It’s Never Just Illness: Looking Back

Finals aren’t often something you remember at all. Tell me honestly, what was the final for that high school class? No idea. But of my four years at OPHS, there is one I remember.

Context

I was in 0 period English I my freshman year, and we read four books the first semester; The Crossover, The Outsiders, Fahrenheit 451, and Of Mice and Men. Our directions were to make a presentation about the commonality between what otherwise is 4 drastically different books; illness.

The Presentation

The Crossover

As a presentation slide, it does a good job at being concise and leaving room for the presentor to elaborate.

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men was a lot more complicated than it initially let on; it takes on the burden of tackling the relationships around mental disabilities, but also uses this illness as a symbol.

Fahrenheit 451

The addiction Mildred faced and the burden it becomes on her and her relationship is a type of illness in which we analyzed.

The Outsiders

Funnily enough, this week our performing arts department put on the outsiders.

Takeaways

This was my first introduction into how important meaning is in media. It is never just how it is, everything in a story has its meaning and purpose. Thank you to my english teacher at that time for teaching my how to look at media, and how to analyze it as a consumer.

Works Cited