Santoyo 1

Cesar Santoyo
AP Lang
Ms. Harris
17 May 2021
PA Rewrite
Reflecting on people's experiences and the society around them

Thesis:

Within the book of Raising Cain by Dan Kindlon and movie, The Truman Show directed by

Peter Weir these two texts support the big ideas that identity and conformity would then help to

reveal the essential understanding of, when people gain new experiences does this change the

way people think, does this also reflect the society and culture that they are currently in. These

new experiences do reflect the society and culture that they are currently and depending on the

society and culture, they can either benefit or harm this person's life.

Rewritten 1st Body Paragraph:

With identity, this idea helps to further detail the main understanding and connect back to

it. In the book Raising Cain, in chapter 4 it speaks of the culture of cruelty, within the chapter it

explains many experiences, disturbing experiences, that some boys must go through, and even

though it was disturbing, many of boys that still don’t want to share with one another.

Throughout the chapter it explains why they wouldn’t want to share and only continue with their

lives, however in the middle of the chapter says this, “With every lesson in dominance, fear, and

betrayal, a boy is tutored away from trust, empathy, and relationships. This is what boys lose to

the culture of cruelty” (Kindlon, Thompson 72), within this quote the use of evocative diction
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helps so to build on the ideas that our society only helps to lead boys toward a path in life that

loses their own trust and empathy towards themselves and possibly others. It evokes the feeling

of emptiness and the what it feels like to be lost and unknowing in your life. With the word

tutored, most of the times tutored means that a person is being taught something, to gain help and

knowledge and become better, the use of tutored here however, is the kind of opposite, they do

learn, but they learn the wrong messages. This helps paint a picture to the reader that many boys

are suffering without any help. These ideas of how society wants boys to act, is fundamentally

changing these identities of the boys, telling them that by feeling a certain way, they aren't being

boys, causing them to lose who they are, and what they want to be. Next up in the book,

specifically chapter 9, right at the beginning of the book it is explaining the concept of how

alcohol and drugs pose a threat to accomplishing life dreams, then explaining how many adults

do find this topic very compelling but only an abstract concept to teenagers, “If you ask a third-

grade boy if he is going to drink a lot when he gets into junior high school, he’ll say no. If you

ask fifth and sixth graders the same question, only about one in ten will say that he will drink

beer in junior high, and the only reason for is experimentation” (Kindlon, Thompson 176),

within the quote the use of pathos, it shows how throughout a kid's life they will experience

different events that could change their perspective on everything and anything. With pathos

comes imagery, the emotion of pity comes up that an underage person will drink during a time

where they will set up the foundations of their entire life. Apart of the quote, “only about one in

ten will say that they will drink”, this number in the quote only gets bigger as the boy grows up,

as they begin to wonder about these things were hidden to them before. There is a way to keep

these numbers down however, “the only reason for is experimentation”, society must try its best

to show these boys that there are ways to have fun in life without the use of these substances.
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These two quotes can connect back to the idea of identity, by explaining the ways that a person

can change and question who they are. The use of evocative diction and pathos it further helps to

paint a picture of how society is and how it only leads to boys lives toward a path in life that

loses their own trust and empathy towards themselves. The Truman Show, within the movie

Truman was questioning his reality, by some of the experiences he now is beginning to analyze.

In this scene, Truman notices a car, and a person on a bike, but he notices the exact same car, and

the same person on the bike, Truman is seeing it repeat over and over. While in the car Truman

and Meryl begin to talk about what's happening (Weir 46:00- 47:30). Here with the use of the

close-up shots between Truman and Meryl it creates a tension between, Meryl/ the audience and

Truman, obviously, the audience and Meryl know this is all an illusion, now that Truman is

beginning to suspect something the close-up shots really do amplify the tone of the scene that

being suspense, the tension that both Meryl and the audience feel. The close-up shots contribute

in highlighting the way Truman is starting to change, and something sooner or later will happen.

The second scene that will be analyzed is towards the end of the film Everything seems to be

returning to normal, however Truman has a scheme up his hand, at the end of its Truman goes

missing, Christof (director of the show) then finds Truman in the ocean while he is on a boat,

Truman is escaping and then with the weather systems Christof creates a storm for Truman in

ocean (Weir 1:24:00- 1:25:30). With the help of lighting, this creates fear within Truman as well

as the audience. The darker colors within the scene make it so that the boat and Truman is only

visible, this helps in characterization creating a feeling of helplessness in Truman he can't do

anything in the moment and he may die. However, as the storm rages on he begins to conquer his

fear of water, but in the end the lighting changes to the bright sun, showing how Truman made it

and he is free. In These two texts connect back to the essential understanding by showing the two
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sides of it all, the good and the book Rasing Cain, it highlights the bad of the new experiences,

which is only leading them down the wrong path in life. With The Truman Show, it focuses on

the good, Truman noticing the bad in his and trying to make it better, a tactic that people these

days should have, to know and understand/analyze when they are in a bad situation. Comparing

both texts on their own really only reveal one half of the understanding but both together bring in

the big picture of identity.