Miesha: "My Talent is Perserverance"
*What is your talent/gift?
*What are you going to do with it?
*Compare your talent with Miesha's

Literary Connection: Jesus' Parable of the Talents NOTE: In ancient times, a measure of gold was called a talent: There once was a master and he had three servants. He goes on a trip and gives gold to each of them. The first one spends it having a good time, the second one purchases a rug in the market place. The third one goes out into the fields and buries it. When the master returns, he asks them what they did with the gold. The first one says, "I spent it and had a great time with my friends." The master says, "Very Good." The second one says, "I purchased a rug in the marketplace." The master says, "Very Good." The third one says, "Master, you will most proud of me! I buried it in the fields and here it is!" The master beats him and send him out of his house.

What do you think is Jesus' point? What lesson does he teach and how does it connect to you and Miesha? How does this story work on more than one level?

The talent that I have come to love very much, that I have acquired through many years of practice, hard work, and failure, I cannot write about. If I were to write about it, everyone would be aware of it an it would no longer work for me and thus all my hard work would have been in vain. So I decided to write about one of the many other talents that have been bestowed upon me, and certainly, as you probably know, it isnt modesty.

My talent is my ability to work hard and be resilient or to not accept my ability as the best no matter what level it is, I was going to write about my perseverance but that would be a little cliche in this prompt considering Miesha's talent is perseverance. I plan to use this talent to further myself in all that I do, whether it be school or basketball or anything else, this talent is going to take me where I want to go in life. I would classify both my talent and Miesha's talent as a type of resiliency. We both know the circumstances we are in are not the best, although Mieshas is considerably harder, so we must work to get to where we want to be. Miesha works hard and pushes through her failures as do I.

Jesus' message is that you should live in the moment and not be petty and greedy with the things that you have. The first two men used their gold to have a good time and to buy something of value, this is what should be done rather than to keep it to yourself. This most definitely is using his gold as a symbol for talent which means not to let your talents be buried and go to waste. This lesson connects to Miesha and myself because it tells us to live in the moment, and to know that we will not have the same opportunities later in life. This story works on a level that implies the meaning is to use what you have but not be greedy and to use your talents, and also has a literal meaning that implies the same thing.

Read my next post, I promise it will be 109093209x better than this one.

Symbols and Such

Choose a symbol used in a novel or play of your choice and discuss its function in the world of the work. Be sure to give the title of the work and its author in the Introduction paragraph. You should strive for 4 - 5 paragraphs. Good Luck! After posting, read and comment on 4 other postings. Your comments should be helpful to the writer and may be things you noticed, something for them to think about, and some words of encouragement.

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell is definitely one of the most hilarious novels I have read in my lifetime yet I do not recommend it to anyone of the female sex unless you want to be highly offended. The author of this book, Tucker Max, has recently become my hero and I can honestly say he is not someone one should look up to, yet many people most definitely do. This book is very unorthodox and one of the strongest reoccurring symbols in this novel is alcohol, the other symbols I feel are inappropriate for this blog, if you have read any of Tucker Max's work then you know exactly what I am talking about.

Alcohol is used in this book as a symbol for many things each of them more absurd then the next. The first thing alcohol symbolizes in this book is the release from reality, or the separation of responsibility. Tucker Max is one to get excessively drunk at very inappropriate times and he uses this as an excuse to act out in a very horrible yet hilarious manner. Through alcohol consumption Tucker Max is able to ascend to a state where he is separated from almost all responsibility and can act however he chooses, this of course is not a good role model. Tucker Max wakes up in situations where he has no choice but to assume that what he believed happened was actually what took place even though it seems as if there was no way that a situation like that could happen to a real person. The fact is that he still goes back to drinking despite these situations which brings on the next concept that alcohol symbolizes.

Alcohol also symbolizes, to Tucker Max, happiness or a sense of self-gratification. Tucker Max is always on the quest for self-gratification and the easiest way for him to achieve such seems to be through excessive drinking. Throughout the book Tucker Max is always on the prowl for alcohol, preferably free, and when he gets it he reaches his "happiness" it seems that he cant be happy unless drunk, making others feel like crap, or fornicating the latter two usually come hand and hand with being drunk anyway. Tucker Max doesnt seem to achieve happiness solely through being drunk but through the events that are sure to follow him while he is drunk. Despite this alcohol is always the first step and alcohol is the reason for most of Tucker Max's happiness.

Lastly alcohol in this book symbolizes a sense of masculinity. Alcohol in many facets of this book is used for competition between males, and sometimes between males and females. The more you can drink or the better you can hold you liquor symbolizes a higher dominance or the more masculine a person is and thus a higher state of popularity, or at least that is the case in this novel. For example Tucker Max buys a pocket breathalyzer and sets a goal to blow a 0.20 BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) level. Tucker Max drinks aggressively the entire night while showing off his breathalyzer and his BAC level which makes him quite popular around everyone and it certainly amuses him that he is the life of the party. When he finally hits his insane goal of .20 he is a god among men to his peers and is definitely very happy, at this point a larger more muscular male blows a .22. This of course makes Tucker Max less popular and a lot less happy, this sparks a dangerous competition between these two men. Tucker tries and tries but cannot beat the other man, this kills him, and his ego, but he is too wasted to know which way the sky is and ends up passed out in his car. This shows how alcohol symbolizes masculinity and likability among men. \

Alcohol is the fuel of this book. Tucker Max is always on the prowl for some and it makes the book great. It is the reason of most of the insane situations in this book and without it this book would be nothing. Tucker Max's world only revolves around a few things, and alcohol is definitely one of them.