pornos in school

Aric McDonald
Short Story/Short Film
Comm. 411-35
11:30-12:45
Spring 1997

The three short stories are similar because they all involve jealousy. This type of jealousy surrounds the main characters who are envious of the achievements or the attention that another man receives. The first story is about an old man who is taking his wife on a second honeymoon when she encounters an old suitor, creating jealousy for the husband. In the second story, the jealousy surrounds Smurch who is envious of Charles Lindbergh's fame and accolades. The jealousy in the final story is the envy of the attention that any man with fame can receive from a woman. Each person's own insecurity allows envy to control their actions and creates trouble in their lives.
The three stories all have jealousy, in some it is more clear than others. Jealousy lead two of the characters to make a fool of themselves, and it cost another character his life. In the first story, Charley took his wife Lucy on a second honeymoon, or Golden Honeymoon, as it is titled. While they are in St. Petersburg Fla., Mother was at the doctors office and began a conversation with a lady, only to discover that she is Mrs. Frank M. Hartsell, Lucy's ex-fiancee. This made Charley uncomfortable because he had rivaled Frank for Lucy's hand in marriage. A story that began as a second honeymoon for Lucy and Charley, became a jealous contest between two men. This reminds me of the movie, Grumpy Old Men, because of the unofficial mini contests that the two men have with each other. Comparing the film and the book, they were very similar except the sequence of events were different. In the story, The Greatest Man In The World, Smurch was jealous of the fame and accolades of Charles Lindbergh. Only some members of congress, the President, and the press knew this information. They felt it would be a disgrace to the United States if it was known to the public that this world hero was a man with poor upbringing ,bad manners, and seen as a hooligan. Smurch was not willing to change these traits, so the few officials that knew about them, pushed him out the window saying that he fell on accident. The book and movie had some discrepancies. One was the fuel tanks. In the film, Smurch dropped the tanks almost on top of his crowd, while in the book, he did not drop them at that site. Another contarst between them was after the landing. In the film Smurch was carried off the plane, while in the book he was carried off the plane and had less recovery time than the film. The major difference in the film and book, would be the different way the story was told. The book was a story of Smurch's world spanning flight and a little of his life; while the film was more of the gathering of his lives' achievements and blunders, and less of his flight. The film centers more on the young reporter finding the truth and trying to expose it, even if it means loosing his job. After the government cover-up, Smurch was seen by the country as a fine, upstanding citizen who died a tragic death. This was also the only film to portray a violent death. In the story, I'm A Fool, a boy takes a job working for Harry Whitehead as a swipe for two race horses with a nigger named Burt. This was seen by his family as a disgrace. The differences were many between the film and book. The first difference was that the book started with Andy looking back at the past summer, while in the beginning of the film, Burt and Andy are transporting the horses between races. The book physically described Andy as a "big lumbering fellow", while the film showed him as a small skinny kid. The film never said anything about the "little chaps" who could get next to people's sympathies and how Andy wished to injure them. One way that the film improvised was that the racing carriages were too new. The carriages were obviously made after 1950 because of the styling and materials shown. The materials were a newer metal than would have been used in that time period, and was too exact in symmetry. The racing carriages just looked altogether, too modern. Another way the film changed the story, was at the race where Andy was a spectator. In this race, the film had Andy still being a race horse swipe, when the book had him working at a different job. At this time he was not on the road, so he could not have had Burt cover for him while he was in the Grandstand. While in the grand stand, he met a woman. Andy lied to her and said that he was the owner with one of the horses who was checking out his trainer in secret. They fell in love and exchanged addresses, but he gave her the address of the real owner of the horse. His jealousy of rich men was the cause of his lie, this ultimately made a fool out of Andy.
Charley, Smurch and Andy all had the same flaw. The flaw that they had was insecurity that let jealousy control their actions. This proved to be an embarrassment for Charley and Andy, but tragic for Smurch. In the end, jealousy got all three of them into trouble, but left only two a chance for redemption.