Ethos In Los Angeles Notebook

Throughout life, one faces with many experiences, and how one deals with those experiences shapes one’s life. Laurie Channer’s “Las Mantillas” and Margaret Atwood’s “It is Dangerous to Read Newspapers” share the same theme of action versus inaction however, they define it from opposing perspectives. Action and inaction are complete opposites thus leading to completely different results. Whether taking action or remaining passive, strong feelings occur that can impact one’s life. Distance is also a huge factor in whether a person takes action or not, which is explored in both texts. While Channer’s “Las Mantillas” emphasizes the positive impact taking action has on an individual and society and Atwood’s “It is Dangerous to Read Newspapers” critiques the effects of inactivity, both agree that when faced with injustice it is vital to take action for one’s beliefs.

Didion personifies the wind as almost an unknown epidemic. Similar to when an unknown disease goes viral, all walks of life are affected. Didion clearly states how teachers, students, doctors, to physicists, to generally everyone becomes unhappy and uncomfortable during the winds. She does not write of how the wind caused fire to ravage the shrublands, but she writes of the symptoms it inflicts on the people. Didion mentions all the after effects of the wind and the harm it can do like inflict paranoia. She mentions how the fear-stricken victims of southern California are paranoid like her neighbor that refuses to leave the house and her husband who roams with a machete. Didion’s personification of the wind focuses on a fearful and distant light.

A...an excess of positive ions does, in simplest terms, make people unhappy”(Didion). Didion explains what the Santa Ana really is. She gives information and evidence to give the reader a sense of what the Santa Ana is truly about, this shows them how it came to be and its causes. She explains how the Santa Ana affects human behavior. Thomas gives the readers an explanation the benefits the fires have on the brushes. “The burning of chaparral during these winds is natural. Some plants in the chaparral--such as padre’s staff--require the heat of a flame to crack open their seed pods and prepare for germination”(Thomas). This quote conveys the author's reasoning as to why the Santa Ana creates a natural beauty with the brushes. She gives evidence displaying the effects the Santa Ana fire has on them, they need fire to bloom. Didion explains what the Santa Ana and why it affects human behavior. Thomas was able to provide evidence as to why the Santa Ana fire is beneficial.

Throughout life, one is faced with many experiences, and how one deals with those experience shapes one’s life. Laurie Channer’s Las Mantillas and Margaret Atwood’s It is Dangerous to Read Newspapers share the same theme of action versus inaction, however they define it from opposing perspectives. Action and inaction are complete opposites thus leading to completely different results. Whether taking action or remaining passive, strong feelings occur that can impact one’s life. Distance is also a huge factor in whether a person takes action or not, which is explored in both texts. While Channer’s Las Mantillas emphasizes the positive impact taking action has on an individual and society and Atwood’s It is Dangerous to Read Newspapers critiques the effects of inactivity, both agree that when faced with injustice it is vital to take action for one’s beliefs.

The author’s frightening story, “The Storm” has all the expected things that a good scary story should have. It has a story line that gains suspense throughout the story, there is irony, and there is lots of

Joan Didion uses rhetorical words in “Morality,” to emphasize her claim as to why she is suspicion of the definition of morality. Throughout, “Morality,” Didion defines and provides varies arguments as to why she is skeptical towards moral principles. Didion starts her essay by describing her location to present an emotional appeal to her particular setting. “As it happens I am in Death Valley, in a room at the Enterprise Motel and Trailer Park, and it is July, and it is hot (106, para 1).” The significance of describing the setting helps the reader become aware of the authors hidden meanings around the individual location, time, and weather. The tone of the setting described by Didion evokes emotions of isolation, despair, and loneliness.

The Santa Ana winds obviously mean a great deal to Didion and Thomas which is why they regard it as sort of a powerful force in nature. In The Santa Ana by Joan Didion, the wind is portrayed as a force that deprives people of happiness. This concept is highlighted when she states that “ to live with the Santa Anna is to accept . . . a deeply mechanistic view of human behavior.” In Brush Fire by Linda Thomas, it is portrayed more like a normal power of nature. Her concept is highlighted when she brings up the fact that the chaparral plant burns due to the winds but then it returns in the spring which symbolizes regrowth. Throughout their essays, both authors use diction as well as syntax to persuade their perspective audiences.

A well-known Gilded Age author of satirical pieces, Mark Twain, in his text “Dreams Dissipated”, argues the elite and other influential groups he despises, should not be idolized by the public. Twain’s purpose is to reveal the true intentions and behavior of these groups at the face of tragedy in order to stop the public from aspiring to be like them or seek guidance from them. He adopts a connotative tone for his audience who may be unaware of the immoral behavior the elite display during the “great” earthquake in San Francisco. Twain supports this claim by first referring to a tragic event using connotative diction to hint at the animal-like behavior of these groups, then he illustrates a chaotic scene and the ill-fitted reactions of the

Writer , Linda Thomas, in her essay, Brush Fire, discusses the Santa Ana winds experienced in Southern California and how it affects the people and the weather. Well-known essayist , Joan Didion, in her essay, The Santa Ana, describes the winds and the effects it has on the way the people behave. Both Thomas and Didion’s essays have a similar subject and circumstance, the Santa Ana winds but, both essays vary in numerous ways. The details, tone, and how the message is being told are ways in which both essays differ. These essays are an example of one topic being portray through different lights.

Her career as an actress has blinded her; she has become completely wrapped up in the superficial glamour in a city of make-believe. On the contrary, seeing and reading about the danger makes it all the more real in Anna’s eyes. Her first sight of LA was of the homeless and a man desperately needing to go to the hospital only to find out the hospital dumped him on the streets. She is exposed to the ugly before she sees the pretty. Alone one night in Delia’s apartment: “I didn’t want to admit that I was more spooked by the night, that the wind could sound as sinister as a hand rattling a doorknob… party” (139). Anna has become engrossed in the Manson killings. Reading about the danger only heightens her paranoia for threats that could lie around her. Like watching a scary movie, her senses are on edge. The slightest sound, such as wind, becomes the scariest of sounds, especially alone. While visiting Manson’s victim, Sharon Tate’s grave, Anna becomes awe-struck. Her readings and research only become tangible while standing in front of Tate’s grave. The media turned Charles Manson into a glorified icon. Having to see the actual gave of both Sharon Tate and her baby, she describes as “who both was and wasn’t” (153), the moment becomes not only sad, but Anna grasps it as an event that actually happened. It no longer stood as a fairy tale or a story that she heard. It was

‘’everyone dates the demise of our neighborhood from the suicides of the Lisbon girl. People saw their clairvoyance in the wiped-out elms, the harsh sunlight and the continuing decline of our auto industry.’

A number of creative individuals have taken their own lives, including John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Sylvia Plath, and many other writers. The large number of such cases suggests that there may be a functional relationship between creativity and psychological health. This relationship seems to vary across domains, with the rate of suicide especially high in certain groups of artists. This may suggest that there may be something unique to those domains that either draws suicide-prone persons into the domain or has an impact on the individual such that suicide is considered and often attempted. When the poem writing by Anne Sexton entitled Her Kind you can closely compare how Anne’s mental health affected her poetry and how her poetry

“It has been fifteen days since it first came!” The headlines of the Los Angeles Times blared. For some reason in all the chaos, death and destruction, newspapers were still somehow being printed, almost like a small symbol of hope. What is hope in a city of death and mayhem? My hands crunched the newspaper a little harder, as I brought it closer to my face. ”Even after two weeks of carnage, no one knows who the bringer of all this death is, though so eye witnesses claim it’s a young girl!” I paused my reading and ponder the fact that it was said to be a young girl. Why? But most importantly how? How, is it even remotely possible for a young girl to cause such carnage to make the great city of Los Angeles to become quarantined?

Both Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft were known for their tales of horror, shocking discoveries and mysterious characters. Lovecraft was known to have mimicked Poe’s style in his popular horror stories of the early 20th century. Poe, one of the most famous writers of short stories and poems in the 19th century, amazed readers with his rich descriptions and chilling plots. Neither disappoint in two of their stories: Poe’s “Tale of the Ragged Mountains” and Lovecraft’s “The Outsider.” Although these are not the most famous of each authors’ works, scholars often debate over the meaning and themes of each story. One common theme in both the

No families with kids growing up would want to raise them up in an execrable neighborhood since environment influences kids the most. That is probably why every relative questioned Mr. Bao’s moving into a house in the most dangerous city in Orange County, Santa Ana. According to “OC register”, Santa Ana has the highest crime rate in OC, up to 869 cases a year in 2016. However, Mr. Bao and his wife had been searching for almost two years to find “the perfect house” in this poor area, and fortunately, they found one.