Tuesday, December 9th--5:30 pm

Greetings,

Just a reminder about what to bring to class tomorrow

1. Your grade sheet, filled out with all your scores, except for grades you are waiting to receive from me. That work will be returned tomorrow.

2. A calculator

3. All your graded work from the semester.

REVISIONS:
If you plan to submit a revision between Thursday and next Friday, the 19th, please follow the instructions I gave on a previous blog.

Thursday, December 4th--5:30 pm

Greetings,
below is a summary of the short lecture I gave on Wednesday. I am including this in the blog because section 8 missed the lecture due to me becoming ill and going home.

II. Interpretive Reading
You have skimmed through the essay briefly in the previous step. Now it is time to read through the entire essay slowly and carefully, reading every single sentence, every single word.
Look for:
--recurring words
--unknown words
--oddly used words
When you encounter passages that are difficult, paraphrase these passages in your own words.  Readers do not intellectually possess the subject matter until they make it their own by translating it into their own, familiar terminology.

III. Critical Reading
Here I want to clear up a common misconception.  Critical reading is NOT simply doubting everything we read.  Critical reading is different than skeptical reading. Critical reading is the deliberate act of testing concepts, trying ideas on for size.  A critical reader tries not only to think of arguments to refute what he reads, he tries to think of extra arguments to support it.  Only then does he weigh the argument carefully and come to a decision. Rather then merely seeing to "trash" an argument entirely, the wise reader acknowledges that some parts of an argument are more compelling than others, and tries to figure out why.
--Talk back to the text
--Ask questions of the text
--Ask questions about yourself
--Ask questions about context
--Ask questions about broader implications
--Seek relevant connections (so what? Why does it matter?)

IV. Synoptic Reading
Seek confirmation. If the author's argument relies heavily on certain matters of factuality, double chekc to make sure those facts are accurate.

V. Post-Reading
Restate the main argument and the conclusion of the essay in a single sentence.  As ad agents say, if you cannot write down the idea on the back of a business card, you probably do not have a clear idea.

LAST MINUTE REMINDER--Tuesday, December 2, 2014--9 pm

Hello,

Just a quick, last minute reminder to be sure to attach your Viewer's Journal to the back of your out of class essay 3 when you submit it to tomorrow in class.

ALSO, the English dept. requests that professors select a day for student evaluations when it is fairly certain all students will be attending. I chose tomorrow since there is an assignment due. Please make a special effort to attend.

(I will also ask you to complete a course evaluation, but that is just for me. I design it and collect your responses. This will take place on another day)

Monday, November 24th--SECOND POSTING OF THE DAY

Greetings,
below is the reading for Packet #10.

I Won't Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Here's Why.

by Kyle Wiens  |   8:02 AM July 20, 2012

• Comments (4158)
•        

If you think an apostrophe was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, you will never work for me. If you think a semicolon is a regular colon with an identity crisis, I will not hire you. If you scatter commas into a sentence with all the discrimination of a shotgun, you might make it to the foyer before we politely escort you from the building.

Some might call my approach to grammar extreme, but I prefer Lynne Truss’s more cuddly phraseology: I am a grammar “stickler.” And, like Truss — author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves — I have a “zero tolerance approach” to grammar mistakes that make people look stupid.

Now, Truss and I disagree on what it means to have “zero tolerance.” She thinks that people who mix up their itses “deserve to be struck by lightning, hacked up on the spot and buried in an unmarked grave,” while I just think they deserve to be passed over for a job — even if they are otherwise qualified for the position.

Everyone who applies for a position at either of my companies, iFixit or Dozuki, takes a mandatory grammar test. Extenuating circumstances aside (dyslexia, English language learners, etc.), if job hopefuls can’t distinguish between “to” and “too,” their applications go into the bin.

Of course, we write for a living. iFixit.com is the world’s largest online repair manual, and Dozuki helps companies write their own technical documentation, like paperless work instructions and step-by-step user manuals. So, it makes sense that we’ve made a preemptive strike against groan-worthy grammar errors.

But grammar is relevant for all companies. Yes, language is constantly changing, but that doesn’t make grammar unimportant. Good grammar is credibility, especially on the internet. In blog posts, on Facebook statuses, in e-mails, and on company websites, your words are all you have. They are a projection of you in your physical absence. And, for better or worse, people judge you if you can’t tell the difference between their, there, and they’re.

Good grammar makes good business sense — and not just when it comes to hiring writers. Writing isn’t in the official job description of most people in our office. Still, we give our grammar test to everybody, including our salespeople, our operations staff, and our programmers.

On the face of it, my zero tolerance approach to grammar errors might seem a little unfair. After all, grammar has nothing to do with job performance, or creativity, or intelligence, right?

Wrong. If it takes someone more than 20 years to notice how to properly use “it’s,” then that’s not a learning curve I’m comfortable with. So, even in this hyper-competitive market, I will pass on a great programmer who cannot write.

Grammar signifies more than just a person’s ability to remember high school English. I’ve found that people who make fewer mistakes on a grammar test also make fewer mistakes when they are doing something completely unrelated to writing — like stocking shelves or labeling parts.

In the same vein, programmers who pay attention to how they construct written language also tend to pay a lot more attention to how they code. You see, at its core, code is prose. Great programmers are more than just code monkeys; according to Stanford programming legend Donald Knuth they are “essayists who work with traditional aesthetic and literary forms.” The point: programming should be easily understood by real human beings — not just computers.

And just like good writing and good grammar, when it comes to programming, the devil’s in the details. In fact, when it comes to my whole business, details are everything.

I hire people who care about those details. Applicants who don’t think writing is important are likely to think lots of other (important) things also aren’t important. And I guarantee that even if other companies aren’t issuing grammar tests, they pay attention to sloppy mistakes on résumés. After all, sloppy is as sloppy does.

That’s why I grammar test people who walk in the door looking for a job. Grammar is my litmus test. All applicants say they’re detail-oriented; I just make my employees prove it.

Read the summary of the #HBRchat on Twitter based on this blog post.

More blog posts by Kyle Wiens

More on: Business writing, Communication, Personal effectiveness

KYLE WIENS

Kyle Wiens is CEO of iFixit, the largest online repair community, as well as founder ofDozuki, a software company dedicated to helping manufacturers publish amazing documentation.

Monday, November 24th, 2014--4 pm

Greetings,

a few things:

Since I will not be able to return your graded out of class essay #2 until Monday, December 1, I do not want you to be concerned about having enough time to revise, if you wish.

I noted earlier in the semester that all revisions must be submitted no later than the last class meeting, which is Wednesday, December 10th.

However! Because of the changed circumstances, I will allow revisions to be submitted no later than the last day of finals week, Friday, Dec. 19th.

Revisions can be submitted to my dept. mailbox in Calaveras 105. If you do place a revision in my mailbox, you must also email me and let me know it is there. I will return the email to let you know that I have received it.

Remember, all students have the option of revising out of class essay 2.
Only students who submitted a rough draft for out of class essay 1 can revise essay 1.

ALSO,
below you will find a sample student response to out of class essay 3. I want you to consider it a fairly strong essay. It earned a high "B". At times, the essay spends too much time summarizing, but overall, the focus and organization and supportive evidence is good.

I will posting at least one more example this week.

Walter White and Heisenberg

            “The concept here being just as your left hand and your right hand are mirror images of one another, identical and yet opposite,” starts Walter White's lecture on chirality, “but although they may look the same, they don't always behave the same.”  Throughout the first season of Breaking Bad, viewers watch the life of Walter White unfold after he is diagnosed with terminal and inoperable cancer.  Walter, who initially appears to be a typical mild mannered family man and high school chemistry teacher, domineered by his controlling wife and emasculated by his macho brother-in-law, has a deeply buried side of himself, a side that viewers come to know as Heisenberg.  With these two personalities, we learn the tragic irony of his lecture on chirality; two men identical in appearance, but opposite in behavior.  Walter White is submissive, compassionate, and inadequate; Heisenberg is dominant and clinical.

            From the first scenes of Walter with his family, viewers see Walter being submissive.  He is handed a plate of breakfast with eggs and bacon in the shape of a five and a zero, for his 50^th birthday.  Walter's son, Walt Jr., complains that it is not bacon, to which Walter replies, “We're watching our cholesterol, apparently,” along with the look that he does not like it either, but is eating it because his wife, Skyler, told him to.  Later that day, Walter is at his second job, as a cashier at a car wash.  His boss, to Walter's dismay, consistently tells him to leave the cash register and wipe down the cars.  While on his knees, cleaning the wheels of a car, one of Walter's students looks at him and laughs, taking a photo of Walter with his cellphone.  Although humiliated, Walter does not stand up for himself to either his boss, for making him do work outside his normal job, or to the student, who is constantly disrespecting him.  This humiliation is carried home with him to his surprise birthday party, where his wife nags him for being late.  That night, for his birthday, Skyler gives Walter a hand job, barely paying attention, while using the other hand to work on her laptop.  Throughout that day, Walter puts up with being humiliated, ignored, and scolded without once doing anything about it.

            Even though most of the people around him do not fully respect him, Walter still manages to do his best to be a caring and compassionate person.  This side of him is perfectly illustrated by his interactions with Krazy-8.  Even though Krazy-8 tried to kill Walter, and is currently Walt’s prisoner, Walter still brings him food and tries to make his imprisonment more comfortable by giving him beer and toilet paper.  Walter's compassion also comes in the form of him receiving treatment for his cancer.  Originally, Walter was going to cook meth to secure his family's financial future, but because his family really wants him to go for treatment, he gives in.  This treatment causes him to be constantly sick and exhausted, but he still does it because his family wants it.  

            Walter White is a genius in the field of chemistry, but very inadequate when it comes to everything else.  While good with chemistry, Walter is a very bad chemistry teacher; he fails to get the attention or respect of his students.  While he does care about his students, when he is shown in his classroom, there is absolutely no one listening to what he is actually saying.  This lack of success carries over to his attempts at cooking meth; while the chemistry portion of the business is perfect, everything else falls apart.  First, Walter and Jesse try to sell their product to Krazy-8, but Emilio ends up recognizing Walter from the drug bust; this causes the drug deal to implode, the aftermath of which is Walter attempting suicide, the RV stuck in a ditch with two bodies inside, and a brush fire.  Next, they try to sell the meth to Tuco, a crazy meth distributor, but Jesse ends up being robbed and beaten.  Their later attempts to kill Tuco almost result in both Tuco killing them and Hank arresting them.  Every time Walt and Jesse take a step forward, their mistakes set them two steps back.

            Heisenberg is not a new personality of Walter's.  In a flashback, we see the Heisenberg personality talking with Gretchen about the composition of the human body; we see Heisenberg leaning over Gretchen, strongly asserting that his way is right.  Heisenberg's strongest trait is this dominant presence, most noticeably around Jesse.  This dominance is first seen when Heisenberg blackmails Jesse into partnering up, threatening him with jail time unless he helps him sell meth.  Once they made their first batch of meth, Walt and Jesse try to sell it to Krazy-8, and when that situation implodes, Walter barters his recipe for his life.  While in the RV showing them the recipe, Heisenberg is actually making poison gas, which results in the death of Emilio, and the incapacitation of Krazy-8. While Walter seems unaffected with being invisible, Heisenberg risks his life to make sure that they succeed.  That same night, after all the mayhem that the day brought, Heisenberg does not settle for the half-effort handjob, but instead initiates aggressive sex with Skyler, causing her to ask, “Walt, is that you?” 

            The pinnacle of Heisenberg's dominance comes after Jesse is beaten.  Heisenberg calmly walks into Tuco's office with what appears to be a bag of meth, introducing himself as Heisenberg; he demands that Tuco give him the money that Tuco promised Jesse before beating and robbing him.  When Tuco is about to do the same to Heisenberg, he calmly picks up a rock of the meth, and explains that it is not actually meth.  He throws the rock into the ground causing a massive explosion; he then takes the entire bag and threatens to do the same.  Heisenberg submits and pays him.

            Heisenberg is not a violent person; he neither enjoys violence or uses it as a first resort like Tuco.  Heisenberg is clinical, in that he treats situations objectively and emotionally detached.    When dealing with Krazy-8, he rationalizes letting him go up until he realizes that Krazy-8 has a shard of a broken plate, and is planning on killing him.  Heisenberg only resorts to killing Krazy-8 after learning that Krazy-8 is planning to kill him once freed.  When disposing of Emilio and Krazy-8, he nonchalantly tells Jesse to buy plastic bins for the acid.  Heisenberg didn't reassure him about dissolving human bodies, but gave him simple direct instructions.

            These two personalities are most often at odds with each other; while Walter is content with being humiliated; Heisenberg, on the other hand, will attack a display case saying, “Fuck you and your eyebrows, wipe down this,” while grabbing his genitals.  But there are times when they both work for a common goal.  The first time we see this is when jocks are tormenting Walt Jr. about his disability; viewers see both Walter's fatherly care in defending his son, and Heisenberg's dominance in assaulting and taunting the jock until they backed down.  A similar event happens after Jesse is beaten by Tuco, while Walter feels sad and guilty for sending him to Tuco and wants to fix his mistake, Heisenberg walks into Tuco's office and ensures that neither himself or Jesse will be harmed in the future.

            How does a man deal with the fate of death? That is what Breaking Bad attempts to show.  In Walter White's case, he lives.  He spends the little time he has free to be both of himself: the man who will do and put up with anything for his family, and the man who demands respect and receives it.  Both men make Walter White whole and compelling because both by themselves would be just another one dimensional character, but together they showcase a man's struggle with himself and the world around him.

Thursday, November 20th--11:30 am

Hello,
Below you will find the following:
1. out of class essay assignment #3
2. suggested vocabulary when discussing character traits
3. sample intro paragraphs from essay #3 (to be considered excellent introductions)
4. sample student essay (to be considered a strong, high quality response, as discussed in class)
ALSO, JUST A REMINDER-- when you miss a class, you are responsible for the information you missed. Handouts do not always "cover" everything discussed.

English 20, Fall 2014, Instructor: C. Fraga

Out of Class Essay Assignment #3 (200 points)

Assigned: Wednesday, November 19

Due: Wednesday, December 3

Requirements:

• MLA format

• If you utilize any outside sources (not required) you must follow MLA format for in- text citations, Works Cited page, etc.)

At the very least, you must have a Works Cited page that lists Season 1 of Breaking Bad. (If you have viewed other seasons, you may use material from them, but be sure to be clear that your evidence IS from another season)

• Attach your Viewer’s Journal (all 7 entries) to the back of the final draft when submitting. Reminder: if a Viewer’s Journal is not submitted, 20 points will be deducted from your earned score. You will not be able to revise this essay because it is too close to the end of the semester and there will not be sufficient time to do so.

Before we began viewing the first season of Breaking Bad, I assigned a Viewer’s Journal. You were to record your observations and any other notes you wished in order to eventually select a character to focus on more carefully than others. However, as we have discussed, your first few journal entries, or perhaps more than a few, might just be summary plots and notes regarding several different characters.

This Viewer’s Journal will now be a valuable source as you write your last out of class essay for this course.

Assignment:

Write an in-depth character analysis of one of the six main characters in the first season of Breaking Bad.

Your essay must include the following:

• Assertion(s) about your character

• Evidence from the episodes that support your assertions (how did you come to the conclusion(s) you did regarding this character?)

Your supportive evidence might include but is not limited to:

• what others observe/say (or don’t observe/say) about the character—either directly or in private

• the actions of the character in particular situations

• the reactions/responses of the character in particular situations

• what drives this character

• what terrifies this character

• what pleases this character

• what does this character long for

• what does this character need

Your thesis must be assertive…it is YOUR opinion as a viewer of these episodes.

·      Whether or not you LIKE or DISLIKE this character is not an issue in this essay.

·      Whether you LIKE or DISLIKE the series is also not an issue in this essay.

Proving to the reader that this character has the attributes (good, bad, layered, shallow) that you assert he or she has is your goal.

Keep in mind that your reading audience HAS viewed each of the seven episodes so avoid writing extensive summaries of each episode.

Your thesis might read something like this:

Once Walter learns of his terminal cancer and begins cooking meth, he appears very unstable and irresponsible; however, his behavior ultimately represents a very determined, loving, highly intelligent and moral father and husband.

or…

Marie is a very insecure and lonely woman who is unhappy and uncomfortable living in the shadows of her power-driven DEA husband and her happily married and very bright sister, Skylar.

English -----Suggested Vocabulary for Discussing Character

adaptable                                    daring                                                      industrious                                    sensitive                 

aggressive                                    deceitful                                    insensitive                                    serious

aimless                                    dependent                                    intelligent                                    shallow

alert                                                      determined                                    intolerant                                    shrewd

ambitious                                    dishonest                                    jealous                                    sincere

antagonistic                                    disloyal                                    kind                                                      sly

boastful                                    disobedient                                    lazy                                                      spiritual

bragging                                    energetic                                    loyal                                                      sportsmanlike

brave                                                      enthusiastic                                    mean                                                      stubborn

capable                                    envious                                    mercenary                                    studious

careful                                    extravagant                                    modest                                    sympathetic

careless                                    faultfinding                                    observant                                    sullen

cheerful                                    fearless                                    original                                    tactful

clever                                                      frank                                                      patient                                    temperate

commanding                                    generous                                    persistent                                    thorough

conceited                                    greedy                                    petty                                                      thoughtless

confident                                    helpful                                    practical                                    thrifty

conscientious                  honest                                    presumptuous                  tolerant

considerate                                    hopeful                                    proud                                                      truthful

cooperative                                    imaginative                                    punctual                                    unfriendly

courageous                                    impatient                                    purposeful                                    ungracious

courteous                                    impulsive                                    reckless                                    unjust

cowardly                                    independent                                    reliable                                    unselfish

credulous                                    indifferent                                    rude                                                      vain

cruel                                                      indomitable                                    sensible                                    wicked

****************

Sample intro paragraphs from out of class essay #3

A chameleon uses camouflage to blend in with its surroundings and to avoid its enemies. Chameleons are not considered dangerous, and they survive by merely “flying under the radar.” In the first season of the television series, Breaking Bad, Jesse Pinkman is portrayed very similarly to a chameleon. He adapts to situations that might normally trigger anxiety and convinces himself that everything is copasetic. He adopts the role of “gangster drug dealer,”  in order to blend in with his peers. Jesse relies on this facade to hide his genuine personality; deep down he is an insecure, lonely boy who desires the attention and acceptance he did not receive as a child.

**************************************************************

As soon as the pants go flying in the first scene of Breaking Bad, the symbolism begins. The flying pants of the main character Walt -- how he “doesn't wear the pants” and conversely, how “the pants come off,”-- we are introduced immediately to strong themes of dichotomy and transition. Outside of the intelligent writing, the depth and complexity of the characters is also a huge part of what keeps the audience engaged. Walter White is a perfect example of why viewers become so addicted to the series: his character is richly developed and contradictory, and this multifaceted character cleverly travels between two very dichotomous worlds. In one reality, he is a seemingly submissive “cancer man” and in another he is a “bad ass” maker of meth.

**********************************************************************

Often when a beautiful piece of art is viewed, the viewer is transfixed and desires to know even more about the piece. An artist possesses a certain skill level in order to produce something extraordinary, something that keeps the audience begging for more. The trouble with being an artist is that one cannot go back and fix a brush stroke once the work is completed and framed. In the television series Breaking Bad, this is the problem Jesse Pinkman faces. As much as he would like to go back and change his past, he never can, and this shapes the person that he has become as a young adult. On the exterior, Jesse appears to be a worthless, uneducated criminal, but beneath the surface he is still a boy who feels inadequate, searching for the affection he never received from his parents.

AKA Heisenberg

A pushover, a coward, a shell of a man, extremely passive. These characteristics all describe Walter White, the main character in Breaking Bad, before his cancer diagnosis. Walt is not oblivious to these failings, and they become even more distinct when he learns he is dying. In episode 1, Jesse asks Walt if he is crazy, and Walt’s response is, “I’m awake.” The cancer diagnosis wakes him up. Walt goes through a transformation. This diagnosis becomes a monkey off Walt’s back. No longer is he confined to the psychological comfort zone he has set for himself; he is now free to do what he wants, take risks, and pursue his passions, without the fear of consequences. No longer must he do things the way others want them done, for he is no longer the ‘yes man’ he once was; he is Hiesenberg, the man he wants to be, and perhaps always has been inside his soul. Yet with this new found inner power, there comes a time limit. Walt knows he must accomplish his goals in a timely manner, and that the clock is ticking, so his options for success are cut drastically. This ticking clock represents Walt’s motivation, it pushes him to make quick, life changing decisions, and through these decisions we see just how deeply layered, and undeniably human, Walter White, AKA Hiesenberg, really is.

When Walt receives the cancer diagnosis it devastates him. Walt recollects his life, what he has accomplished, and gets lost in a swirl of emotions. He feels anger, bitterness, and regret. Walt is a simple man, a straight shooter who goes with the flow; he has never smoked a cigarette in his life, yet he has caught lung cancer. Something in him begins to change; he feels a sense of blandness and lack of excitement in his life, questioning, is this really it? Walt sees Ken, asshole lawyer, and something snaps. He realizes it is time to take control, to extinguish himself of the passive spirit that allows atrocities to manifest in his life, to take action. He then proceeds to blow up the lawyer’s car, and it feels good. This sense of control, with a hint of chaos, is something his life has been lacking. He has been walked over by his boss, his students, his brother in law, and his wife; now it is his turn to do the walking.

Walt’s first substantial decision post diagnosis is, how will my family make it once I am gone?  Walt is a man who cares deeply for his family. The thought of leaving them is devastating enough, but the thought of leaving them helpless and financially unstable is gut-wrenching. Walt has a lot of pride, when he thinks about his family needing to rely on others for support because he is not able to carry on his fatherly duties (since he will soon be dead) it sickens him. Taking hand-outs is not an option; being a charity case does not sit well with Walter; it must be him and only him who provides a financially stable future for his family. As he sits by the pool, contemplating his situation, a chemical reaction occurs in his brain spontaneously with the spark of the match, chemistry.

Chemistry is Walt’s first love; it is absolute, it is numbers and certainty, it is everything. There is no guessing with chemistry. For years Walt did not utilize his knowledge of chemistry to his full potential, and the match sparking wakes him up to this. Now, instead of teaching, he will utilize. Walt’s cancer diagnosis causes him to lose his sense of fear, as well as some morals; therefore, something as dangerous and ethically questionable as cooking meth becomes a legitimate option. Desperate times call for desperate measures; how else might he earn large amounts of money in a short amount of time? It is the ethics and not the danger that causes Walt to think twice, for he is a man of virtue, and wishes no harm on anyone. Because of the time constraint, he must act quickly, and so the decision is made to move forward.

Before Walt progresses to full blown cook, there are a series of smaller decisions he must make, that give insight into the depths of his character. Walt is the type of person who pays extreme attention to detail. Rather than using the internet, or some other means of research, Walt chooses to go on a ride-along with Hank. This gives him an opportunity to see the meth business, first hand, from the opposing forces’ point of view. Know thy enemy. Walt also chooses to enlist Jesse, as a sidekick, to handle the distribution aspects of the business. By having Jesse between him and the customers, he provides a cushion, not only from the dangers of distributing, but so that he may not witness the devastation his product creates. This is an example of how his morals play a part in Walt’s decision making. He knows what he is doing is morally wrong, so in order to feel comfortable continuing, he must avoid circumstances which remind him of his wrong doing. By only being the cook, he feels less responsible for the plight of his product.

Because of the time limitations posed by the cancer, Walt does not always think through his decisions, leading to many unintended consequences. When Walt steals the chemistry equipment from his school, an innocent man is blamed. This situation hurts Walt, especially since he was fond of the janitor. Other, harsher circumstances occur as well. When Walt sends Jesse to talk to Krazy 8, he is not expecting Jesse to return with the clientele. When he is holding the door to the RV shut, while Krazy 8 and his cousin are dying, Walt is almost crying. Walt does not want to kill anybody, yet through quick decision making, it seems to be a recurring event. It is either them or him; he makes sure it is most definitely them. Walt knows that if he dies before accomplishing his goals, he fails his family, and to fail his family is to fail himself. Failure is not an option.

Walt’s dedication to his family is clear throughout his decisions, but to say he does not make decisions for himself, as well, would be inaccurate. Walt chooses to mislead his wife, but he does so with good intentions. Walt knows that his wife does not understand his pride. When his former colleague, Elliott, offers to pay for his treatments, Walt declines. To accept their offer is  to give up on himself. As much as Walt needs to have his family financially stable after his death, he needs to be the one who provides the stability. The reason Walt stashes the money in his daughter’s room is to convince himself that he is breaking bad strictly for his family; he does not want to believe he is doing it for himself.

Walt’s use of chemistry, as a means to progress, is not limited to cooking meth. Similar to the hammer of Thor, chemistry becomes Walt’s secret weapon (Thor). The use of chemistry gives Walt a sense of power, something he has lacked thus far in his life. Walt begins to utilize chemistry to overcome obstacles, and for each time the use of chemistry is a success, his confidence in chemistry is elevated. This is where Walt truly begins to manifest his Hiesenberg character.

As Walt’s choices lead him down a path full of destruction and chaos, he must create a distinct separation between himself and his actions. Hiesenberg is that separation. By putting on the hat and glasses, Walt is able to let go of any inhibitions and calmly execute his mission. Hiesenberg is the polar opposite of Walter White; where Walter is soft and timid, Hiesenberg is firm and direct. There are repercussions to using Hiesenberg though, as Hiesenberg follows a different moral code than Walt. Where Walt is in it for his family and pride, Hiesenberg wallows in money, power, and respect. Using Hiesenberg gives Walt a rush, so much so that it becomes like an addiction, similar to the rush Spider Man gets when he dons his black suit (Spider Man 3). As Hiesenberg, Walt begins to make choices he normally would not make. Money and power begin to be Walt’s objective, almost on the same level as providing a financial future for his family.

In episode 5, when it is Walt’s turn with the pillow, he says, “All I have left is how I choose to approach this.” Walter’s story seems original, yet it fits the basic structure of the classic hero’s journey (Campbell). Walt is a simple man, who is served a cancer diagnosis, which sends him on his journey. He is given a weapon, chemistry, to protect himself. He has Jesse, a partner with hindsight, to help him on his way. He travels into the belly of the beast, Tuco’s hideout, and emerges stronger -- a changed man. Walt, having to make decisions and live with the consequences, is what makes him such a relatable character; he makes mistakes; he has emotional highs and lows; he has psychological issues, and he is trying to be successful against all odds. Walt is neither good nor evil. He is both; he is human.

Works Cited

Breaking Bad: The Complete First Season. Writ. Vince Gilligan. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment,  2009. DVD.

Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces.  Novato: New World Library, 2008. Print.

Spider Man 3. Dir. Sam Raimi. Touchstone Pictures, 2007. DVD.

Thor. Dir. Kenneth Branagh. Paramount Pictures, 2011. DVD.