The Rum Diary

In the class of literature of English that I am taking, we were assigned to see The Rum Diary. This movie is starring famous actor Johnny Depp playing the role of Paul Kemp. This is employed to work for a newspaper on “la Isla del Encanto”, Puerto Rico, to the year 1960 entitled: San Juan Star. The purpose is to apply some elements learned in class as the location, the perspective and the group in / out group.

Paul Kemp is a North American and an alcoholic writer who meets Sanderson. Sanderson is a businessman who is determined to turn one of the Islands near the coast of Puerto Rico into territory only for tourists, even driving out residents, through the town that has the island. Paul Kemp did not know such detail.  Sanderson wants that Kemp write an article about their new business project, to what Paul resists. Even introduces to Pail Kemp to his partners and the construction plan. A night of alcohol Kemp was in trouble with police and Sanderson goes and rescues him from jail, so that Kemp was in debt and agree to write in the newspaper about this project. In the course of the film, they go to another island, St. Thomas, and Paul knows the truth of the plan of Sanderson. Kemp returned to the island and begins to write about the corruption of this entrepreneur. Once ready to publish, the newspaper is closed, but he seeks the way of posting it and manages to do so, leaving the exposed truth.

I believe that Kemp had a perspective about Puerto Rico, and through this experience changed completely and could see what Puerto Rican crossed.  In addition, I can perceive the concept of in group/out group applied in class when they offered the job to Kemp where had to write based on what the entrepreneur wanted that he wrote, otherwise the work would not be for him. All this leads to Kemp to return to the United States becoming a very famous writer.

“I was not proud of what I had learned but I never doubted                that it was worth knowing.”

― Hunter S. Thompson, The Rum Diary