HW 37- Cool Paper Done Draft

In the course of the last month, I have realized a common recurring saying amongst nearly all groups of people that I know. “That’s cool.” It’s simply, short, to the point, but impossible to justify. You see, cool is not so easy that you pinpoint it in a single sentence like that. In fact, saying “That’s cool” is an empty statement. With nothing else to frame it, to shape the situation and perspective, it’s comparable to saying “agreement” or “likeability”. Cool is what somebody likes, or wants to like, to put it simply. However, humans feel the need to be liked by as many people as possible and therefore feel the need to be cool. If more people could set aside their need to be liked and simply were as they are, then the need to be cool would start to crack and maybe even crumble.

The first thing that I feel is necessary to discuss in order to fully realize my question is, what does it matter if you are cool? What is the big deal if somebody likes you or not? I mean, it’s not going to make or break your life, or is it? You see, in many ways cool is incredibly important to success and progressing through life on the desired course. Take for example an election. Elections are based on how many people vote for you for a certain position, like say, class president. There are many different things that impact why somebody votes for another, but in the end it all boils down to who you like more, who you agree with more. For whatever reasons you might have. In a situation like this, cool is very important, because as we established earlier, cool is essentially how much people like you. So if you win the election, you are going to be cooler. This brings up more issues down the line, which brings me to my second argument on whether it matters to be cool or not. Is cool a trapping? Does the need to be liked and viewed as cool lead to trapping oneself in a series of boxes that cannot be broken? Cool is not an isolated concept. It is connected to likeability and in many ways power. People who obtain power often do so by looking cool, which helps them win an election, as I said before. They then gain a form of power from this election and have to use it according to how the people want it to be used. For example, there is a Marvel Comics character called Norman Osborn. Originally he was Spider-Man’s archrival and they fought many times. However, he eventually gained power over a great deal of the world and had to use it in a way that the people felt he should. However, he felt like he was losing public favor after many exposures to the media showed his darker tendencies. This is reflective of a “cool” person being seen doing something that most people find un-cool. In order to remain in power and stay in the media’s favor, or cool, he decides to do many things that serve to make him less cool and eventually he begins to lose his mind. This is one of the trappings of cool. Those who obtain it on purpose often feel the urge to remain cool over all else. They will do things uncharacteristic to them and will become what everybody tells them to be. This is when cool can be a bad thing, when one forces themselves into that situation and they are afraid to lose it. In this situation, it does matter if you are cool, but that cool should not always be desired.

Another point about cool that I would like to bring up is the issue of whether or not you can control your own cool. One of the main points of interest for this is the topic is posers. They represent the ultimate in controlling cool, and how it cannot be done to a true extent. See, when somebody is a “poser”, that means that they are not actually cool, that they are trying to be cool by copying what they see of their classmates or co-workers. This is often referred to as “biting” somebody’s style. While this can be done and they seem cool, the person being “bitten” often notices this and eventually spreads this knowledge to show to everybody that that person is fake, and therefore, un-cool. Another point on controlled cool, and how it cannot be controlled, is gossip. Gossip is word of mouth, the thoughts of one person spread around and turned into the thoughts of many. Gossip can be manipulated, but the thing that makes it so unique is that no matter how hard one tries; you cannot control its course. For example, in the movie American Pie, one of the main characters, Paul Finch, pays another student to spread rumors and start gossip around the school that he is cool and amazing in bed (Sex-wise). However, later in the movie the truth comes out and he is shown to be even more un-cool than he originally was. This supports my thoughts on how gossip, and by extent, cool, cannot be manipulated. A final way of showing that cool cannot be controlled is unexpected perceptions that result from an action. For example, you might think it would be cool to come to school wearing a pair of hightop Nike shoes. However, somebody else might perceive that as un-cool, because Vans are in fashion. This is a simple example of how you don’t always know how other people will react to what you do and if they will see it as cool or not. All in all, these show that cool cannot be controlled.

To that extent, those who do not try to be cool and simply are themselves naturally are often seen in the best light. Take for example, the girl in my story. She becomes cool by coming into the school and being herself. She doesn't wear the hottest clothes ever, but just a t-shirt and a sweatshirt. Yet she becomes cool through her own being. This is in fact not cool and in actuality is her being herself. This is reflected by Alex Simmons, a writer. When interviewed, he said that cool is in fact a state of mind. This is very much in the same train of thought as what I am proposing with this paper. See, in this situation he states that cool isn't something people can fake our try and obtain and therefore trying to judge somebody by how cool they are is wrong. Henry Guss, a high school student, agreed with Alex that there is not such thing as cool, while another high schooler, Connie A-C said that some find her cool and others don't, showing that cool is fickle and undefined, and therefore an impossible standard to try and uphold. So why uphold that which doesn't work when in fact it should be abolished?

However, many would argue that cool can be a key instrument to succeeding in life. Take for example, a college recommendation. The way one obtains a particularly strong letter of recommendation is by being cool in the eyes of the teacher. This helps them gain favor and shows that they are a good student (Or at the very least, they appear to be and/or try to be). In this situation, it is good to be cool. The problem is, the ideal case rarely appears. People pretend to be somebody they aren't to their teacher, trying to be cool for them instead of themselves. This can cause backlash in many ways, such as in the eyes of the teacher, who can easily see that the student is faking. In the eyes of the classmates this is also especially uncool, being seen as a "teachers pet" and a fake. This raises questions about authenticity and identity that in a world without cool would not need to be asked, for these situations would not occur.

What I suggest is that cool be abolished. Here is the thing, cool cannot be broken down single-handedly like a Lego castle. No, if anything it must be broken down like the Berlin wall, with a time of great change coming before it can be clearly and cleanly abolished. See, cool is not really a good thing or a bad thing. It does not hurt to be cool, but by trying to force yourself to stay cool or become cool, you are in fact hurting your sense of identity. To judge others by how cool they are is something I did not discuss above, because I feel that it is obvious, it is like racism, where it is agreed to be unfair. If people could act in this way without being aware consciously, then cool could be abolished and overcome. To see the person underneath the cool, that is what matters. It’s the sappy moral behind countless movies and stories, from 40-Year Old Virgin to Along Came Polly to The Breakfast Club to X-Men. However, these movies all show this recurring theme for a reason. It is important for society to judge others without a lens altering their picture. Judge people by who they are and not by what others think of them or what group they fit into. In this way, cool is much like racism, a lens that you are seen through that can never be broken without people changing the way they look at others and the world. Racism has been defeated though (Opinions vary, but everybody can agree it is getting better), so why can't cool be abolished? To do this would be tough, but if done, well I would say “That’s cool.”

HW 36- Triangle Partner Help

Maggie-

We are constantly trying to fill the void in our lives with attention and approval. If the media has shown us anything, it is that the kids that come from a broken home are often the coolest. Now, this is not always true, but if you look at movies like Spider-Man, you can see this often is the case. See, in Spider-Man, Peter Parker has a happy life with with Aunt and Uncle, and has almost no mayhem in his home life. He is of course, a nerd. On the contrary, his neighbor, Mary-Jane Watson, comes from a home with an abusive father and is shown to be very cool at school. This can be explained as having a larger void to fill. You see, Peter is happy and as such he feels no need to live his life in any way other than the path his family enforces. Since he doesn't really need to break away from his mold, he doesn't need to be cool and becomes a nerd. Mary-Jane on the other hand greatly feels this need to be cool because she is being given a destructive and highly negative path at home. Therefore, she acts out and tries to be "cool". This is a cry for both attention and approval, both of which she was denied at home, whereas Peter had them in surplus.

1- In you first argument, you use my cool story as a point of reference in summarizing a point. However, you misinterpreted the story by saying she refused to do the teachers work, because she does in fact do the work on the board for the class. Also, you mention that this and other stories demonstrate doing something positive to become cool, however my story doesn't really fit this mold. She isn't doing anything bad, but she isn't doing anything particularly positive either. I would rethink using this piece of evidence for this argument.

2- I think that you should expand your drug argument. There are drugs less severe and more common drugs that are seen as much cooler than heroin that you could discuss. Take marijuana for example, which is used much more frequent and is exposed to teens at a much younger age and is more accepted. Also, heroin is too well known to be harmful to be as relevant.

3- On a side not, some of your post appears in a different font than the rest of it, and while I believe it was intentional in the intro, it's use in the last few paragraphs was confusing.

Kate-

We use cool as a way to hide our true selves to try and blend in. Should we turn to the media, we can see many examples of this. Take for example the movie "The New Guy". In this movie, protagonist Dizzy is a nerd, simply put. However, he gets embarrassed horribly on the first day of his senior year and is put on meds, eventually going crazy and sent to jail where he is shown the light that he needs to reinvent himself or "revamp". He then creates a new identity for a new school and becomes the coolest kid and gets the hot cheerleader. This movie shows in perfect fashion the ways that one will hide who they truly are to blend in and be cool.

1- I think that you could expand your argument on hair. You state what it is very clearly, however you don't seem to draw much of a conclusion from it, at least not immediately where it would make logical sense for flow.

2- Some of your spacing is really weird, parts of the paragraphs start on new lines randomly and it makes it a little distracting to follow those parts.

3- I agree with Andy, I think you could draw an interesting conclusion between masks and how we throw our insecurities onto them. What would this say about cool? Is cool really just the worst part of yourself? Is it the best?

HW 35- Cool Paper Rough Draft

In the course of the last month, I have realized a common recurring saying amongst nearly all groups of people that I know. “That’s cool.” It’s simply, short, to the point, but impossible to justify. You see, cool is not so easy that you pinpoint it in a single sentence like that. In fact, saying “That’s cool” is an empty statement. With nothing else to frame it, to shape the situation and perspective, it’s comparable to saying “agreement” or “likeability”. Cool is what somebody likes, or wants to like, to put it simply. However, humans feel the need to be liked by as many people as possible and therefore feel the need to be cool. If more people could set aside their need to be liked and simply were as they are, then the need to be cool would start to crack and maybe even crumble.

The first thing that I feel is necessary to discuss in order to fully realize my question is, what does it matter if you are cool? What is the big deal if somebody likes you or not? I mean, it’s not going to make or break your life, or is it? You see, in many ways cool is incredibly important to success and progressing through life on the desired course. Take for example an election. Elections are based on how many people vote for you for a certain position, like say, class president. There are many different things that impact why somebody votes for another, but in the end it all boils down to who you like more, who you agree with more. For whatever reasons you might have. In a situation like this, cool is very important, because as we established earlier, cool is essentially how much people like you. So if you win the election, you are going to be cooler. This brings up more issues down the line, which brings me to my second argument on whether it matters to be cool or not. Is cool a trapping? Does the need to be liked and viewed as cool lead to trapping oneself in a series of boxes that cannot be broken? Cool is not an isolated concept. It is connected to likeability and in many ways power. People who obtain power often do so by looking cool, which helps them win an election, as I said before. They then gain a form of power from this election and have to use it according to how the people want it to be used. For example, there is a Marvel Comics character called Norman Osborn. Originally he was Spider-Man’s archrival and they fought many times. However, he eventually gained power over a great deal of the world and had to use it in a way that the people felt he should. However, he felt like he was losing public favor after many exposures to the media showed his darker tendencies. This is reflective of a “cool” person being seen doing something that most people find un-cool. In order to remain in power and stay in the media’s favor, or cool, he decides to do many things that serve to make him less cool and eventually he begins to lose his mind. This is one of the trappings of cool. Those who obtain it on purpose often feel the urge to remain cool over all else. They will do things uncharacteristic to them and will become what everybody tells them to be. This is when cool can be a bad thing, when one forces themselves into that situation and they are afraid to lose it. In this situation, it does matter if you are cool, but that cool should not always be desired.

However, cool can be a key instrument to succeeding in life. It is in this sense that cool is crucial. Take for example, a college recommendation. The way one obtains a particularly strong letter of recommendation is by being cool to the teacher. This helps then gain favor and shows that they are a good student (Or at the very least, they appear to be and/or try to be). In this situation, it is good to be cool. By getting these recommendations it will be easier for you to get into a college of your choice and this will aid you in heading down the path you want to end up on. In addition to college recommendation letters, résumé’s are a way to show how cool you are in a good way. In this situation, a possible employer will look at the places you have previously worked at and then based on this and how it holds with other possible employees, you are seen as cool enough for the job. Here, it is also very good to be seen as cool because then you will get the job you want to get. Getting the job you want to get is clearly a good thing and it is in most situations much harder to get a certain job if you are not cool enough in the eyes of the employer. For both of these, cool can help you succeed if it is the right type of cool.

A third point about cool that I would like to bring up is the issue of whether or not you can control your own cool. One of the main point of interest for this is the topic is posers. They represent the ultimate in controlling cool, and how it cannot be done to a true extent. See, when somebody is a “poser”, that means that they are not actually cool, that they are trying to be cool by copying what they see of their classmates or co-workers. This is often referred to as “biting” somebody’s style. While this can be done and they seem cool, the person being “bitten” often notices this and eventually spreads this knowledge to show to everybody that that person is fake, and therefore, un-cool. Another point on controlled cool, and how it cannot be controlled, is gossip. Gossip is word of mouth, the thoughts of one person spread around and turned into the thoughts of many. Gossip can be manipulated, but the thing that makes it so unique is that no matter how hard one tries; you cannot control its course. For example, in the movie American Pie, one of the main characters, Paul Finch, pays another student to spread rumors and start gossip around the school that he is cool and amazing in bed (Sex-wise). However, later in the movie the truth comes out and he is shown to be even more un-cool than he originally was. This supports my thoughts on how gossip, and by extent, cool, cannot be manipulated. A final way of showing that cool cannot be controlled is unexpected perceptions that result from an action. For example, you might think it would be cool to come to school wearing a pair of hightop Nike shoes. However, somebody else might perceive that as un-cool, because Vans are in fashion. This is a simple example of how you don’t always know how other people will react to what you do and if they will see it as cool or not. All in all, these show that cool cannot be controlled.

What I suggest is that cool be abolished. Here is the thing, cool cannot be broken down single-handedly like a Lego castle. No, if anything it must be broken down like the Berlin wall, with a time of great change coming before it can be clearly and cleanly abolished. See, cool is not really a good thing or a bad thing. It does not hurt to be cool, but by trying to force yourself to stay cool or become cool, you are in fact hurting your sense of identity. To judge others by how cool they are is something I did not discuss above, because I feel that it is obvious, it is like racism, where it is agreed to be unfair. If people could act in this way without being aware consciously, then cool could be abolished and overcome. To see the person underneath the cool, that is what matters. It’s the sappy moral behind countless movies and stories, from 40-Year Old Virgin to Along Came Polly to The Breakfast Club to X-Men. Judge people by who they are and not by what others think of them. To do this would be tough, but if done, well I would say “That’s cool.”

HW 34- The Cool Pose and Various Approaches to Life Rooted in Class, Race, Gender, Age, etc.

As has been stated before, both myself, my peers, and known scholars, cool is not one definite state or thing. It is in fact fluid, constantly flowing and changing and the tighter you try to grab a hold of it, the more it slips through your fingers. Cool applies to one thing and one thing alone, and that is the cool pose you learned growing up. To clarify, the "cool pose" is really basically what you learned to admire growing up. For some rich white kid in Connecticut it might be to wear expensive clothes and be successful, that would be cool. Meanwhile, so black kid from the projects might find it right to be with a lot of women and goof around. This is the problem of the cool pose, one version cannot be held or compared properly to another.

Look at the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. This silly sitcom of the 90's shows two very different black cultures, the established upper-class who had to work for it and the youth who seem to live in a completely different place. In this show, we are led to believe that Will Smith's character (Will) is very cool and hip and fresh and poppin' and all that jazz. However, despite this emphasis on Will being so cool, he is often shown to be wrong at the end of the day. The culture class shows that even though he thinks he is cool, he is in fact a "fool" of sorts. However what the show never says is that his version of cool is not cool to the Banks (the family he is staying with). However, it is not within their rights to truly say that what he is doing is not cool. The times the show worked best was not when the two cultures clashed, but rather when they saw the problems in their perceptions of cool and looked past them. Even better were the episodes where cool was not a factor but they instead thought to understand the way things worked in the world and how they had been previously looking at them with bias. These episodes showed not only the cool pose but how it could be disintegrated to a greater mutual understanding.

The cool pose also changes over time. What is cool when you are a kid is not always the same as what is cool later in life, in fact it rarely is. I remember when I was little I was (In my opinion and clearly biased memory) quite popular. I was always hanging out with friends almost every day and I always had something on the agenda to do. However I remember what made me and my friends cool was that we had cool toys and cool video games. As I got older though, it was no longer cool to have toys and video games remained. In fact, upon reflection, video games have remained a constant of many cool poses for quite some time. Going back though, having toys was no longer cool. Instead, being on sports teams was cool. After a while this too stopped being cool. It wasn't uncool, but it did not hold the same weight it once did. Now it was cool to hang out on the streets and skateboard or smoke. Now over the years, I have considered myself to be cool at various points but I have also disagreed with what the "cool pose" of the time is. This is where other factors come into play, such as your family, friends, and upbringing. With these, you van break it down so much that it is impossible to determine who is a clear cooler and who is not. I now find myself in a very different cool pose than the mainstream "cool pose". Does this make either of us uncool? We cannot judge, nor can anybody else, because if I were to judge my own cool then I would be holding it against a different standard than somebody else held theirs when assembling it, another flaw in the cool pose.

However, these different examples of the cool pose clashing are also in a way invalid. Somewhere out there, I know that their is somebody who is a mesh of many cools. For example, there is probably a rich kid from Bel Air who hangs out somewhere like the streets of Compton and comes home and can be formal. For them, both Will and the Banks would be cool, or at the least, acceptable. By that same regard I am sure there is somebody who reads comic books, smokes, and skateboards and would find both the mainstream cool posers and me to be cool. Cool is too abstract a concept to try and define. Instead of define, all we can try and do is break it down and eventually get everything to be an equal ground. However, this would lead to one thing that I can think, and that alone. If everybody was truly to experience the same cool pose they would have to be raised in identical housing in a communist society where everybody is given one option and one alone. However this is not fair either, because even if unanimous, somebody would be given a higher authority in making a certain decision that would change their cool pose a little bit and would make the cool pose change for somebody and therefore everybody. At the end of the day, the cool pose is inevitable but not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, through it we are given diversity and choice and the best thing we can truly hope for in ridding the cool pose from the world is accepting it and the people who use it (therefore accepting everybody). And that would be cool.

HW 33- Cool Paper Outline

In the course of the last month, I have realized a common recurring saying amongst nearly all groups of people that I know. "That's cool." Simple, short, to the point, but impossible to justify. You see, cool is not that easy to pinpoint. In fact, saying that something is "cool" in that manner is an empty statement. With nothing else to frame it, you are saying that somebody likes what you just said. Cool is just what somebody likes, simply put. However, humans feel the need to be liked by as many people as possible and therefore feel the need to be cool. If more people could set aside their need to be liked and simply were then the need to be cool would start to crack and maybe even crumble.

Point 1. What does it matter if they like you?

-Independence and dependability

-Elections?

Point 2. Is it good to be cool?

-Recommendations

-Resume's

-Elections again?

Point 3. Can you even control your own cool?

-Posers

-Unexpected perceptions

-Gossip

HW 32- Tattoos & The Representation of the Self

I remember one time my dad told me he wanted to get my name tattooed on his arm and my sisters on his other. Luckily he decided it would be stupid soon after he thought up the idea, and he never actually got them. It's a good thing too, because my Grandfather, his dad, HATES tattoos and finds them to be one of the dumbest things one can do to oneself. He always points out, "Yea, that looks cool on them now they think but in forty years when they are my age, not so much." I agree with my Grandpa wholeheartedly on this.

There is an old saying that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Tattoos are basically the same way, a permanent representation of a temporary feeling. I have a friend who recently got a tattoo of a goat, on her lower back. This is what you would typically call a tramp stamp. Her reasoning? Well she was born during the year of the goat, that's why. Not to sound like a jerk, but that is an idiotic reason to get a tattoo. Even if you have a deep connection with that animal, like if you grew up on a ranch and played with goats your entire childhood, which she did not, you still might not feel the same way about them in the future. Not even that, but if you get a tattoo on your back it isn't even for you, it is for others to see, since you can only see your back under specific circumstances, like a series of mirrors. Worst of all though, is that her reason is one of the better reasons people seem to come up with for getting tattoos.

I have another friend who recently got a tattoo. Hers, was the word "love", on her wrist. Now this I find to be both tacky, cliche, and stupid all at once. For one, I find that people who get words tattooed on them don't actually feel anything with them. Granted, maybe they think they do, but every time somebody will see that tattoo they will think of their own connection to the word, whether it be their fear of finding love, their need for it, or they might even think of her as needy because she put love on her wrist as if she was searching for it. In addition, it is entirely uninspired to get a tattoo of a word on yourself. Especially a word like love. Words like love, life, destiny, and things among those lines are such commonplace and always spotlighted so it makes them seem like they are empty when you throw them on yourself. Lastly, I would like to talk placement. Like the tramp stamp (lower back), the wrist is a terrible place to get a tattoo. As a child I read an interview with Shaquille O'Neil, who said that his mom always told him that he could get a tattoo as long as nobody could see it when he wore clothes. I agree with this, because at the very least, you can wear a suit or dress for a job without everybody thinking about your tattoo. If you get it on your wrist, people will see it and constantly see you as a part of it and not it as a part of you.

Examples of friends aside, I really don't feel that tattoos are a very good way to express yourself. I think that they represent you now, and while there are people who remain the same their entire lives, those are few are far between and it doesn't make them right. If somebody wants to express themselves, do it through personality, through who you are. Let your actions reflect who you are, not your appearance. People will not always judge you or see you the right way by your appearance and by applying tattoos to yourself you are basically opening yourself to be misunderstood. Not only that, but those who get tattoos to standout are essentially going from one room full of people to another. It is like going to a Jets game or a Giants game. Both teams play the same sport, both are groups, and saying you don't like one so you can join another doesn't make you special, it just makes you like a different set of everybody else.

On a final note, I must say that there are a lot of dumb people in the world, more than there are smart. I am not saying I am either group, that is up for others to decide. However, with tattoos, like I said before, you are leaving yourself to be misunderstood. Now, I find that the following people are stupid, but for all I know they could be very bright individuals with an amazing impact on the world, but their tattoos make me "misunderstand".

Who would have guessed this cat man was an educated computer programmer?

Extra Credit 1- Tolstoy Cool

Schwartz is the "cool" character in the first part of the story. Please analyze him.

Schwartz is considered cool, through no words on the speaker, the characters, or himself. However, despite this, it is obvious that he is intended to be seen as cool, like the grown up version of the popular kid in high school, funny and distanced, but yet right there to absorb the benefits.

What makes Schwartz the "cool" character right of the bat is his introduction to the story. Schwartz is seen walking down a flight of stairs and he looks right at central character Peter Ivanovich. He then winks, in a way saying "Ivan Ilych has made a mess of things -- not like you and me."This establishes him as confident and funny, but also shows that he is a quiet and collected man, not excited to see his old friend or depressed by the death of another, but rather accepting of both as if they were mere happenings of no consequence. This is a common trait of cool, to have ones emotions collected and to be able to maintain a constant state throughout life's events. Even his appearance through this minor event is described as having an air of elegant solemnity, with a slim physique and piccadilly whiskers.

Imagine Schwartz to be like these two images combined

This provides the reader with an image of a fit, attractive man with everything he could want in the world, a trait that is always considered cool by nearly all. Additionally he is described as playful, a trait that is often seen as cool for it has youthful properties but does not deny intelligence as many other youthful traits.

Another way that Schwartz is seen as cool is that he does not have to adhere to others. When Peter sees him, it is not he that goes to Peter, no, he merely looks at him and winks and Peter goes to Schwartz. Having people do things for you in this manor is often seen as cool and is a desirable trait. He is also able to portray another series of messages through no actual discussion, instructing Peter where they are to play bridge later that evening with a mere twist of his eyebrows coupled with his playful eyes and compressed lips.

Lastly, Schwartz can be seen to be "cool" by his posture and placement during the funeral. Here, Schwartz is seen to be standing with his legs spread, playing with his hat behind his back. This kind of action is often seen to have a certain boyish charm, another trait to be seen as "cool". Not only that, but merely seeing him makes Peter feel better, meaning that he has an uplifting sense about him, also cool and even more so, rare. It is here that Schwartz is thought of by Peter as being above all of the happenings and that he would not suffer to the depression present. Essentially, he would live his life the same and act as if business were as usual. After being invited in to the ceremonies, he merely bows in place, not accepting or declining, showing his indifference and that he was above the activities. As Peter is pulled out of the room, he yet again says things with a look, that he feels for his friend in a light manor, even joking at his predicament.

For these reasons Schwartz is shown to be quite cool, even if he is only barely in the beginning of the story. His appearances are both devilish in charm and schoolboy-like. He is cool in many ways, and these ways make him the character most memorable and most visual for the reader to see. To be able to know a character to be so cool and yet make that so distant and impossible to obtain makes him even cooler and shows that Schwartz is above all and simply is.