Final Proposal

The purpose of this paper will focus on the issue of diabetes and related topics. Living in Northern Minnesota, where diabetes is a large and growing issue has made this topic something that interests me and seems to be something worth writing about. My god father has had diabetes and it has been something that I have been around since I have been young. This is another one of the reasons as to why I chose to write about and do research on this topic. Throughout the following paper I will discuss the basics of diabetes, the treatment options, current research that is being done, and mainly focus on how it affects the Native American population. I will talk about type one and type two diabetes. A family friend of mine, Jill Breyen, is a nutritionist that does a lot of work in Red Lake. Throughout this paper I will use the interview that I had with her, along with research that I have done on diabetes.This paper will be an informative piece of writing, and by the end I hope that you will have a good understanding of diabetes and the the other topics I have discussed.

Research Paper Ideas

As I said in my previous blog, I plan on doing my research paper on diabetes. This was something that I briefly hit during my TED talk, so I would be able to go into more detail and expand on this. I would look at the causes of it, different types, the current treatments, and the research that is being done to find new cures and treatments. Diabetes is a disease that is very prevalent around the area that we live in, so I could talk about those effects as well. I plan on doing my paper from a narrative along with an informative voice. Since I will be doing my paper on a topic that can be complicated and not many people know about, I will be sure to go into detail and also explain the smaller things. Some of the people that I have thought about interviewing were either one of my parents, Jill Breyen, Kristen Klinefelter, and Paul Craft. Both of my parents work in the health care field, and both have a background with it. Jill and Kristen are both close family friends of ours, and they are both dietitians. Jill works in Red Lake which has an extremely high rate of diabetes. She works with it and sees it every single day. Paul is my God Father. He has been affected by diabetes for many years now. He would be a person that I feel comfortable with talking about it and he would also be able to give me a lot of information.

Heart of Darkness Thesis

For my Heart of Darkness essay I plan on writing about how Africa was once an innocent and pure place until it was corrupted by the evil of the European man. The Europeans brought the evil to Africa. I plan on talking about why Conrad chose to use Africa as the setting of his book and how this may have helped portray this idea.
Some quotes I am looking at using are
"I've seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire." (Conrad, 82) This quote to me seems to say that a person, not a place has brought the evil to Africa.This is why Conrad chose to use the devil in this part of the text. I could also look at how he use many cases of comparing Marlow or Kurtz to a Buddha or God.
"...for he judged it necessary to inform me he feared neither God nor devil, let alone any mere man." (Conrad, 98) Here, Conrad is portraying Kurtz as a God, and a figure that everyone should fear. This helps to portray him as holding a great deal of power.
 "...seemed to lead into the hear of an immense darkness." (Conrad, 164" As I interpreted this quote I feel as if Conrad is trying to say that imperialism has done its job and has left Africa as an 'immense darkness' just as it should. I think this quote would fit in nicely towards the end of my essay.
Any suggestions would be wonderful!

A topic that I am looking at doing for my research paper is the topic of diabetes. I somewhat looked at this for my TED talk, so I could go into more detail and expand on it. I would look at the causes of it, different types, the current treatments, and the research that is being done to find new cures and treatments. Diabetes is a disease that is very prevalent around the area that we live in, so I could talk about those effects as well.

Throughout the book Heart of Darkness, we see one group holding power over another looking through a postcolonial lens. The white men throughout the story remain dominant and powerful over the black men. The way that Conrad words the text and the way he uses imagery and symbolism helps portray these power roles. “I’ve seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire; but, by all the stars! these were strong, lusty, red-eyed devils, that swayed and drove men- men, I tell you.” (Conrad, 82) In the previous quote, Conrad refers to the slaves as ‘the devil’. Along with this, he uses the color red as a symbol. Red is a color commonly associated with bad or evil. By using this color throughout the text it helps Conrad to portray the slaves as weak and savages. He uses the words ‘greed’ and ‘violence’ to describe them. These words make them seem like animals, hungry for anything they can get ahold of and ready to attack. As Conrad portrays the slaves as animals, it helps to show that the white men are superior and hold power. The white men own and treat the slaves as animals. The slaves are taught to fear the white men, hence why the slaves seem so violent. This portrayal of the slaves as aggressive animals helps the reader to see that the white men hold dominance throughout the story and that everyone should fear them.

Throughout the short stories Rufus at the Door, Winning Sarah Spooner, and Agatha McGee and the St.Isidore Seven, Jon Hassler uses symbolism to portrayed how the charters take on different traits to hold power. He uses this portrayal to show how characters may succeeded and fail. Throughout Rufus at the Door, Rufus's mother takes on the typical role of a female and fails. In Winning Sarah Spooner and Agatha McGee and the St.Isidore Seven both woman take on feminine traits along with Masculine traits to portray and hold power throughout the story.

RUFUS AT THE DOOR

    The short story Rufus at the Door clearly has social classes laid out. The people of the town are part of the middle class. The inmates of the insane asylum are portrayed as part of the lower class, even though they all came from family of middle class citizens. Focusing on the character of Rufus, the audience perceives him as part of the lower class because of his lower mental ability and his inability to take care of himself. Rufus is put into a social class solely on only these qualities. When the social classes are looked at based on emotion and happiness, the situation of story are reversed. Throughout the story the voice of the boy is always pointing out how Rufus is constantly smiling. “...his hands clasped behind him, his eyes directed at a point slightly above the passing people, his face locked in its customary grin.” (Hassler, 24) Throughout the quote above, Hassler uses imagery to help describe the scene he is picturing. He clearly explains an image of what Rufus looks like. Rufus is loved very much by his mother, he is happy, and he always has a grin on his face because of this sense of love. He has a sense of pure happiness that no one else in the town has. Looking at the social classes from a view of emotion, we can see that Rufus has risen above the rest of the town and become part of the upper class. As soon as Rufus’s mother passes away, we see Rufus fall back down in the social class, and once again become part of the lower class because his happiness from love no longer exists. The story helps show the power that society’s idea of upper, middle, and lower class has. 

        To revise this paper, I changed around some of the ways that I worded things in order to make it easier for the reader to understand. I also went back and analyzed more in depth on the quote I used. Overall, I did not change the main format and layout of this piece. I chose to use this piece of writing for my blog because out of all the stories we read, this one seemed to click the best. It kept me interested and didn't lose my attention. After the first page, I already had an idea of what I wanted to write about because the social classes were clearly laid out to me. I could tell that Rufus was going to be portrayed on the lower class from the start.

Throughout the duration of the film The Third Man, Holly Martins strives to become a masculine figure in which he would hold power. In the final scene of the movie, we see all of his work and effort come to an end and ultimately he fails. The power that Harry Lime and Anna Schmidt hold during the film, help contribute to this failure of Holly’s. During the final scene, we see Holly standing off to the side of the film, while Anna walks in a direct path towards that camera. Looking from a long shot, even though Anna is a minute part of the screen we still see her as larger and more powerful than Holly. The placement of Holly off to the far left of the screen helps the viewer to associate Holly as less important, as is he has been defeated and no longer plays a role in this moive. Another way that the directors help to portray Holly’s weakness and femininity is by having Harry Lime still hold power even after he is dead. In the last scene Anna walks straight part Harry without giving him a glance or second thought. Even though Harry is a dead man, and can no longer protect or provide for Anna, she still ends up choosing him over Holly. This defeat of not getting the girl, and having a dead man hold more power that he does really helps to demonstrate the weakness and little power that Holly holds. Along with the characters helping to portrays Holly’s weakness in the final scene, the directors also use the setting around Holly to help. The dirt road that Holly is standing along is lined with trees. The trees all look dry, dead, and hopeless. These trees are a symbol of Holly. At one point in time the trees were all probably alive and green, just as Holly was in the peak of the movie when he felt somewhat in control. Now that the trees are dead and have no more purpose, the viewer can associate Holly as also being dead to the movie. The last scene of the film The Third Man helps to show that all of the effort that Holly Martins put in throughout the film to gain power and break away from the characteristics of a female were ultimately pointless because in the end he fails and ends as a weak character.