Stand By Me

Plot
The movie, Stand By Me, is based in 1959. Stand by me is about four boys that go on an adventure. The main characters are Gordie Lachance (the narrator), Christopher Chambers, Teddy Duchamp, and Vern Tessio. The boys are around the age of twelve. They are all misfits due to a personal struggle. Gordie tells the story of each character to get the audience to sympathize. Vern Tessio is under his porch when he hears his brother talk about finding a dead body. Gordie and his friends had been following the story of the dead boy's body because the kid was there age, and also lived near them. When Vern heard of the finding, he ran to his friends' clubhouse to tell them. The clubhouse is where the boys talked, smoked, played cards, and told jokes. After hearing Vern talk about the body the boys made a decision to go find it themselves. The movie shows many obstacles the boy have to face in order to get to the dead body.

Point of View
The story is by Gordie in first person. He is a 12 year old boy when the story occurs, but is telling the story as the 30 year old man that he has become.  As an adult he has become a writer which shows the audience his view from then and now. At the end of the movie Gordie talks about his personal experience as the boy's grow older, and apart.

Characterization
The characters are around the age of 12. The main character is Gordan Lachance. As an audience, the characters are revealed by childhood memories, things that happened to them that makes an audience connect and sympathize. The rest of the boys are Chris Chambers, Teddy Duchamp, and Vern Tessio. Each boy has a story and is unique in his own way. Another character that is important, even though he is dead, is Ray Bowner. Ray is important because of his death the boys are brought together on an adventure. My favorite character in the movie is Chris. He is a sincere, loving, and caring person towards his friends. He puts his friends' needs before his own, and wants what is best for them.

Setting
Stand by me is based in 1959 in small town in Oregon. The places the boys travel to are always changing.  They are in their tree house when they learn about the whereabouts of the dead boy's body. They're mission, to find the body, took them through the woods. Their adventure is told in the woods along the railroad tracks, around campfires, and by the river.

Theme
The theme in the movie is of overcoming an obstacle to complete a goal, with friends by your side. The plot of Stand By Me has each boy face an obstacle that is hard to accomplish. Due to some of the instances the boys have to overcome, they almost lose their lives. With the help of each other they overcome their fears, problems, and hardships.

The Body

Plot
The plot in the book is about four boys, around the age of 12, going on an adventure to find a dead body. The boys are all misfits that the reader can sympathize with. The boys are Vern, Gordan, Chris and Teddy. Most days are spent by the boys playing cards, reading magazines, and smoking up in their tree house. One of the boys, Vern, hears his older brother talk about finding the body of a boy in the town close to theirs. Hearing this news Vern runs to tell his friends. All four boys decide to go and search for the body of Ray Bowner. They tell their parents that they are camping out at Vern's. They go on search for the missing boys body, which they believe he was hit by a train while out picking berries. The boys' adventure takes them more than a day to complete. They have to go through many obstacles, which almost ends Gordie and Verns life, as they go across a bridge when a train approaches and they are left with no where to run. The boys later find the body, but they aren't alone. Vern and Chris's older brothers, and their gang, are also there. After some fighting and scarring, the older boys and their gang leave.  Gordan and his group of friends call in an anonymous tip about the dead body

Point of View
The story is told in first person by Gordon Lachance. He is 12 years old when the story occurs, but is telling when he is 30 years old. One of the ways he tells the story is by sharing stories he had wrote as a boy. As an adult he has become a writer which shows the audience his view from then and now. At the end of the story he tells what happened to the boys in his gang, which was a smart move by Stephen King. It shows irony in something that Chris talks about when they are camping out after their adventure on the bridge.

Characterization
The characters are around the age of 12. The main character is Gordan Lachance. As an audience, the characters are revealed by childhood memories, things that happened to them that makes an audience connect and sympathize. The rest of the boys are Chris Chambers, Teddy Duchamp, and Vern Tessio. Each boy has a story and is unique in his own way. My favorite character is Teddy. I love his humor throughout the book. One of my favorite lines from Teddy is, "The pile of shit has a thousand eyes. Teddy said gravely, and both Chris and I cracked up. Teddy stared at us with a slight frown, as if wondering what had gotten us laughing." page 297

Setting
The story takes place in the year of 1960. It takes place in the town of Castle Rock, Maine. The story is about an adventure so the boys are on the move. They are in their tree house when they learn about the whereabouts of the dead boy's body. They're mission, to find the body, took them through the woods. Their adventure is told in the woods along the railroad tracks, around campfires, and by the river.

Theme
The theme of the story is of childhood friendships. This is shown by the quote, " I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12 - Jesus, did you?" - end of chapter 11. Throughout the story the audience is shown that the boys stick together, play around, and love each other. The audience later learns that the boys are no longer friends, which is sad. This shows Stephen King's personality, life isn't perfect. This fact, and Mr. King writing about it, is why people love him and why "The Body" is so famous.

Hero Blog

"We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those that say we're in a time where there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look." -Ronald Reagan 

Heroes have been a part of many stories for ages. They are told to the old and the young. There are three groups of heroes. The three types of heroes are literary, personal, and a popular hero. Who a person chooses to be their hero in their life is decided upon their personal opinion of what a hero is and how that specific person portrays that. I chose Spider-man, Chris Jones, and Sam Bradford as my heroes.

Spider-man is my literary hero. I like Spider-man because he helps those that are in need, and he protects the public. Peter Parker, who is really Spider-man, was a normal struggling teenager before he was bit by a spider. When he was bit, he got super strengths that helped him fight criminals. Spider-man is more than just a comic book character, he relates to many kids. Spider-man teaches a lesson to fight crime and help out those that are less fortunate. I really fell in love with Peter Parker, or Spider-man, because of the way he cared for his Aunt May.He worked very hard to make sure her bills were paid and that she was happy. That made Spider-man my hero. Through the comic books and the movie Peter Parker showed his loyalty to his family, how brave he was, and how strong he was.

A personal hero for me is a young man named Chris Jones. He is a United States Marine, and also my big cousin. When I was little I looked up to him, and over the last year he has become my hero. Everyday Chris wakes up with the intention to leave at a moments notice to fight for me and my country. He joined the Marines after graduating high school in May 2009, and he graduated from the Marine Corps in June of that same year. Outside of the armed forces he has proved why he is a hero in my mind. In December of 2010, Chris' little Sister, Brittany Ann Denise March, was killed by her boyfriend. With this tragedy going on, he was more worried about my family than he was about himself. During that time he was brave, courageous, and physically and emotionally strong. Chris is leaving for Afghanistan in the next month for a 180 day tour. He is willing to risk his life for me and everyone that lives in America, that to me is a true hero.

A popular hero that I like is Sam Bradford. Sam was the quarterback for the University of Oklahoma from 2007-2009. While at OU he set 15 school records including passing yards (8,403) and touchdowns (88).  Bradford was also the first OU quarterback to win two Big 12 titles. In 2008 he was the Heisman Trophy Winner. During a game against Oklahoma State Sam Bradford proved why he is hero material in my mind. During a play he threw his whole body into the end zone. He did not make it, but it was phenomenal. It really got the team hyped and they won that game 61-41.In 2009, Bradford had the opportunity to leave OU early and join the NFL. He decided to stay his senior year, which earned him tremendous respect, not only by Sooner fans, but by many critics.  Through his years of being a top nation quarterback, he has shown he is a hero by being brave, strong, loyal, a leader, and a role model.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6THZEaZ89NY

All different types of people can and are heroes. Heroes are what makes this world go around. Even though the three people I chose to be my heroes do not know each other, they all have certain characteristics that they share. If everyone acted as a hero I think this world would be a different place.