This excerpt from Lost in the Cosmos by Walker Percy mainly focuses on suicide, the thought process for and against of someone who is contemplating suicide. This excerpt is a long train of thought where Percy sets depression up as a curable disease, the cure being suicide. He runs through very real situations using logic to power his way to his point: there is no reason to commit suicide. Percy reasons there are two schools of thought, to commit suicide or continue living. He states for those who do commit suicide that death will do little to nothing in effect to those closeby. Percy states that one who decides not to commit will be “sucking care,” they will be desperately trying to find a reason to care and live. Percy also addresses those who have attempted suicide but lived. He says that the “ex-suicide goes to work because he doesn’t have to.”

The theme of this excerpt that I compared to a recent event is the consequences of suicide. A popular manga called Suicide Island is about a large group of people who have attempted suicide. An organization took people who attempted suicide, saved them at the last second, and put them on an uninhabited island together. They figure out what has happened and chaos breaks out. Some people do whatever they want, some commit suicide again, and some try to create a working society.

I chose this because Percy utilizes a castaway example of being free. This manga takes that same example and the ex-suicide are given freedom on the island to do whatever they want. The people also fit into the characteristic examples that Percy describes. The main antagonist had taken his life in the Roman option that Percy describes, but becomes evil once he realizes the freedom and power he has. The main protagonist starts off as the classic ex-suicide that Percy describes, doing what he can to help because he was given the chance to. Why not? However, his character evolves to become like a non-suicide. He becomes a leader and is able to establish a fair society and rescue people from the antagonist. However, he needs something to keep him in the world and is desperately searching for it the entire time. He finds this in another ex=suicide. He saves here and they become intimate. Suicide Island does a good job of reflecting the characters that Percy puts in Lost in the Cosmos. It also highlights the evolution of characters to normal members of society.

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This excerpt of Paradise Lost by John Milton is about the encounter between Satan, Death, and Sin. Sin came from Satan and together they had Death. Satan is attempting to go through the gates of hell to kill God. Death is tasked by God to guard the gate, so he is about to battle with Satan, when Sin interrupts and reveals that Death is Satan’s son. Satan knows that he will eventually die and it must be at the hand of God, so he offers to give Sin and Death a place where there will be immeasurable food and prey. Death and Sin accept with smiles and Satan is allowed passage through the gates of hell.

The theme of this excerpt that I compared to a recent event is the familial relationship when different family members are on opposing sides- family bonds. A new manga called Helck is about an incredibly powerful warrior named Helck. As an orphan, he had to protect his little brother, Cless. They were adopted, by a wealthy family and Cless was revealed to have the powers of a hero. However, the king took control of Cless and all of the Warriors in the kingdom to make them try to make them into heroes like Cless. Helck is revealed to also have hero powers and confronts the king. The king uses Cless to fight Helck, but thanks to their childhood friend and Helck’s lover, Alicia, Cless is able to break out of their control for a moment and Helck is allowed to attempt to fight the king.

Because they were orphans, as the older brother, Helck protected Cless. Helck acted as a father for Cless and because of this Alicia is like Cless’s mother. With Helck being his older brother. Alicia is also like an older sister. Relating to the excerpt, Helck would be Satan, Alicia would be Sin, Cless would be Death, and the king would be God. Helck is trying to defeat the king and Cless is used by the king to fight Helck. The familial bonds in the manga are used in the same way as in the excerpt,
even the setting of the fight is similar.
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So last week we had a peer review session for the rough draft of the Visual Analysis. In my high school, we would often do peer review sessions similar to this one. However, this one was not as useful. I think it was because of Charles Grimm, our teacher @GrimmProspects, gave the students a guideline on things to look for. While this could be useful for if they could not find any content to criticize, I felt as though I got the same kind of feedback from both people. I feel as though they stuck strictly to the guidelines and didn’t focus on anything relating to content or structure. Comparatively, the peer review sessions that I had in high school were better for tips on what to do and what not to do.

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