Post #6 Book 3 Listicle

How has the main character changed  

• How did the main character change? Was it an external or internal change? 
• What literary elements does the author use to lessen the severity of reality? 
• Has the main character changed for the better? 

Wolf of Wall Street 

In the Wolf of Wall Street Jordan Belfort changes dramatically as he enters the world of Wall Street. He starts doing every drug known to man, begins hiring hookers, and participated in insider trading on the daily. Wall Street is full of greedy business men that are lacking in the ethics department and this was the major external changed that altered Jordan's life forever. Before Jordan entered Wall Street he was a married man trying to make into the real world unaware that this world even existed. This world was presented to him in a all in or get out type of business and Jordan went all out. He became a materialistic money crazed firm owner who would do anything to make more money. Jordan was so power hungry that he was incapable of stepping down from power even when he had the option to because he felt the need to beat the SEC and their investigation on his firm. There are so many horrible crimes and acts committed in this story, as Jordan is telling the story he used humor to relieve the audience as they read. For instance there is a part of the book where Jordan asks Danny about marrying his wife and Danny talks about how he would get rid of any incest children by dropping them off in a field and letting them run free. Belfort definitely changed for the worse, but since then he has dramatically changed his life and is a seminar coach teaching people about the art of persuasion.  

Donnie Brasco 

Donnie Brasco is an undercover officer who's real name is Joe Pistone. Brasco changes very slowly and it's more internal then external. Donnie starts by becoming friends with a guy named Sonny Black who was a behind the scene worker for the mob. As Donnie became friends with Sonny he understood their way of life. He understood that they were very similar in that they were just trying to make living and come home to their family every day. Donnie has the epiphany that in the mobsters eyes the mafia is the way of  life. To them its like going to school, college, then getting a job. It took Donnie a long time for him to understand it, and no one was inflicting anything on him. This book was told in Joe Pistone's (Donnie Brasco's) and he uses humor to show the humility that some of he mobsters possessed. For instance Sonny Black liked to cook and for Christmas dinner Sonny insisted that Donnie stayed. While cooking Sonny teaches Donnie that you put a "punch" of salt into a boiling pot of water, not a pinch. Joe Pistone, the main character, has changed for the better because now he understands the criminal organization he is infiltrating. By understanding them better he sees them as people rather than a suspect; he realized that they value family just as much as the businesss.