The Hollow Men
I saw a pitcture today that, to me, depicted the poem by T.S. Elliot, "The Hollow Men". The picture is featured in a museum in Versailles, France and shows a group of men with bodies drawn in pencil and heads and hands clearly painted in color. Faces with distraught expressions looking toward a single light source produce a feeling of longing and loss from the characters in the painting. One man grasps his hands in a motion similar to prayer, giving the impression he is hurting and obscured of direction. The image of the painting portrayed the same image of the poem in line 65, "The hope only/ of empty men." Seeking the single light source is their only hope, the light source in the painting is all that is left to find.
I just loved it!

I am new to the school, therefore I did not receive the summer reading assignment. However, over the summer I read several books I enjoyed and a few I didn't. This summer I applied focus on novels written by Nicholas Sparks. In the past I enjoyed his novels and wanted to see what the others had to offer. I enjoyed the book titled The Rescue most. Such a story line intruiges me greatly and I feel Sparks uses creative language that really creates a strong image in the mind of the reader and allows the audiance to connect with the characters at such a level that tragedies and triumphs to the character are that to the reader also. Sparks' admirable writing techniques kept me inventing new endings and continuations of the story. when I think about the story, it sometimes I don't recolect that it was, in fact, a novel not a movie. Nevertheless, other books I read by Nicholas Sparks I found less enjoyable. Message in a bottle terminated in such a fashion that I felt heartbroken at the end of the novel. I rely on Sparks to give me the happy ending of the fairy tale that I am hopeful will happen in my life, but he ended up giving me tradgedy. After getting me so enthraled in the story and making me feel so near to the charaters, one was taken away, giving me a gut-wrenching feeling; a facsimilie of the reaction the charaters face. I will not be rereading this novel, as I have read others so many times over, because I was so disappointed in the story line. On the other hand, I will always remain a true Nicholas Sparks fan. I idolize his style and ability to create love and emotion for invented characters. By allowing the audience to draw their own conclusions Sparks refuses to permit the reader a break in a story in which the novel can rest. It is my goal as a writer to be able to form such an exciting story and really get readers to connect. As I continue to read the novels I will strive to lead my writing in the direction he takes.