American Values
ENGELSK A – AMERICAN VALUES – ESSAY A. Write an essay (900-1200 words) in which you analyze and interpret Woody Allen's The Rejection.
Focus on the values reflected through the main characters and the values reflected in general in American culture.
Woody Allen was born in 1935, and is an American writer (and a movie director, screenwriter, actor, comedian and playwright) who is born and raised in New York City. Woody Allen’s work is very prolific, and he loves writing about the neurotic upper-class life on Manhattan.
The short story The Rejection (written in 2007) is about a successful man, Boris Ivanovich, and his wife Anna, whose son is rejected from “the very best nursery school in Manhattan”. Boris and Anna are wealthy and successful, with very much focus upon how the upper-class community sees them. When Mischa (Boris and Anna’s son) gets rejected from the nursery school, Boris fears the reaction from his co-workers at Bear Stearns.
Especially the reaction from one of his co-workers, Siminov, is on Boris’ mind – and not without reason. The following Monday, when Boris goes the office, there is a dead hare on his desk – and Boris knows that everyone know about the rejection. Siminov, his co-worker, tells Boris that Mischa never will be accepted at any decent college – all because of the rejection from the nursery school. When Boris asks Siminov about what he means, Siminov tells him a story about a renowned investment banker who failed to get his son into an “acceptable” kindergarten. Siminov tells Boris that the son was forced to attend a public school and ended up in a barber college, shaving the wealthy.
One day, Boris gets contacted by his lawyer, Shamsky, who tells him that there’s a man, Fyodorovich, who can arrange a second interview for Mischa, if Boris gives him information about “certain companies” stocks. Boris, in his desperation to get his son in the perfect nursery school, accepts, even though he knows it’s illegal to inside trade
Focus on the values reflected through the main characters and the values reflected in general in American culture.
Woody Allen was born in 1935, and is an American writer (and a movie director, screenwriter, actor, comedian and playwright) who is born and raised in New York City. Woody Allen’s work is very prolific, and he loves writing about the neurotic upper-class life on Manhattan.
The short story The Rejection (written in 2007) is about a successful man, Boris Ivanovich, and his wife Anna, whose son is rejected from “the very best nursery school in Manhattan”. Boris and Anna are wealthy and successful, with very much focus upon how the upper-class community sees them. When Mischa (Boris and Anna’s son) gets rejected from the nursery school, Boris fears the reaction from his co-workers at Bear Stearns.
Especially the reaction from one of his co-workers, Siminov, is on Boris’ mind – and not without reason. The following Monday, when Boris goes the office, there is a dead hare on his desk – and Boris knows that everyone know about the rejection. Siminov, his co-worker, tells Boris that Mischa never will be accepted at any decent college – all because of the rejection from the nursery school. When Boris asks Siminov about what he means, Siminov tells him a story about a renowned investment banker who failed to get his son into an “acceptable” kindergarten. Siminov tells Boris that the son was forced to attend a public school and ended up in a barber college, shaving the wealthy.
One day, Boris gets contacted by his lawyer, Shamsky, who tells him that there’s a man, Fyodorovich, who can arrange a second interview for Mischa, if Boris gives him information about “certain companies” stocks. Boris, in his desperation to get his son in the perfect nursery school, accepts, even though he knows it’s illegal to inside trade