Greetings,
First, the most important news:
OUT OF CLASS ESSAY #3 IS DUE NEXT WEDNESDAY, MAY 7...NOT MONDAY.
(YOU'RE WELCOME! :)....)
Second, below you will find two of the three sample student essays we read and discussed in class today.
Have a wonderful and safe weekend.
Good Enough
Everyone
wants to feel wanted or feel like they are worth something; constantly trying
to live up to other people's expectations. Jesse Pinkman, in the television
series Breaking Bad, just wants to fit in. He will go to any lengths to
feel like he is part of something, even if it means abusing and distributing
meth. Jesse is a follower, and gets caught up in the drug world after being
rejected by his parents. He has tremendous potential but it will be up to him
whether he uses his artistic ability for good or evil.
The
bar started off high with Jesse when it came to his parents. This is evident
from how his parent's act with Jesse's younger brother Jake. Jesse's parents had
different goals for him than what he wanted. This is what caused Jesse to
rebel. Jesse has a passion for art, and he is really good at it. This is
depicted beautifully in the scene where Jesse is going through his old trunk at
the end of his bed. Jesse finds multiple school papers with low grades on them
but also towards the bottom finds the talented drawings from when he was
younger. Jesse even refers to cooking meth as art while talking to Walt in the
RV. Jesse's relationship with his
parents is now distant. You can see this when instead of going to his front
door he tries to sneak in the back when he goes to their house. Jesse’s little
act of just setting the table for his families dinner, gives his parents a
little bit of hope that Jesse might have changed. Jesse’s broken relationship
with his parents is shown when they find out about the joint Jake hid next to
Jesse’s bed. His parents wouldn’t listen to anything he was going to say and he
knew that so he just stayed quiet and left again. Due to his broken
relationship with his parents, Jesse must find other places to get affection.
As
much as Jesse tries to hide it, he sees Walt as a father figure. He is
constantly seeking approval from Walt and confides in him. Jesse also tries to
hide things from Walt that he knows Walt wouldn't approve of. This is
illustrated in the scene where Jesse is smoking meth in his bathroom and locks
the door and tells Walt to give him some privacy. When Walt and Jesse are in
the desert cooking meth and Walt is sitting in the chair with his shirt open,
Jesse notices the patch on Walt’s chest from where he got radiation. He even
recommends Walt putting an ice pack on his head during chemotherapy because it
helps with the hair loss. This
scene portrays Jesse's affection for Walt. Jesse tries impressing Walter every
chance he gets. The fact that Jesse tries to get a honest job to look good for
Walt is great support for this claim.
Another great example of
this is when Jesse finds an "in" with Tuco and tries to make a deal with
him and ends up in the hospital after being beat. You see how strong of
relationship Jesse and Walt have when Walt goes back to Tuco after finding out
what happened to Jesse, and gets revenge. Walt and Jesse may have started out
rocky, but the dedication both of them have for their work, allows them to
become extremely close. It seems that Jesse looks to Walt as a father figure,
but the feeling is mutual and Walt looks at him as a son.
Jesses
relationship with his parents is very distant. Not having a relationship with
his parents, forces Jesse to find attention wherever he can get it. Jesse will
go to any lengths for friends and lovers, even if it means buying them. This is
depicted in the scenes where Jesse pays a prostitute to sleep with him and when
Jesse agrees to smoke meth, against his will, so his friends will stay at his
house. It is very evident that Jesse cannot handle being alone, and goes the
wrong way about dealing with his loneliness. Jesse seems to want to smoke meth
every time he is alone at home because he starts thinking about the things that
he has been doing and it gets to him. Its ironic that after he smokes the meth
he starts having illusions that people are coming to his house and trying to
get him. This is what makes him run away to his parents in the first place.
It’s obvious that Jesse has some anxiety issues, which doesn’t help when it
comes to him being alone.
On
the surface, Jesse tries to act unafraid and tough, but deep down Jesse is
really scared. Jesse is all bark but no bite. This is illustrated when he goes
to crazy eights house the first time to sell the meth that him and Walt cooked
for the first time. He puts up a front and acts like he’s not afraid of the
bulldog. Another perfect example of this is when Jesse goes to talk to Tuco and
Tuco doesn't agree to pay up front. It is apparent that Jesse is skeptical
about standing up for himself, but he grabs the bag of meth and tries to run
away. The famous "coin flip" scene gives a great example of Jesse's
true self. He comes off as someone who would be down to kill if he had to,
especially after being almost killed by the same person. Before Walt suggests
flipping the coin Jesse chooses to dispose of the already dead carcass instead
of having to kill crazy eight.
Jesse’s
childish ways allows for him to be easily manipulated. He’s always claiming
that he’s the man. He even referred to himself as “capn cook.” This front that
he puts up doesn’t change the fact that he is always working for someone. Jesse always has someone he has to
report to. In a way, Walt even manipulates Jesse. Jesse does anything Walt asks
him to do. When they need to dispose of the body and they need certain
supplies, Jesse is always the one that has to go out and get them. And as
stated above, Jesse reports to Walt for everything. The scene where Walt needs
Jesse to get a list of supplies for them to make meth without psuedo portrays
this well. Walt even tells Jesse that the supplies would be difficult to obtain
and says “figure out a way to get them, we need them.” Another illustration is
of this is when Walt complains to Jesse about the amount of meth he sold
because it wasn’t enough. Jesse was fine with getting by with the bare minimum,
but Walter, having to pay a lot for his chemo, gets impatient.
Jesse
is a lost adolescent with a lot of potential. Having been pressured by his
parents to be someone he wasn't or to do something he didn’t want to do caused
him to rebel and to be thrown into the life of a drug dealer. It is here where
he tries to do what he does best, create art. In his search for being accepted
he makes choices that’s digs him deeper down in a hole called the drug world.
With the proper rehabilitation and motivation to be something better, Jesse has
a really good chance of becoming a decent member of society. Parents, instead
of choosing their children’s lives for them, should allow their kids to choose
what they want to do and be who they want to be. Being overbearing can cause a
child to go down a completely wrong path in life and destroy their future.
********************************
Cloudy, With a Chance of Revelation
Breaking Bad is a highly rated
television drama about drugs, violence, family values and justice. While
incredibly entertaining at face value, the underlying themes and motifs are
what differentiate it from other primetime programming. The depth of the
characters is so realistic that the viewer begins to know each of them
personally and can start to get into their heads. Jesse Pinkman, viewed by most
as a low life criminal, is a very intricate and complicated person. Early on it
seems that all he cares about is just getting by, making enough money to
survive. He appears to have no ambitions. But as the show develops, it becomes clear
that is not the case. Damaged by past events, Jesse has taken to a life of
crime to get by, but deep down he is a good person who is just lonely and is desperately
trying to find himself.
Jesse
does not fit into the criminal world, but he tries very hard to make people
think that he does. The charade that he pulls off as “Cap’n Cook” is not very
convincing. A real criminal would not identify himself on his license plate.
This is either an example that he is an idiot, or that he is not very committed
to his life of crime. He adds chili powder to his methamphetamine, saying
nonsense like “chili p is my signature.” The fact that he thinks that people
would want spicy ingredients in something that they are going to smoke or snort
is a clear indication that he has no idea what he is doing. His answering
machine makes it very clear that he is trying very hard to fit in, which is
further developed when his “friends” are over at his house and he gives them
drugs so that they will not leave. Their actions make it very clear that his
position in the drug world is not as good as he tries to make it seem. Another
example of lack of criminal knowledge is the barrel debacle. Instead of rolling
or using a handcart, Jesse and Walter carry the barrel out of the warehouse.
The DEA agents reviewing this tape openly laugh at his lack of criminal skill.
This scene is important because it demonstrates that Jesse is just as bad at
being a criminal as Walter.
Jesse
has had a very hard life. On the surface, he grew up in a middle class family,
went to a nice school and should have been on a much better course in life. But
when certain events are taken into consideration it is clear that his life was
not so cut and dry. His aunt, the relative that he was the closest to, was diagnosed with cancer and ultimately died. Jesse was
there for the whole thing, caring for her as her condition deteriorated, and
this was a devastating blow to him. Less loving than his aunt, his
oh-so-perfect parents are incredibly overbearing, and likely drove him away
instead of helping him succeed. It is clear that they impossible standards for
their children as seen when Jesse interacts with his younger brother. When he
looks through the box of items from his childhood, the gleam in his eye betrays
his true passion, art. However, his parents obviously did not support his
dreams as his art is all hidden in a box. Later, when his girlfriend dies in
season two it is clear that the pain that he is feeling is very real. It is the
pain felt by a damaged person who has found peace in life, only to have it
shattered. Even worse he feels responsible for her death, although it was only
indirectly caused by him.
Even
though Jesse routinely performs a wide range of criminal acts he is not a bad
person. He has a good heart which is conveyed in scene with Walter in the
desert. Walter reveals his[CF1] cancer and Jesse gives him advice
about treatment based off of his experience with his aunt. The dialogue
promotes the idea that under the surface, Jesse is capable of compassion. Jesse
also has a staunch aversion to murder. The coin flip scene exposes his feelings
when he repeatedly calls on the sanctity of the coin flip which got him out of
doing the deed. When Walter tells him to get the money and drugs back from
Spooge in season two, Jesse is very uncomfortable about having to confront the
man because he believes that Walter wants him killed. Later, in seasons two and
three, Jesse demonstrates compassion for children and a need to protect them.
His interactions with Tomas, Spooge’s child and Andrea’s son all paint a clear
love of children. These actions all point to the moral conflict presented to
Jesse, the struggle of being a criminal with a good heart.
Jesse
is undeniably lonely. His constant drug use has left him estranged from his
righteous parents and his overprotected younger brother. His favorite aunt, who
took him in when no else would, died from lung cancer. His old friends have all
moved on in their lives as shown when Jesse is kicked out of his aunt’s house.
He contacts friends in an attempt to find a place to stay, finally finding one
who will take him in. However, the friend’s new wife is very disapproving of
Jesse and ultimately kicks him out. At this moment Jesse knows how alone he
truly is. He knows that his only other friends hang out with him because he has
access to drugs. The only two people he truly has in his life are Wendy, a
drugged out disgusting prostitute, and Walt who he doesn’t recognize is there
for him. As absolute proof of his loneliness, when he finally finds a
girlfriend he is willing to uproot his entire life and move to New Zealand with
her. Sadly, this is not to be and her death throws him right back into his
lonely pit of despair.
Jesse
is confused about who he really is and is trying to find himself. It is clear
that his heart is not really in the criminal life he leads and that it is just
the thing that he knows. When he becomes paranoid from taking meth, he stumbles
to the only place that he has ever felt that he was a part of, his childhood
home. While there, the viewer gets a glimpse into his aspirations. His pride in
his younger brother’s accomplishments, his box of drawings, and the graded
exams all show that he unhappy with his current path. After leaving he makes an
attempt at finding a real job, something that his parents will be proud of.
Only after he discovers that he will have to start all over again does he go
back to crime. The most revealing scene takes place in season three, while he
is in the hospital after being beaten by Hank. He refuses to work will Walt and
Gus, and is finally swayed when Walt admits that Jesse’s meth is as good as
his. This scene reveals that Jesse is seeking acknowledgment in his life,
however it can be acquired. He is still very immature and has not yet become
sure enough of himself to grow out of it. He refers to Walter as “Mr. White,”
as he did in high school. He is often snarky and sarcastic in serious
situations. He acts out when he needs approval or doesn’t like something. These
are the actions of a teenager who has not yet accepted life or figured out
their part in it. These are the actions of somebody who is actively trying to find
themselves, without even realizing it.
Jesse
Pinkman wears crime like a mask to cover up his helplessness. Underneath the
childlike actions and blatant disregard for the law is a vulnerable, lonely
person who doesn’t know what to do. He puts on a show of strength and apathy
towards crime, but he cannot hide the fact that he is a good person and that he
does not have it in him to be a criminal. He is searching for his true self and
in that process is growing up. With the aid of Walt, who surreptitiously acts
as a father figure, he has a real chance of living up to his fullest potential.
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