John Yowan                                                                                                                 Hour 1

Ms. Keeley                                                                                                                  Type 3

Freshman English                                                                                                                     

19 January 2003

            The movie Miracle On 34^th Street starts during the Macys day parade. Doris Walker an employee of Macy's is in charge of the parade. The Santa Clause the she had originally hired for the parade got drunk. A man came up to her to let her know that her Santa was intoxicated and he thought it was disgraceful. The man's name was Kris Kringle. She asked Kris if he would be willing to be their Santa for the pride in place of the drunken Santa not knowing that Kris was the real Santa.

After the parade ended she went home and met Fred Gatley, a young lawyer who was watching the parade with her daughter Susan in his apartment across the hall from her place. Her daughter talks her into inviting Fred over to eat dinner with them. Susan does not believe in any fantasies including Santa. Her mom always taught her that fantasizing was a waste of time. Doris told her daughter that her life should be based on reality not on fantasy.

During that time Kris got changed and began to work as the full time Macy's Santa Clause. He started to send people to other stores if Macy's did not have what their children asked for. The owner of Macy's ended up liking this because it attracted more customers to their store. The customers like Kris's honesty.

Doris asked Fred if he would please watch Susan while she went to work. She asked him to bring her to Macys later in the afternoon. When Fred brought Susan to Macy's he ended up taking her to see Santa Clause. After Susan visits with Kris she starts believing that maybe Kris was the real Santa. She saw that his beard was real and she also saw him speak Dutch to a little Dutch girl that was unable to speak English.

Doris made Kris take a mental examination because he told her that he was the real Santa. Kris ended up passing the test. Doris decided that she had to find a place for Kris to live that was close to work and Kris ended up staying with Fred at his apartment. Later that same day Kris asked Susan what she wanted for Christmas and she said that she wanted a house for her and her mother to live in. She showed Kris a picture from a magazine of the house that she wanted and told him that if he were the real Santa he would be able to get it for her. A few days later Kris got sent to a mental institution because he hit Sawyer. Sawyer was the man that worked for Macy's and his job was to give mental exams to employees. Sawyer did not like Kris at all. Kris hit Sawyer because Sawyer was practicing psychology without a license and thought he knew everything. Kris said, " There is only one way to deal with people like you" and hit him on the head with his cane.

Fred became Kris's lawyer and they went to court to try to prove that Kris was not crazy for thinking he was Santa Clause. The post office decided to send all of the mail addressed to Santa to the courthouse for Kris to open. Fred says that if the United Sates Post Office recognized Kris as the real Santa that he should be found to be sane. The judge agrees and Kris is set free.

On Christmas morning Susan's her mother took her and Fred to a party at Macy's. Susan expects a letter from Santa telling he that she got the house for Christmas. There was no letter to be found and Susan was disappointed. She started to think that there was no real Santa. On the way home from the party they ended up driving a different rout that Kris had given them and they ended up at the house that she wanted. They were all surprised and from then on believed in Santa Clause.

The movie takes place in New York City in the year 1947. Some of the conflicts that this movie deals with are the differences between fantasy and reality. Susan and Doris have a conflict within themselves. They don't know if they should believe in Santa or not. Kris Kringle has a conflict with the state of New York on whether or not he is the real Santa. Fred has a conflict with Doris on weather or not it is ok for children to believe in fantasies.

The setting suits the plot of the movie because that is where the main Macy's store is and that is where the Macy's Day Parade takes place in real life every year.

The ending was appropriate and believable because Susan starts to believe in Santa and she gets the house that she wants for Christmas. It's nice to be able to believe in fantasy sometimes.

The things that I like the best about this movie were the fact that it was a nice story and I liked how they had a trial over weather or not there was a real Santa. I thought the movie was funny in some parts sad in others and it made me feel good in the end. I really didn't find anything about the movie that I didn't like. I enjoyed the whole thing.

I would highly recommend this movie to others because I thought it was a great film with many lessons to be learned.