Tuesday, October 15, 2013

John Mcphee's "The Pines"

Please read McPhee's essay and write a commentary on the essay in the comments section below.

24 comments:

  1. The pines deals with two very different men. Fred is fairly old and talkative and Bill is younger and more withdrawn. These two men share the love for the place they live and they worry that growing civilization will take away their unique lifestyle. I think that the purpose of this is to show that two totally different people can compliment each others personalities. They are different when it comes to socializing,but they both share the same values. I could tell from the description john gives of Fred's house, and how he doesn't have electricity, that they don't need much to make them happy.

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  2. I'm having issues with turnitin.com I need the classroom enrollment pass code, and its not Collins, if anyone knows it please let me know!:)

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    1. The class ID is: 710076
      Password: collins
      Hope it helps :)

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    2. I am also having trouble with it. I entered everything correctly but it wont let me do anything. :(

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    3. Oh wait no I forgot another 7. Haha it's 7100776

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  3. John Mcphee is very descriptive in this story. He gives us the boys perspective in how they live and why they love it. They do not have much to live off of but they tend to love it no matter what. Mcphee made these boys opposites from age through personality to show even though they are different they both have one thing in common, and that is the woods. Although it was a good story i did not understand the ending where they used god.

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  4. John Mcphee uses a lot of imagery. He makes the readers interested in what he has to say. Mcphee gives the two men very different descriptive personalities but they have the same passion. I feel as though Mcphee wanted to show the readers that even though you are two different people you can have the same passion in life and its not always about tall building and fancy restaurants. Overall, I enjoyed reading this.

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  5. Replies
    1. Oh wait no I forgot another 7. Haha it's 7100776

      Delete
  6. Selena Martinez

    This short story shows how two people can be the total opposite yet so much alike. What it seems like to me is Fred seems happy and content with the life he has. He ain't the richest, his floor is departing, no electricity, and like he said he has water. Which the water belongs to God. This story is practically based off imagery. with the two full pages it gives, i can literally imagine the story in my head. From describing the house, to describing Fred repeating himself "3 times" to Bill's appearance. That is what kept it even more interesting to read.

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  7. This author enjoys describing everything, which makes it some what interesting. I think the purpose of the essay is to make the reader understand there are people who may seem different but their personality is actually he opposite. Two people can be different ages or look differently but may have the same ideas and many other things in common. That is why no one should judge a book by its cover.

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  8. I liked how Mcphee was very discriptive with the things he saw and gave details of what was what and where it was exactly at. He talked described the two men and how they were so opposite from each other but somehow maintained a good relationship.

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  9. Charlotte
    This was an interesting story, simply because Fred's personality wasnt a hostile one. I'd always imagined that living in a rural area would drain you of all your "spark". Everything from his warm welcome, to gladly giving up water made me like his character.

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  10. Bill Wasovwich came off as a very hospitable person. His love for the woods clearly shows. The way McPhee explains Bill, he doesn't seem like he would be 79. But it's weird cause they have a lot in common. I liked the way McPhee described everything though. made me feel like I was there witnessing evrything.

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  11. The pines was a very interesting piece of literature. McPhee learns life of the pines after initially going to ask for water. I would describe Fred and Bill's lifestyle as Amish. It's tough for them but they are very grateful for what the Pines gives to them; especially the water.

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  12. The title of the essay is a wilderness in southern New Jersey, that is why John Mcphee is so descriptive about this place. Mcphee wants to let the readers know that there was a plan to create a supersonic jetport in the pines, obviously this would mean they would destroy this natural area and Mcphee reveals how these two men disagree with this plan. The purpose of the book is to inform people about this plan and help to make it stop because just like Bill states, "There ain't no place like this left in the country, I don't believe--and I traveled around a little bit, too."

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  13. Veronicka Espinosa

    McPhee compared and contrasted the life of two men. It showed how different they both lived their lives compared to one another, but also allowed you to see how alike they actually were.

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  14. Gabriela Cuevas
    I loved how descriptive McPhee was about the character's personalities. Bill and Fred seemed like two different personalities with different perspectives on the way they live.

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  15. Fred's Character was more talkative and not too concerned with the projected jetport and new community that would invade his serene private woods he calls home. Bill on the other hand was the quite, shy boy that was a mystery to Fred and the narrator. When the narrator mentions the new project, Bill enters the conversation and is not content with this idea because he believes it will be the end of his woods. People that move into the woods, do it for the reason of privacy. They want to be excluded from everyone else.

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  16. i believe that in the essay its describing two mens lives that are very different but yet both men are satisfied with what they have.

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  17. I think it's very interesting how descriptive McPhee is in this short essay. Fred & Bill are too different people. One's more open & talkative while the other is just more quiet.

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  18. The reading wasn't of much interest to me, but the essay was highly descriptive and for me that's what I'm mainly into when it comes down to writing so that was all that truly caught my eye.

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  19. John Mcphee did a very good job describing the way people lived in the wilderness and how they acted away from cities. There are people who believe that people who live in the wilderness are not civilized people. They assume and us stereotypes to describe how they believe they live. Mcphee describes the way Fred lives as a normal life like everyone else their character is not that much different either. Fred and Bill both are different people, one talks a lot the other is really shy but they get along very well.

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  20. Briana Rivera
    I thought the story "The Pines" was very well descriptive. It breaks the idea of sterotypes. The main person of the story seemed to be the total opposite of what people would expect of a country person.

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