russian settlers, tell Jim and Antonia a tragic tale that horrifies the children. This is the tale of when Peter and Pavel drove a sled with a bridal couple across the dark and snowy country side and were attacked by savage wolves, where both the bride and groom were killed by the wolves. This example is what could be referred to as “divergences which weaken the overall structure of the novel” (Wells 1). Despite the fact that critics say the novel has a loose structure, critics also say that the novel has one thing that slightly resembles a
O’Brien uses the images of the sewage field and the lake to illustrate the characters’ inability to escape the effects of the Vietnam War. The sewage field is a vivid metaphor for an unpleasant, meaningless battle that none of the soldiers can escape. The sewage field’s stench heightens the sensation that there is nothing valorous or heroic about this war; rather, it is debased and unclean. Bowker thinks that if it wasn’t for the horrible smell he might have saved Kiowa and won the Silver Star. But just as Kiowa was unable to be saved from sinking into the field, Bowker cannot save himself from his repeated, almost obsessive thoughts about Kiowa and the Song Tra Bong.
The Lone Ranger is for kids and wimps. Whether it takes place during the Civil War or in the present day, I'm talking about shows for adults with beer-drinking gunslingers – real cowboys. The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp is based on history, and it ended in 1961 with the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral; and although most of its cast is fictional, Gunsmoke proves that not even Dodge City, Kansas is safe without Marshal Matt Dillon. When I Love Lucy left the air in 1957, Gunsmoke replaced it as the most-watched program on television and the second most-watched – behind Wagon Train, another Western – when it expanded to an hour in 1961; and even Bonanza, the first color Western, held the top spot for three seasons (1964-1967) past the Western's heyday.