The Longest Ride: Predictions After Reading the First Couple of Pages and the Synopsis

Nicholas Sparks has always been known for his romance novels. It seems as though he has perfected his writing to create the maximum level of emotions possible. Whether you're in tears of joy, or tears of sadness, one way or another Sparks has a way of playing with your emotions. Picking up The Longest Ride feels no different, I feel as though I went on an emotional roller coaster from just reading the synopsis. From the synopsis, I learned that the book follows two sorrowful, yet happy, stories. 

One story encounters that of Ira Levinson and his late wife Ruth. Ira encounters a life threatening car crash and in that he feels as though he is reconnected with his wife. His wife had passed away year before, and he is already living in the sadness of that. It seems as though he is hanging onto a thread after this car crash, it seems as though there is something keeping him here on Earth. The synopsis talks about how he imagines having Ruth there, by his side, telling him not to let go. Right there, from just the synopsis, my eyes feel a tad damp. Nicholas Sparks is playing at our heartstrings. The story he formed from Ira and Ruth included tragedy and heartbreak. Tragedy came from Ruth's death and also from Ira's car crash. However, there is a tinge of happiness in this, as well. Ira is reconnected with his wife. He feels as though she is truly there by his side. She is the one letting him know that he has to stay here and relieve his memories. Ruth and Ira are a couple holding onto each other through reliving their memories in their hearts. I predict that Ira will imagine Ruth by his side. I wish I could imagine that Ira will have the courage to stay and fight this battle with the spirit of Ruth. However, I suspect, that because this is a Nicholas Sparks novel, there will be more of a heartbreak involved. So I also anticipate Ira passing away. I predict that he will say he wants to be with the love of his life. And to do that--he must let go. I am aching to know what will be unraveled about Ira's future. 

Alongside Ira and Ruth, is a more modern romance; Sophia and Luke. These two love birds seem to have an indirect connection with Ira and Ruth. I predict that they are their grandparents whose story intertwines with their love story. Maybe, the love stories are connected in some way, whether it's just how the romance unfolds or whether its a family relationship. Right now, one of the reveals in the book seems to be how Sophia and Luke come about Ira and Ruth. I am intrigued by how Nicholas Sparks sets up the book. He tells two stories at once, meaning there must be some relation between the two. However they are separated by time and are unique from one another. Sophia and Luke are the rodeo couple. They come to learn about their differences. Sophia's a college girl who's into frat boys and Luke seems to be in love with horses and riding. When their worlds meet, they learn about each other. It may seem happy and full of glee, however the synopsis reveals that their is tragedy involved. Two love stories; with tragedy and joy. Sounds like a Nicholas Sparks novel to me, and his credibility and his previous novels make me feel even more ecstatic to pick up this book and continuing reading.




http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17407748-the-longest-ride -Link to the GoodReads Synopsis

Satire Blog Post- Pappy the Paper and Today's Overuse of Paper/Cutting Down Trees

An example of satire, where the artist is exaggerating the use of paper in today's society. It is mocking how capitalists, and everyone in general, are cutting down multitudes of trees and leaving little behind.

Satire

Today in society, you see people printing out projects, presentations and pictures. We are disregarding where these papers are coming from. We use them like tissues. We take one and if we mess up, we throw it away and take another! Taking one piece of paper is like one hit to a tree. Think about if we continue to hit paper, and continue to hit that tree, won't the tree fall? We act like we rely on tree and we act like we care about Mother Earth, but do we really? This is precisely what is being shown in this comic. It is showing a conversation between trees, talking about how they see their father in the newspaper the man is reading. And ironically the newspaper he is reading is talking about the rights of mother nature. If we act like we depend on trees so greatly, why is it that our forests are slowly being wiped away? Trees may not seem like a big deal, because we have so many of them. You have the amount of trees you need and the amount of paper you need now, however one day that won't be the case. The amount of paper will begin to decrease, and our variety of trees in nature will also decrease. We need to learn to moderate our paper usage, as well as moderate the amount of trees we are taking down for our scribbles. 

This piece of satire is a horatian satirical piece because the artist added in talking tress which created more of a witty feel rather than a serious/angry tone. Though this comic is talking about a serious topic, the images and the way the trees are speaking create an amusing emotion for the audience. This comic ridicules human beings on their usage of paper. Again, the talking trees play a major role in making this a horatian satirical piece. This comic could be taken as a form of farce. This is because the comic is set in an improbable situation, where the trees are speaking to each other noticing the newspaper and recognizing it as their father. I, also, see that this could be taken as a form of irony. Two forms, actually. One would be situational irony because you wouldn't expect the trees to have feelings or connections to paper. But we are missing the point that we are killing living creatures to create paper that sometimes, we waste. This occurrence is considered situational irony because we don't expect, nor do we quite understand, that trees could have "feelings" and by grinding them to a pulp, we could bring them to a close decease in the future. We can prove this to be comic of horatian satire because by reading it, you hear a witty and amused tone, even though you are speaking of a serious topic.