Adolescents, Crime and Brain Development.

Ghani  is a friend of my mom’s. When he was fifteen years old he and another friend of his came from New York to Philadelphia to work with a drug gang. His friend and he were put inside of an abandoned house where they were locked in a room and sold drugs through a slit in the door, and they were brought food and water through the slit in the door. They were trapped, desperate, and fifteen years old and their brains weren’t thinking about the consequences of their actions, so when the next person came to the door they killed him so they could escape. Ghani and his friends were both tried as adults as many teenagers are even though that shouldn’t be the case. There is no doubt that what Ghani and his friend did is wrong, but should they have been tried as adults?

The rational region (frontal lobe) of a teen’s brain won’t be fully developed until the age of twenty-five. The frontal lobe contains a region called the prefrontal cortex which lets us organize our thoughts, anticipate consequences, plan, and control impulses. “The frontal lobe undergoes far more change during adolescence than at any other stage of life.” It is also the last part of the brain to develop, which means that even as they become fully capable in other areas, adolescents cannot reason as well as adults. Under development of rational thinking causes teens to rely on emotional parts of the brain, rather than the frontal lobe.”  A scientist who studies adolescent brains explains, “one of the things that teenagers seem to do is to respond more strongly with gut response than they do with evaluating the consequences of what they’re doing.” Ghani and his friend didn’t kill the man out of act of violence, they killed him based on emotion. They felt trapped. They were trapped! Unfortunately our legal system doesn’t recognize that that teenage are more likely to do mindless thing because they lack rational thinking.

"Adolescence, Brain Development and Legal Culpability." Juvenile Justice Center. N.p., Jan. 2004. Web. 7 June 2016.

I wanted to make a collage of something/or someone that I love. I’ve always loved Audrey Hepburn and so I decided to make a collage about her. Before making my collage I did a little  research on Audrey Hepburn and discovered that she was born during the time of Nazi Germany, but the most interesting fact I learned was that she at bulbs of Tulips to stay alive and so I decided to make the shape of my collage a tulip bulb.

For the draw fabric assignment I decided to draw a gown. I’ve always loved and been interested in fashion and so this was my favorite assignment in quarter 2.  Before I started drawing I did some research on what draw fabrics looked like. I found a lot of images of what looked like to be drawing of a big sheet or clothing.

The picture I chose to edit is of my sister and I. I chose this photo because this is one of my favorite photos of my sister and I. This photo was originally taken in color.

I based my illustration off of a Shel Silverstein poem called: Early Bird. The first poetry book I had had this poem in it. It’s also where I learned the phrases: early bird get the worm. I decided to draw a picture of a bird because it’s the main subject of the poem.

The passage below is what I believe was cut from McCarthy’s The Road:

I watched the boy, his words struck me, he had matured. I wanted to say something but I had no words. The boy wouldn’t talk to me anyway. I looked back the man was standing where I had left him, naked. Even from this far away I could tell how gaunt he was. I averted my gaze and looked at the boy who was now quietly sobbing. I wish he would stop. I continued to watch the boy as he slothed along. The man felt warm arm arise in his throat. He put his hand to his mouth trying to suppress the cough, but it only muffled it. His paced slowed.

“Stop trying to protect me and cough.” 

By the time I removed my hand my cough had slithered back down my throat, all that was left was the blood on my hand. He knew. He knew I wasn’t doing well. I could feel the boy’s eyes watching me think. The boy wouldn’t last long after I was gone. Stripping that man’s clothing made me a bad guy in the boy’s eyes. We wouldn’t have gotten this far without being eaten or shackled if I thought/acted like the boy every thought, intention, tear based solely on others.

Here is the rationale for the choices I made

I placed my creative piece on page 259 on McCarthy’s The Road, right underneath the part when the boy says: I am the one. I chose this part of the book because this scene was so powerful to me. I want to go more indepth in showing how the boy and the man are so different,  and how their means of survival differ. I wanted this scene to start off where McCarthy left off. In the beginning scene the father is contemplating his relationship with the boy after making that man strip down. On page 259 McCarthy shows the boy sobbing and looking back at the man and letting his father know that he was the one who has to worry, which I believe is the most powerful thing the boy said in the book. It lets us know that the boy is beginning to realize he is going to be on his own.

My essential question was: What does it mean to survive. This question had been something that I’d thought a lot about when reading The Road. Throughout the book we have seen the boy show compassion over and over again just as we’ve seen the man do whatever needs to be done to keep him and the boy alive. I thought it was interesting to see the boy stick up for the people his father was going to harm. I decided to elaborate on this scene further because it was in my mind a perfect example of the boy sticking up for the person his father was going to harm. I wanted to give more insight on the father's thoughts. I want to make sure that people understand the importance of this page, of this scene, and I thought that a good way to show this was by writing from the the perspective of the father.

I started my creative piece out with the father reacting to what the boy said: “I am the one.” I wanted the father react to what the boy said to the fact that he had show compassion again toward someone who had taken something from them. I wanted the boy to lash out to show that he didn't need his father to take care of him anymore, to let his father know that he could take care of himself. I noticed that McCarthy didn’t have the father express his feelings or opinions on the boy’s compassion in the book that often and that is something that I would have liked to see more of. I had the boy lash out at his father in my creative scene.

Shakespeare’s Taming Of The Shrew, is about a man named Petruchio who is paid to “tame” a “wild” woman named Katherina. In the beginning of the story Katherina is portrayed as independent, and one that’s quick with words. Petruchio is portrayed as proud, and believes that he can “tame” Katherina with the right training, which he does so by starving her. “My Fair Lady” was created in 1964. A wealthy linguist’s friend challenges him, and states that he cannot make a poor woman (Audrey Hepburn) into an aristocrat. Much like Katherina, Eliza (Audrey Hepburn) is very quick with her words, as well as independent not only because she doesn’t have a home but because her father isn’t much of a father. Another parallel is Henry (Rex Harrison) is very similar to Petruchio. Henry’s goal throughout the movie is to try and “tame” Eliza, to make her into someone that society would respect. Though the storylines are similar, Petruchio and Katherina have different intentions than Henry and Eliza. Having to be tamed/worked to be acceptable in society shows that women are still being taken advantage of and are still seen as objects.

“I will be master of what is mine own: She is my goods, my chattels; she is my house, My household stuff, my field, my barn, My horse, my ox, my ass, my anything; And here she stands, touch her whoever dare.” This quote shows the beginning stages of Petruchio “taming” Katherina. Petruchio is showing dominance, by setting rules for Katherina. Petruchio in this scene has already started to take advantage of Katherina by implying that she has lost all her rights. By marrying Petruchio, Katherina has lost her right because she is his “property.”

In “My Fair Lady” Eliza finds herself in a situation similar to Katherina’s. Eliza has decided that she wants to be a part of the wealthy society, so she seeks help from Henry Higgins. Henry agrees to help her naturally since the bet has already been placed, but he doesn’t agree without making sure Eliza understands the rules:. “If you work hard and do as you're told, you shall sleep in a proper bedroom, have lots to eat, and money to buy chocolates and go for rides in taxis. But if you are naughty and idle, you shall sleep in the back kitchen amongst the black beetles, and be walloped by Mrs. Pearce with a broomstick. At the end of six months you will be taken to Buckingham Palace, in a carriage, beautifully dressed. If the king finds out you are not a lady, you will be taken to the Tower of London, where your head will be cut off as a warning to other presumptuous flower girls! But if you are not found out, you shall have a present... of, ah... seven and six to start life with as a lady in a shop. If you refuse this offer, you will be the most ungrateful, wicked girl, and the angels will weep for you.” Like Petruchio, Henry is beginning to “tame” Eliza.

“By George, she's got it! By George she's got it!” In both of these scenes we can see that Eliza has been molded into a beautiful aristocrat; she not only looks wealthy, she acts like it. The photo on right shows Eliza attending a horse race, in the scene on the left Eliza is attending a ball held by the queen. At the end of the scene on the right Henry says: “By George, she's got it! By George she's got it!” By saying “By George, she's got it!” Henry is implying that she has been tamed.