Analysis Of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Elaine knew how much winning the contest would mean to Lysandra as she claims “...Lysandra was the only one to devote her entire life, to filling out a whole shoe box with poetry...” yet she still disregards Lysandra and fails to inform her about valuable information. Elaine knew that the judges are not as sophisticated for long abstract poems and that Miss Alexander was the judge to impress. Elaine specifically tailors her poem to become more appealing for Miss Alexander as well as the other 2 male judges. She specifically says “Where could you find a subject better designed to please two men?” (130). As well as “Miss Alexander … had no truck with any kind of verse that didn’t rhyme and wasn’t the jig-a jig-a jig variety.” (129). Partially because of Elaine’s opportunistic personality she keeps this information from Lysandra, and as a result would put her at an advantage in the

The story started when people are gathered every end of June for the annual lottery ritual in a small village. All the head of each family are required to grab a slip a slip of paper in the box that is placed in the middle of the village. The in charge of the lottery was Mr. Summer. The conflict occurs when Tessie found out that her husband Bill was the center of the Villager’s attention. There is something on the paper that he picked. Because of that Tessie can’t even accept it and she keep on yelling that it is not fair. She believed that the time given to Bill was not enough to pick the paper that he wanted from Mr. Summer. The entire Hutchinson family, are

In the story, “How I Lost the Junior Miss Pageant” by Cindy Bosley, the narrator tells her story about how she lost the Junior Miss Pageant. She takes us on a journey about how she watched pageants and rated the females as if she was the judge and how she got into the pageant and practiced. She told us about her and her mother’s struggles with money, men and ultimately how she lost the pageant. She went even further after the pageant was over, to tell the reader how disappointed her mother was because she did not win and her mother’s ultimate sorrow, her loneliness. This descriptive narrative allowed me to understand the text's main point: being accepted by others.

“The Boys in the Band”, is a play about male homosexual relationships and the revealing truths of being gay in the 1960s. The play gives audiences a distinct perspective of homosexuality on the stage up until that time. The setting is in a New York City apartment that is owned by Michael. He and his gay friends are preparing a birthday party for Harold. Alan McCarthy, a former college roommate of Michael, also shows up at the party unexpectedly. In this paper, we will focus on Alan and Harold and their behaviors and impacts in the play.

The diverse characters within the story represent various views and ideas in a symbolic manner. "The lottery was conducted-as were the square dances, the teen-age club, the Halloween program-by Mr. Summers, who had time and

The film Little Miss Sunshine, Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Farris, explores the lives of a regular American family and how they change their lives in front of us in the ‘Combie’ van on the road to the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. The film examines the issues of winning and losing, and what it means to be a winner, throughout many sequences in the film as well as exploring the value of family. The directors and the cinematic team use an extreme range of camera techniques, costuming, and sound techniques to reshape our understanding of winning and losing in the world we live in today.

As Tessie’s protests continue and the Hutchinson family prepares to draw again the sense of apprehension is one again mounting, this time fearing for whoever wins yet still not knowing what their “prize” will be. “The crowd was quiet. A girl whispered, ‘I hope it’s not Nancy’”, the silence and fear of the crowds manifests in the reader as the three children and their parents all draw slips of paper. Tessie “wins” the lottery and when the narrator explains “although the villagers had forgotten the ritual, and lost they original black box, they still remembered to use stones” (6) its suddenly shockingly clear to the readers what the winner is to receive. The drastic switch from a light and cheerful tone with talk of the beautiful day and children playing to the closing like of “and they were upon her” (7) is in part why this story is so effective. The unforeseen sinister end of the story makes the revelation of the tradition much more shocking and unsettling than had the reader known from the beginning what the outcome would be. Jackson very effectively builds a sense of apprehension and foreboding as she slowly cues the reader into the reality of the situation.

The setting is described as a “clear and sunny… full-summer day” and is described with positive connotations which create the impression that the story will be pleasant and ordinary. However, the story goes on to be far from it. As the story progresses the mood shifts from light-hearted and easy-going to tense and apprehensive. The villagers chuckle nervously amongst themselves and gather together quietly as the lottery commences. Once the names are picked the mood instantly becomes appalling and barbarous. The villagers move on towards Tessie and stone her to death without a second’s hesitation. The quote previously presented represents how ironic the story is overall. “The Lottery” starts off with a beautiful, warm day and ends in the brutal murder of an innocent woman. In the text, we see that “The lottery was conducted--as were the square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program--by Mr. Summers. who had time and energy to devote to civic activities. He was a round-faced, jovial man” (26). Another form of irony in “The Lottery” is Mr. Summers. He is described as a “round-faced, jovial man” and his last name “Summers” makes him seem warm and amiable. Jackson describing him as such adds on to the beginning

Over 100 teams throughout the United States come to the competition, but only 4 teams make it to the final round (YCA 1). Diversity is a major aspect of LTAB because the competition is so massive; poets travel from rural, suburban, and urban areas to voice their thoughts. The first time I competed in LTAB, I wrote a poem about my spilling a drink on a customer when I was a server at Steak N’ Shake. The competition was at an auditorium at Columbia College with teams of all ages from Chicago, Indiana, and the suburbs. I hear the emcee call my name as my team chants, “BC CREW! BC CREW! BC CREW!” As I walk on the stage I can feel eyes piercing my skin and bright lights flashing on my face. I hear side-conversations in the crowd while I stand alone before everyone’s judgement; I am an alien. My voice is white noise ready to be engulfed by the mic. I have exactly 3 minutes to prove my talent worthy...“Spewing out words of gibberish and insanity, These are the very things my apron is composed of. Buried in these tiny stitches are the vicious thoughts gnawing at my brain and you might miss this when I say it, but the dishes are getting in the way of the kitchen in my psyche...my bow tie is constricting me serving itself as a noose to each uncouth table I see, inflicting upon my sensibility...” In those 3 minutes, my mouth became dry as my heart pounded in double time. Each person in the audience had a different perspective and I was their vulnerable subject to study. The air in my lungs drained poetry and people were listening. For the first time in my life, I was able to forget about all the times I’ve felt insignificant. My fears and doubts were washed away and replaced with a true sense of community. Louder Than a Bomb was where I

All questions courtesy of Houghton Mifflin's The American Pageant Guidebook; A Manual For Students, Eleventh Edition, 1998

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was done wonderfully and quite entertaining. While a musical about a spelling bee does not sound like the most exciting thing to watch, the performances by each actor provided a great atmosphere for the production. Going into the play, I was expecting it to be a kid’s show, which kids would enjoy the musical but may not quite get all of the jokes. The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee was more aimed at adults. Every adult that was watching the play, myself included, was rolling out of their seats. The play managed to be engaging and funny throughout the entire play. Within the play, each actor has a different background story. Each actor in the play, plays a big role and stood out in their own specific way. Also, this specific play differs from the other plays we have seen but it has few similarities.

“I was super nervous” says Davis. As her and her fellow choir members were waiting to go on stage.The Westover Junior High choir were performing for the first time. “ It’s nerve racking because you never know if you will or someone else will mess up and then the whole choir could go down.” adds Davis. Mrs. Daniels finished her intro it was time for the big moment. “We walk onstage just like we practiced the day before.” explains Davis. The bright lights hit their faces as

To further support this apparent family-friendly activity, Jackson has the lottery conducted by Mr. Summers because he “had the time and energy to devote to civic activities”(251). She goes on to explain that Mr. Summers conducts all civic activities such as square dances, the Halloween program, and the teenage club. By comparing the lottery to activities one would normally associate with fun and pleasurable experiences, further shields the reader from the ominous series of events about to unfold. Inevitably, the reader experiences an emotional roller coaster ride of confusion followed by

In the story, “The Lottery”, the characters are introduced in a carefree way. One character, Tessie Hutchinson, was introduced as a woman who had forgotten an important day in her community and was late to the event. Throughout “The Lottery”, Mrs. Hutchinson displays two main traits. First, Mrs. Hutchinson displays being carefree. Mrs. Hutchinson was very calm when she walked up to the crowd as she said, “‘Clean forgot what day it was’” (Jackson). This shows how common an ordeal the lottery was in their way of life. The lottery did not seem to make anyone super nervous. This shows how Mrs. Hutchinson developed as a character throughout the story. Mrs. Hutchinson was also frightened. When Mr. Hutchinson unfolded his slip of paper Tessie began to scream of unfairness (Jackson). Mrs. Hutchinson shows how frightened she is for her life because she knows that she has a higher chance of dying once her husband is shown with the only special slip of paper. Another character in “The Lottery” is Mr. Summers.Mr. Summers shows two main traits while in the story as well. Mr. Summers is a married man, without children, that “...[has the] time and energy to devote to civic activities”, which makes him responsible in his town(Jackson). This is important to the story because he is the proctor of an age-old tradition that kills people. Mr. Summers almost acts as if “The Lottery” is just like any other community event like a county fair. He acts with no remorse because it is traditional to have the lottery. Mr. Summers also is traditional. As he is setting up for the lottery to begin, he remembers and performs a lot of rituals that occur during this event like using the same black drawing box or calling up each male head of household or making up the family lists after everyone was gathered (Jackson). Mr. Summers is knit picky about what happens as the day moves along because if anything goes wrong, he is responsible and could possibly be disciplined for the mistake. If there was a mistake the result could quite possibly be death because that is the whole purpose of the lottery, to rid the community of a person, by stoning. Therefore, Mr. Summers would not stray from the traditional ways of performing the lottery at all. The

Throughout this short story the audience is introduced to many characters. Bobby Martin, Mr. Summers, Mr. Graves, Mr. Martin, Baxter, Old Man Warner, Bill Hutchinson, Tessie Hutchinson, Mrs. Delacroix, Mrs. Dunbar, Watson boy, Bill Jr., Nancy, and little Davey. These characters are a key aspect to the lottery. Each character has their own feelings about the lottery at the beginning, but what happens when the lottery affects them and their family? To understand this, the thoughts of individual characters have to be explored.