Justin Becker III

Language Arts Group C

7/14/12

Dictionary.com defines “assignment” as “something assigned, as a particular task or duty.” For my “assignment” to write “a well-written, five-paragraph essay, comparing and contrasting our class novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, with another story of your choice (that is at least 30 pages long),” I have chosen to write about the instruction booklet for Metroid Prime for Game Cube because it is 31 pages long if you include the “Warranty & Service Information” (which I did). I will compare and contrast narrative elements, theme, and primary conflict to prove that To Kill a Mockingbird and the instruction booklet for Metroid Prime are very different books. Again, the assignment only said that the story had to be at least 30 pages, so you can’t say the booklet doesn’t qualify, because it is that. I’ll bring it in on Monday and show you.

Similar to the instruction booklet for Metroid Prime, To Kill a Mockingbird is narrated by a female. Scout Finch, the protagonist of the novel, tells her story using “I.” Unlike that, Samus Aran, the female protagonist of the instruction booklet for Metroid Prime, is described in the third person. For example, look at the following paragraph: “Samus’ most important tool is her suit, and it can provide her with a wealth of information by interfacing with various visors. Samus will start the game with two- the standard Combat Visor and the Scan Visor- but eventually she’ll use four, each of which can be accessed easily by pressing different directions on the + Control Pad.” The use of the pronoun “she” proves that this is in the third person.

Another difference between the pieces concerns the theme of each narrative. To Kill a Mockingbird is about the coexistence of good and evil, the importance of moral education, and the existence of social inequality. Contrarily, the instruction booklet for Metroid Prime is about how to use the power suit, how to use the ice beam, and how to save your game. They are similar in that they both are about how to “switch between modes,” but To Kill a Mockingbird is concerned with the change between youth and adulthood, while the instruction booklet for Metroid Prime is more focused on using the X button to switch between standard and Morph Ball modes.

To Kill a Mockingbird’s primary conflict is “person vs. society,” whereas the instruction booklet for Metroid Prime’s primary conflict is “person vs. alien.”

In conclusion, this reader enjoyed the instruction booklet for Metroid Prime more than To Kill a Mockingbird due to its superior use of narrative elements, theme, and primary conflict. It is easy to see why Harper Lee only wrote one book, whereas there have been 12 Metroid games if you include Super Smash Bros (which I did.) For all these reasons, my essay is now complete.

Ronald Sharpman stands on the stage at the Milwaukee Cutlery Trade Expo.

Well now, doesn’t everyone look well-dressed tonight? Or should I say “sharply” dressed? In seriousness though, it is an honor to be up here representing Sharpman’s Quality Knives. It has been a tough year for us, between my bitter divorce with my wife and subsequently losing all of the company’s sharpening equipment to her in the settlement. A lesser company would have folded, like a Swiss army knife, but not Sharpman’s. It is my great pleasure to introduce our new line of products- Dullman’s Flat Pieces of Metal with Handles.

From our new “Ridge-Less Nail Files” and “Letter Pokers” to our “Metal Bookmarks With Handles,” we have long, thin, unsharpened pieces of metal attached to pieces of wood for every occasion. Look at this one- you could maybe stick the metal part in the ground to, well, obviously you couldn’t dig with it, but maybe you could just leave it where you want to dig. Kinda mark the spot for later when you had a shovel or something. Mmmm. Yeah, okay.

And what about our line of popular kitchen knives? We’ve re-imagined our best-selling cheese knife for a new era. Introducing the “Cheese Toucher.” The stainless-steel surface area is perfect for, you know… like touching the cheese. At the moment I can’t really think of why you’d- oh hey, look at the carrot peeler! Now it’s a “Carrot Massager!” That’s perfect for… I’ll come back to that one. The blender here, it kind of just throws things around. Someone at the office suggested calling it a “Food Agitator.” Mmmm… what else… what… else. I guess that’s it. We printed new business cards, but we couldn’t cut them up, so if anyone wants one really, really, big business card, I’ll be over by the bar. I mean “at” the bar. Actually, “under” the bar is probably more accurate. Oh hey, there’s another use for these things- you can give em to people who want to commit suicide and can’t be trusted with anything sharp. There’s no way they could kill themselves with one of these. Well, I guess I could swallow it. I mean, I guess “they” could swallow it.

He sighs. He goes to gather his display materials, but decides to just leave it there on stage. 

Not a day goes by where I don’t read about someone making a cool mill off of their novelty bumper sticker business. I figured I may as well give it a try. If I sell even a single hundred thousand of these, I’ll be happy.

“Thank you, Vanessa. I’m here at the 32^nd Ms. Sharp Teeth International Competition where in just a few moments hopeful young women from all across the globe will be competing to see who has the world’s sharpest teeth. Oh, there’s Ms. Chile now- let’s see if we can get a word with her. Excuse me miss, how do you think your chances are tonight? Whoa, okay- haha. Well as you can see, tensions are running high. For many of these girls, this is the culmination of a lifelong dream, so a little stress biting can be excused. Ah, there’s Ms. Denmark, let’s see how she’s doing. Excuse me miss, how does it feel to be here representing your country? Ow, okay that one got me… got me pretty good. Finger’s only hanging on by a ribbon. Obviously, Ms. Denmark has very sharp teeth, but the big question on everyone’s mind is does she have the sharpest? Only the judges can decide. Back to you, Vanessa.”

“Alright, thank you, Bryan. That was Bryan Stakes reporting from the new Naples Alligator Farm. We sent him there to cover the grand opening, but I guess somewhere between leaving the station and getting to the farm, he went insane. Coming up next, the weather. “