So, for Shadow of a Doubt, I’m going to start with some of the moments I found interesting while watching the film:
I liked how at the beginning it went from a rich fancy party to what looks like a poorer portion of the city. It felt symbolic. Like moving from fantasy to reality, or from the beautiful to the base.
I loved how Ann Newton never put down the book she was reading while answering the phone. This amused me because I was a real bookworm as a kid and could relate to her not wanting to stop reading.
Young Charlie seemed like a moody teen initially. She reminded me of a young woman who’s in that transitionary phase between teenage school years and true adulthood. In many ways, Shadow of a doubt was a coming of age story.
I liked
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Apparently the phrase dates back as far as 1896. Stackexchange.com had an interesting list of explanations for the hat on the bed superstition. One that I liked, considering the context of the story was that there used to be an old voodoo tradition in which a hat was placed on a bed as a sign that if a person continued to follow their current course of action, a curse would come upon them. I also enjoyed how Joseph Newton said he didn’t like to invite trouble as his reason for not wanting him to put the hat on the bed, but then Charlie puts his hat on the bed anyways, as if to say “Trouble is already …show more content…
Herbie seemed to like more romantic or poetic versions of murder, whereas Joseph seemed to like the more practical. The conversation about murdering someone in a way that looked like an accident was excellent foreshadowing for Charles’ attempts to kill Charlie.
Now that I’ve covered some of the points I found interesting, I want to give my summation of the movie:
I think that, as stated before, this film is a coming of age story. At the beginning of the film, Charlotte is disenfranchised with life. She sees a lot of it as meaningless and boring. To her, Charlie is the answer. She views life through very romantic and naive lenses, initially. She is practically worshipful of her uncle, feeling that he can do no wrong and everything is brighter because of his presence.
Charles brings a new view into Charlotte’s world. He does not trust people. He can act polished and friendly, but he would kill the person he claims to value most. He sees the world as messed up and corrupt, and wants to get the most he can out of it. Charlotte now has the choice to take her uncle’s view, or chose a different
In the novel Charlie takes each person’s words into his heart and ponders about them thoughtfully. Nostrils Charlie’s best friend sticks by his side and is loyal at all times. While Nostrils is doing a job with Charlie, Nostrils gets beat up by Barlow and Nostrils tells Charlie to run which lands Nostrils in hospital. This teaches Charlie to be loyal and listen to what his friends tell him to do. Another incident is where Daisy Molony who is a prostitute tells Charlie to ‘use that money fer somethin’ good’, the filthy money that Squizzy Taylor gave to Charlie, for doing jobs for him. Mr Redmond is another strong character in Charlie’s life, teaching Charlie boxing, giving Charlie a gramophone and training him to run in the Ballarat mile. This shows Charlie, through an old man’s eyes, love and compassion. Mr Redmond dedicated a lot of time and energy for Charlie. All these people show Charlie a fragment of properties and qualities. From himself and spending time with his friends he learns how to nurture the feeling s of others but not the feelings one
Throughout the novel we see Charlies eyes opened to the world around him as he is exposed to murders and racism. Charlie the thirteen-year-old
Charlie’s friendship with Jasper Jones, his parents, and witnessing the intolerance of Corrigan are the three biggest factors in Charlie's development from innocence to experience. Jasper Jones exposed him to fear and forced him to be brave and face his fears, the rampant intolerance in Corrigan, both racial and otherwise, exposed him to the injustices of the real world, and his relationship with his parents taught him to be diplomatic and control his
Charlie also learns love in a way to get him better and set him for life. When his mother makes him dig the hole and fill it back up, this is harsh love and will prepare Charlie for later life as it will teach him respect and manners. Charlie deep down knows this is what his mother is trying to teach him, but at the time he just wanted to believe that she was trying to punish, annoy and make him work. Charlie also discovers the love of peers. When Charlie is dragged into the drama of Laura by Jasper he didn’t know if to trust him. But when the truth came out and Jasper wasn’t a part of it, Charlie loved him for telling the truth and being a good friend. Also when Jasper asks Charlie to leave Corrigan with him when they are older, Charlie loves Jasper for the respect and friendship he is giving him. Charlie also sees the act of false love. This is seen by Charlie when he witnesses his mother cheating on his father in the backseat of a car. Charlie knew his parents relationship wasn’t going too well, but he didn’t expect this. He uses this to overcome his mothers power over him. But this example shows us how Charlie has learnt the difference between real love and false love, this will only help him later in life.
Also Charlie is one of the most menial kids around he would never go with Jasper if he didn’t have courage. All of the choices Charlie makes impact his life in some way for example; if he didn’t go with Jasper his life would be normal, but because of one simple decision his life changed forever with the fact that he hid a body hovering over him at all times.
Charlie begins to hang out with Sam and Patrick and is getting in the routine of going to football games and then going out afterwards to celebrate. Afterwhile he catches feelings for Sam and the way he expresses them further deepens our understanding of his depression. Instead of going with the flow and not telling her about the dreams he had about her, he professes his love for her in the form of sharing his dreams and telling her just how he feels. Perhaps, this isn’t all his fault because when Sam tells him that she’s too old for him, he becomes obsessed with his love for her and can’t stop thinking about how perfect she is in his eyes. The only thing this confession has done for him is make his feelings grow and send him in a downward spiral of
The book also focuses on Charlie’s home life. Charlie has two siblings that make him feel invisible. There’s a hidden resentment in the tone that is used by Charlie to explain his sister and brother. But by the end they have managed to form a certain bond that Charlie has always wanted.
His mother had taught him to not look at girls, and after the operation when he started to develop more feelings, he had a hard time talking to Alice Kinnian because he had the thought that he liked her, and that he shouldn’t. Due to the hard nature of his mother, Charlie’s emotional life was not maturing with his new-found intelligence. Emotionally, he was still a little kid. “I knew she would give herself to me, and I wanted her, but what about Charlie?” Whenever he would get near Alice, he would start to panic because he felt that there was still a part of his old self within him, keeping him from taking his relationship further with
In Shadow of a Doubt, Hitchcock utilizes and stretches the ambiguous line between comedy and suspense by utilizing smaller characters in the film to keep the story line moving, and to help break sequence or rhythm of what the audience had been perceiving at the time. Many of the minor characters were used as “fillers”, such as the waitress in the bar when Uncle Charlie and Charlie are sitting in the bar, and makes the comment “I would die for a ring like this”; or the quiet, gentle neighbor Herb who is fascinated with the process of homicide and murder. It brings to the audience an immediate comic relief, but similar to all of Hitchcock, leaves an unsettling feeling of fear and suspense with
As one immerses themselves into Charlie’s journal or rather, progress reports, they began to learn much about Charlie and his character. Through these reports, one can gather that Charlie desires to be smart like everyone else (Keyes 1), strives to accomplish any task that he is given (Keyes 4), is very self-motivated (Keyes 9) and,
If you have the power to help change your country, then why waste it voting for the wrong presidential candidate? Millions of Americans are starting to see the light and are choosing the right man to be our 44th president. These Americans are choosing the Republican, Mr. Donald Trump. If he is elected the next president, America will be back on top where it has always belonged.
Thanks for another great week of teaching and learning. I really enjoyed this week because I had the opportunity participate in CPL and visit several classrooms. Having the opportunity to see the students actively engaged and see the teachers excited about teach was awesome. I find myself wanting to get involved in your lessons but I don’t want to interrupt your plans. While observing one of our great educators I wished I had invited another educator with me to observe the instructional strategies and classroom routines being utilized in this classroom. I know that I previously communicated to you earlier in the year about observing your co-workers but I want to stress the benefits of observing your co-workers. There are several books that
At the beginning, Charlie is without friends and is rather alone. He is very gifted and quite an overthinker which expels him from the usual teenage social groups. This changes, however, when he meets Sam and Patrick at a football game. They expose him to all new experiences. Resulting from his new friendships, is his relationship with Mary Elizabeth, his experimentations with drugs, and new knowledge of being a person. During this time, he is increasingly happy because Charlie was finally living.
In the movie Doubt, the idea of certainty versus doubt is a central theme to the story. Doubt and certainty are
Charlie Kelmeckis is described as a “wallflower.” He is socially awkward and likes to keep to himself. He also really enjoys reading and writing. Charlie cares deeply for others, but has a lot of guilt about past events. For example, Charlie believes that the death of his Aunt Helen is his fault, because she was killed in a car accident on an errand to get Charlie a birthday gift. Charlie has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Anxiety, and Depression. His mental instability was mostly caused by being sexually abused by his Aunt Helen before the age of seven. Charlie experiences flashbacks of his Aunt over the course of the movie, but all are portrayed in a positive light.