Reflection for Slaughterhouse 90210 Project.

1. Leah Wilson
November 17, 2011
ENG 230-007 Morgan Richardson
Slaughterhouse 90210 Multimedia Assignment
This project opened my eyes to the ability to relate historical texts to current pop culture.
When I read these multiple texts I didn’t really connect any of the text to things that were going
on. Once I began looking for quotes to compare I kept finding multiple quotes that reminded me
of so many different things going on with different celebrities. When looking though The Private
Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner there were many different spots when reading
back through I could image the same situation happening in present times. When I thought of
Robert I often thought of different celebrities, like Kevin Federline. They tried to do the right
things (ie. paying child support vs. killing in the name of God) but instead kept making the
wrong choices – the poor guys can’t seem to catch a break!
In the same mindset, Gawain reminded me of many celebrities who are caught in
relationship scandals. In the text, Sir Gawain is caught by Bertilak lying about what his wife had
given him because Gawain was being selfish. Gawain was caught by Bertilak who turned out to
be the Green Knight and received no punishment for his lies. Although Gawain did feel a loss of
dignity and honor, there were no negative repercussions of his actions. In pop culture today
many men (and women) get caught lying, cheating, and even drinking and driving and no
horrible repercussions come of them. They are not sent to jail for violating parole (ie. Lindsey
Lohan) and merely receive a slap on the wrist (and maybe house arrest) much like the
punishment for Gawain when in reality he should have had his head chopped off.

2. The way Camus described Monsieur Meursault’s ability to have relationships reminded
me much of the relationships of the current time period. People say that they love others when
they truly do not mean it and it causes relationships to decline quickly. There are many
relationships that end every year because the relationship was not based on love, but rather
money or people just solely trying to climb the social ladder. With celebrities in the 21st century
you do not see many relationships that last, much less appear happy. Everyone should recognize
the situations of Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt, Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise, Sonny and
Cher, Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thorton, and now Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries!
Love is a term that is thrown around loosely by kids in middle school relationships and adults
who don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings but in the grand scheme of things, Mersault did
himself a favor by telling Marie that truth about his feelings.
When reading back over different sections of Heart of Darkness I see a lot of parallels
that can be drawn between the two time periods. Even though there are many things that are
extremely different, there are many things that are the same. Kurtz and Marlow both see
problems with the way that their society is operating and the horrible things that humans are
doing and yet cannot (or will not) do much to change them. That idea still holds true for today.
Many people find horrible problems within our society and with societies all over the world yet
people are extremely reluctant to do something to change it; people are even scared to talk about
issues they feel opinionated about.
Overall by completing this project I was able to see parallels in text from centuries ago to
events and stories in popular culture. When reading the text one does not always see the
connections that can be made between the distinct time periods but after taking a closer look I
have gained appreciation knowing that there are so many similarities over centuries of literature.

3. Works Cited
Camus, Albert. "Part 1, Chapter 4." The Stranger. Trans. Matthew Ward. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1988.
35. Print.
Camus, Albert. "Part 2, Chapter 3." The Stranger. Trans. Matthew Ward. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1988.
90. Print.
Conrad, Joseph, and Ross C. Murfin. "Part 2." Heart of Darkness: A Case Study in Contemporary
Criticism. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 1996. 48. Print.
Conrad, Joseph, and Ross C. Murfin. "Part 3." Heart of Darkness: A Case Study in Contemporary
Criticism. Ed. Ross C. Murfin. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 1996. 62. Print.
Hogg, James. The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner: with Marion's Jock and John
Gray O'Middleholm. Ed. Karl Miller. London: Penguin, 2006. Print.
The Pearl Poet. "Part 4." Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: a New Verse Translation. Trans. Simon
Armitage. New York: W.W. Norton, 2008. Inscription. Print.
The Pearl Poet. "Part 4." Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: a New Verse Translation. Trans. Simon
Armitage. New York: W.W. Norton, 2008. Lines 2343-368. Print.
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