D. Todd Christofferson

Margarita Engle’s poem, “The Life of a Digger,” and Erica Funkhouser’s poem, “My Father’s Lunch,” reveal how life as manual laborers are filled with hard and strenuous work. Additionally, both poems concern specific people to show the differences in the repercussions of their work. In Engle’s poem, Henry the digger, finds his job leaves him feeling undignified, whereas in Funkhouser’s poem, the speakers father is rewarded with a good meal and his children’s appreciation. In both poems, the authors’ themes are representational of the lives of manual laborers. By comparing these two poems, we gain a glimpse of the reality between the differences of immigrant and non-immigrant laborers, and how those differences affect them. Author Erica Funkhouser’s speaker, the child of the farmer in her poem, sets the tone in “My Father’s Lunch.” The tone is set in place through their narrative recount of the lunch traditions they share with their father. These lunch traditions set by their father are a reward of sorts, for their father’s hard days’ worth of work. The lunch hour tradition is conveyed in the poem as a highly anticipated event by the children. As they lay and wait for his arrival, anticipating their time to come with their father, “for now he was ours” (14). The children are appreciative of their father’s work, as they view even the meal as work on his end; “This was work, too,/ but he did it slowly, with no impatience” (23-24). Work in this poem does not carry a negative…

Some may consider Mary Shelley’s novel, “Frankenstein”, to be a horror, romance, or even science fiction. Although she has written other novels, “Frankenstein” is the most remembered (Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Biography). This British science fiction novel has been adapted into several films and TV shows. The novel is told in the form of letters, but the perspectives are from Walton, Victor, and the Creature. The novel is about a skilled scientist, who in his search for greatness creates an…

This is a paper about two amazing comic book characters. Jason Todd and Bucky Barnes are often considered so similar that they might as well be the same character. Jason Todd is a DC character created in March 1983 as a sidekick for Batman to replace his first prodigy, Dick Grayson. Bucky Barnes is a Marvel character created in March 1941 as a sidekick for Captain America. The two boys share several critical personality traits, but overall are very different. In Life James Buchannan “Bucky”…

We’ve all seen friends and families who have been in a controlling relationship and we all have tried to say something to them about or at least tried to help them leave the relationship or try to help them seek out advice to fix the relationship? “Breathing Underwater” tells a story of boy who controls his girlfriend in many different ways and even hits her. Controlling relationships deal damage on both people involved with it and sometimes the friends and families caught in the crossfire of…

Until he took a boy named Dick Grayson under his wing when his parents were brutally murdered. He did this because the boy reminded Bruce of himself when he was little. (Bruce’s parents had been murdered too) The boy had soon found out Bruce wasn't who he said he was, and found out he was Batman. So Bruce trained the boy to become his sidekick naming him after a brave and full of hope bird. (Robin) Robin soon quit his job saying he was sick of Batman being too bossy and called Bruce a, “Control…

Andre Dubus “The Killings” and Todd Fields In the Bedroom present the theme of grief, revenge and how a good person can commit an evil act; through the different uses of characters, plot, and tone. There are very subtle changes between the story and the film adaption, with some parts of the film quoting the story word for word. While the director keeps the film in very close likeness to the story, there are subtle changes we can compare and contrast. Beginning with the characters, right…

Authors and directors have to make many choices to make when writing a story or writing a script for a movie, and each choice could have a very impactful outcome to the characters in the work. The different choices the director or writer makes can add drama, suspense, and emotion to their works. In the short story “Killings,” and in the movie, “In the Bedroom,” author Andre Dubus, and director Todd Fields made impactful decisions that added suspense and emotion throughout their work, and these…

As Dr. Liraz Margalit said in her paper human beings brains take in information on the big screen the same way as they would if it was happening in reality right in front of them in their own life. It makes complete sense that Todd Fields adapted Andre Dubus’ short story to fit the intention of the big screen. The ending production result of In the Bedroom would not have had the same effect on capturing the audience in the drama of the plot if there would not of been some of the emotion…

Starting a new job can be stressful when one is not well instructed. A lot of things in workplace can be understood when we actually start working, however, we should be aware about the minimum basic things that might show up during our early work days. These things though might be simple but lack of experience may make it look unethical or unprofessional. In this scenario, as a senior worker it is also my responsibility to make my work area look professional, at least for the position that I…

The Hidden Truth Behind Close Doors James Lehman says,“your kids watch you for a living.It’s their job; it’s what they do.That’s why it’s so important to try your best to be a good role model” ( James Lehman, pg.1), and this means as a role model or the person that has the most authority over the household. We have to consider the best for our children because as our generation grows are teachings will always be program in their memory as a computer chip where everyday lessons are saved and…