Friday, February 19, 2010

ROAR Blog #5: Finding Fish & the Antwone Fisher movie

Courtney Patterson
Roar Blog-Book into Movie
Feburay 18, 2010

Roar #5
Compare and Contrast the Movie to the Book:

The book that I read for my roar was Finding Fish: A Memoir by Antwone Quenton Fisher and the movie that was based on this book was Antwone Fisher. Both the book and the movie were very good. They shined a light on the life that Antwone was living. Antwone grew up in Cleveland, Ohio with his forester parents. Antwone didn’t know his birth parents. He was abused throughout his childhood, by his forester parents along with his forester brothers and sister. Antwone was able to leave his situation in his forester home and finally end up in the navy. He had some problems in the navy, but with time, he was able to be successful. Antwone seen the world and feel in love while in the navy, but he was still missing something… his biological family. He wants able find his family which gave him hope that anything could happen. His father’s family loved Antwone and were glad that he was in their lives, but when Antwone when to see his mother, he didn’t feel the same amount of love. Antwone had to forgive his mother for everything she did, but he had to move on.
When I compared the book to the movie there are more things that are different. In the movie all of the characters had their names changed, but Antwone Fisher. With new names, there are also new characters like Cheryl Smolley, who is Antwone’s girlfriend in the movie. In the book Antwone did fell in love, but it was with a woman in Tokyo and their relationship stayed in Tokyo. The relationship that Antwone had with Cheryl was on the ship because she was in the navy with him. While in the navy Antwone found someone that he could talk to and it helped him get things off his chest, but in the book it was not touched on and much as it was in the movie. The movie was revolved around Antwone talking to Dr. Jerome Davenport and telling him his story. Dr. Davenport played by Denzel Washington had helped Antwone played by Derek Luke; realize that he needs to find his biological parents. In the book Antwone wanted to find his parents because he always wondered about them. The way that Antwone went about looking for his biological family and some of the family members had also changed. One of the big events that happened in the movie and not in the book was Antwone going back to his forester parents’ home when he was looking for his biological family. In the book Antwone says that he never tried to reconnect with his forester family, because that was one thing that he didn’t want to revisit.
The events that stayed the change in the movie and the book were the dream that Antwone had when he was younger. This dream was of him being welcomed by people who looked like him and they had a feast prepared for him. This dream came true when he finally met his biological family and they had a feast for him and a way of welcoming him home. Another event that was the same and was shown in the book and movie was Antwone getting into trouble in the navy. Antwone would get in fights because he felt that it was the only way to protect himself. Antwone felt that he had to protect himself, because when he allowed people into his life he felt that they always left like Jessie. Jessie was Antwone close friend and he gave him a place to live for a while, but Jessie tried to rob someone and ended up getting killed. In the book and movie this event was seen and it affected Antwone because that was his friend. While Antwone became depressed about the event that took place, he started to write poetry and the poem that he wrote was expressed in the book and in the movie. The poem was about him and who would care enough to help him. Antwone gave the poem to Dr. Davenport in the movie, but in the book it was just a poem that he wanted to share with the readers.
When I compared the movie to the book it seems that Fishing Fish: A Memoir was better than the Antwone Fisher movie, because there were more details and there were no added characters. It was more realistic than the movie, but the movie was great in its own way. The movie allowed people to view Antwone’s Fisher’s life and it lead to people picking up the book and getting a closer look.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Roar Blog #4: Finding Fish

Courtney Patterson
Roar Blog-Book into Movie
February 17, 2010

Roar #4

Summary:
In the book Finding Fish: A Memoir by Antwone Quenton Fisher, the readers learn a little more about Antwone being homeless and how it lead him to joining the Navy. Antwone was forced to go to the YMCA’s men shelter after her graduated from school, because he was not older enough to join the navy. He was only seventeen, but his birthday was coming up. While Antwone was at the shelter there were two men who were trying to sexually abuse him, but Antwone found protection with Butch. Butch was a drug dealer, ran numbers, stolen goods, and ran prostitutes, but Antwone soon became Butch’s protégé. Being the Butch’s protégé did not last long because Antwone made the wrong move and was beat up for his actions. Antwone had to leave the men’s shelter because he feared for his safely and he was homeless again. In this time he happened to miss his eighteenth birthday because he lost track of the days.
One of Antwone’s childhood friends name Jessie seen Antwone on the street and he told him that he could crash at his house. Jessie’s mother didn’t notice that Antwone was living there because she had a lot of kids and she couldn’t keep track of all of them. Jessie was a good friend to Antwone because he let him take showers and gave him clean clothes to wear, but one day that all changed. Jessie wanted Antwone to come with him to the store, but Antwone had to do something first. When Antwone was finish, he seen Jessie in front of the store with an old man and he started walking toward them. The old man pulled out a gun and shot Jessie, because he was sick and tired of people trying to rob him. After this event Antwone took off and he was homeless again, but not for long. Antwone seen Flo, who grew up in the Pickett too, and she brought him to Mercy’s home. Mercy was always nice to Antwone and he lived with her for a little while. Antwone also reconnected with Dwight and this is when he began seeing signs saying to join the navy, so Antwone finally joined.
Antwone joined the navy, so he could see the world because he didn’t want to settle. Antwone wanted more for himself. The Navy was difficult for Antwone at first, but with time it became easier. Antwone learned many lessons while in the navy and Chief Lott taught him the most important ones. He taught Antwone as known as Fish, communication skills that helped him speak up for his self. These skills were helpful, but Fish was still depressed because of his past and he took up a hobby that would help him express himself better. Fish started to write poetry and he was very talented, because many of his peers paid for his work. This helped Fish gain a good reputation along with all of the hard work he put into helping people on the ship.
When Fish changed ships and was able to go to Tokyo he fell in love. The lucky lady was Seiko Fukashima. Fish was so happy because he was finally able to feel the love that he wrote about in poems. They dated for about a year, but they had to break up when Fish’s ship had to leave. Seiko didn’t want Fish to forget about her, so she put a bottle of her perfume in his bag and he was able to smell her for years to come. When Fish came back to the states he was awarded with medals and ribbons, but he also left the Navy after eleven years.
When Fish was in his new apartment in California, he started thinking about the family that he never had, so he decided to look them up. When fish finally found some numbers that might help him, he only decided to call one number and it was Annette Elkins. She was his long lost aunt and Fish was happy that he found his family. Fish decided to meet his uncle that lives in California. After Fish and his uncle reconnected, Fish flow down to Cleveland a few days later to meet the rest of the family. The Elkins family was very proud and happy that they meet Antwone. Antwone realized that he had many similar traits with his father’s side of the family. They were artists, writers, and Antwone looked like them, but he still wanted to meet his mother. Eva Mae Fisher was Antwone’s mother and they found her through a family friend name Jess. Jess was Antwone’s uncle on his mother’s side. When Antwone when to see his mother, some of his family members had came to support him. Antwone’s mother had done through a lot of hard ships and Antwone was finally able to see that when he met her. When she seen him and was told that he was Antwone, she began to cry, but she never addressed him. Antwone had repair a speech to say to his mother, but when he seen how she was he had nothing to say. Antwone had forgave his mother and it helped him realized that his entire struggle and unknowing his family, was just parts of the story of his life.
*Summarized pages: 375-508

Quote:
“Maybe I was naïve and undeveloped, even delayed, but if growing up meant the death of dreams, I chose immaturity” (Fisher 400).

Reaction:
My reaction to this quote is that Antwone kept dreaming and he wanted to make those dreams come true. The people around him were just settling for whatever they had and he wanted more. He wanted to see the world and enjoy life to the fullest. He had his dreams come true. I also really like this quote. Antwone Quenton Fisher’s writing style throughout the memoir stayed the same. He had continued to use two different voices to narrate the book. The younger and older voice help the readers view how Antwone had seen things as they were happening. The older voice helped the readers see how Antwone felt about the events in his life, from a mature place and the younger voice allowed the readers to view things while they happened. Fisher’s writing skills gave great details into the setting, characters, and his dreams. This made the readers fell as if they were there with Antwone.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

ROAR Blog #2: Finding Fish

Courtney Patterson
Roar Blog–Book into Movie
February 8, 2010

Roar #3
Summary:
In the book Finding Fish: A Memoir by Antwone Quenton Fisher, the readers find out that the problems that Antwone was having at home continued as he got older. When Antwone was a teenager, Mizz Pickett was trying to kick him out the house and she finally got her wish when Antwone was removed from her home. At the age of sixteen, Antwone learned about his family past. He learned about the mother who couldn’t take care of him and the father who died too young. Along with information about his family, he also learned that no one would be able to take him in, so Antwone was focused on the streets.
Being sixteen and homeless is scary for any teenager, because there are always people that would try to take advantage of these teens and Antwone knew that it would be dangerous. Later on there were a few people who were trying to help Antwone get off the streets like Ms. Nees. She decided to send him to a private male institution. This intuition was a reform school for young males who committed a juvenile offense, but Antwone never committed an offense. The school was called George Junior Republic. Antwone was depress and was looking for an outlet. His new outlet was taking pictures. He wanted to be a world-famous photographer, because he saw a Jet magazine and he thought that he would be able to do the same thing. Antwone later met with the principal and vice-principal of his school, so he could see if he was able to find a way to graduate. He ended up taking many test and passed, so he was able to graduate before he turned eighteen. Antwone also had to enter into the United States Military Reserve, so he would be able take care of his self before going to college.
*Pages Summarized is 314-372.

Quote:
“Seems like it was raining all the time back then,” Antwone said. “It wasn’t,” said Ms. Nees (Fisher 331).

Reaction:
My reaction to this quote is that Ms. Nees was trying to explain to Antwone that there was always hope and a chance for him. He just had to realize it for himself and once he did, he was able to become successful. This quote is important to know because it was foreshadowing that Antwone would overcome his situation and finally become the person he always wanted to be.