Reflection

Authors note:

This is a piece I wrote to analyze the way the author, Laurence Yep reflected a certain time period and history thought the short story "The Ribbons."

“She’s here! She’s here! Paw-Paw’s here!” this is how Stacy and her little brother, Ian, felt when their very old and traditional grandma arrived to their home in the United States from Hong Kong after she escaped from the communist way back in the day. The author, Laurence Yep, of the short story “The Ribbons” does a great job inserting little bits of information throughout the piece to help represent and reflect the history and the time period of the grandmas life.

When Paw-Paw was a child her mom started binding her feet, which is the very painful practice of modifying a woman's feet to make them about three inches long. At that time, bound feet were a status symbol, the only way for a woman to marry into money, most mothers had their daughters' feet bound when they were two to five years old. They would bend the toes under until they broke, then  they would break the arch of the foot, and finally wrap it tightly in ten feet long silk ribbons until the foot was a triangular shape. Once Paw- Paw got into the house Stacy was so excited to show her all of her dance moves she had learned. She pulled out her shoes to show them to Paw-Paw but Paw-Paw didn't react like she was hoping. When she looked at the satin ribbons, it was with a hate and disgust that Stacy had never seen before. “Give those to me.” she said.  After Paw-Paw said this Stacy head was filled with confused and disappointed thoughts with the reaction of her grandma causing them to not talk for days until Stacy’s mom sorted it all out. Paw-Paw and Stacy learned later that it was all just a big misunderstanding.

The ribbons represented many years of pain and agony to Paw-Paw so she wanted to get them away from Stacy to protect her but once Paw-Paw learned what the ribbons were really used for now a days she reacted differently. “She took my hand and patted it clumsily, I think it was the first time she had showed me any sign of affection“ Stacy said. “‘When I saw those ribbons I didn’t want you feeling pain like I do’” Paw-Paw said humbly. At this point in the story you can feel the way the mood changes with the way the author writes the story. The mood changes from a distant relationship between the grandma and the child to a close relationship where the ribbons were almost binding their relationship together more and more.

Foot binding was a major way that the culture of the grandma is shown in this piece but there are other ways too, like in the way that they greet each other. “Mother had coached us on how to do a proper Chinese greeting for the last two months, but I thought Grandmother also deserved an American-style bear hug. However, when I tried to put my arms around her and kiss her, she stiffened in surprise. “Nice children don’t drool on people,” she snapped at me.” In modern day a bear hug would be a normal way to say hello to someone but since Paw-Paw came from a different time period and a different culture, this was inappropriate. According to this history of the grandma it would have been appropriate for them to do just a firm handshake and to say “Joe sun " ,meaning welcome.

In addition to the greeting, another way they show culture is by the way they address their grandma. You will see in this piece that they call their grandma Paw-Paw to her face but to each other they call her grandma. Most people in the world don't call their grandma and grandpa by their original names, they call their grandma simply, grandma, but this is the american way, where name Paw-Paw literally translates to mother’s mother and that makes it much more of a traditional name. The grandma coming from the background that she came from would much rather be called a traditional name because it shows her that people respect her.

Similar to a multitude of other short stories across the world there are many ways that this short story reflects the culture and time period of their grandma.  This piece is perfect way to show that even in a short story like The Ribbons you can really learn a lot about a person’s culture and what is respectful or not respectful to do and or to say.

The Trojan Horse

Authors note :

This is two short paragraphs I wrote to answer these questions about the story The Trojan Horse adapted from book II of The Aeneid by Virgil. What was the conflict? How did the conflict get resolved? What was so sneaky about the whole thing? Could something like this happen now a days?Could something like this happen at a small school or business? Have you seen something like this tactic used in a novel/tv show/real life?

The conflict is the war  witch has been going on for 10 years. It gets resolved when the Greeks ruler Odysseus planed a sneak attack involving a huge wooden horse and a bunch of soldiers inside. At first the horse being there was suspicious but then they sent the boy in to convince the Troys that the horse was good and that if they didn't take it into their walls the gods would punish them.

I don't think that this could happen in a war now a days because the technology is way better and after 9/11 they are even more careful. They have thermal cameras that would look into the object that the solider were hiding in and see there was heat or movement inside. I don't think this could happen in a school or small building in the form of like hiding in something and come charging out as an attack but i do think that there could  be a sneak attack in the middle of the night to T.P another school for homecoming or something like that. I dont think i have seen this tactic used on T.V

Tragedy

Authors note:

This is an essay I wrote about the cause and affect people have around Laurel in the book The Beginning of After by Jennifer Castle.

"I quickly imagined that I could reach my hand into my chest, yank out that awful feeling, place it on an invisible cloud of air in front of me, then push it away. Push it away (Castle, 2011). " This is how Laurel feels after the death of her mom, dad, and brother when she knows that she has a lot of dark days in her future that she will need to deal with, and David Kaufman is not making it any easier for her. When anyone in the world dies it is obvious that the effect will be tragic, but In the book The Beginning of After by Jennifer Castle the true effect was in what David did as he coped with a tragedy of his own and how it effects Laurel on her journey to rediscover herself in the real world. 

When laurel went to a prom after party with her lifelong friend and date, Joe, David caused it to turn bad and this effected Laurel in a negative way. It started going downhill when David came in and yelled at her, just making her feel worse and worse until she didn't want to face anyone in the world again, not even her own best friend.  Laurel hit her last straw moment when David came in and shouted “You’re an orphan” right to her face. The party and the night had been going great, just for one night Laurel had forgotten about all the bad stuff that had happened to her. Leading up to that night Laurel was starting to find her place in the world again but after she was humiliated in front of everyone Laurel just went back into the cycle of “What if” thoughts of how her life turned out. “What if I would have went in the car with them”, “What if David didn't show up at the after party” ,“What if none of this happened”, what if this, what if that, what ifs consumed her whole world until she didn't even want to get out of bed in the morning.

Although messing with your mind can be confusing, it is even worse when your mind and your heart are confused  All throughout the book Joe has been there for her even if she didn't see it until the end. She starts to notice him and takes advantage of the smart guy that has been there for her the whole time, she starts to have feelings for him, but a curve ball gets thrown into her love life when she is on a walk with David and they kiss! David came over one night and they decided to go for a walk with his dog Masher to a cave they used to visit in the summer together. After a long serious talk on the way back there was just an awkward moment of silence before they kissed. Laurel didn't know what to do because she now had equal feelings for both guys. She didn't know what to do because she was trapped in the middle. The effect that this had on Laurel was that her heart was pulled in many directions. Her mind knew that David was a bad kind of boy, he was the kind of boy who came and went as he pleased never really being there as a solid rock but after that kiss Laurels heart was to him even though her mind knew he was bad. Her heart was pulled in two different direction not knowing which way to go, leaving Laurel in a world full of uncertainty and confusion.

In this essay about the book The Beginning Of After by Jennifer Castle I list only two of the way that David made Laurel’s life way more complex but there are many more. If a little girl took a toy away from a little boy and the boy started screaming, people would think the boy is disrupting the girl from playing with the toy when really it is the other way around. This is one way to show that sometimes the root of the problem is not what it seems. In the same way if someone loses a family member or multiple family members everyone tries to comfort them about their loss but really it’s the people that are still alive that are making it hard for them to move on with their life.

Bibliography

Castle, J. (2011). The Beginning Of After. In J. Castle, The Beginning Of After (p. 35). New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

A Well Lighted Place

Authors Note:

This is two short responses to the story a well lighted place. The first response talked about the old waiter and the young waiter and what they represent and what the cafe represents and the second one is in response to how the movie is different from the story.

First Response:

The old waiter represents tradition and respect for the older more lonely people where the young waiter is a eager person that just wants to get out into the world and do something but doesn’t know the heritage in which the world comes from. I café is a place where the old man comes because he is lonely so he doesn't want to go home and face the loneliness and darkness of laying on a bed in a quiet dark room.

Second Response:

The movie was very different than i imagined it. Even thought it was obvious that the cafe was going to be a clean well lighted place based of its name I was still picturing it being a dark and airy cafe.  I think I thought this because In the beginning they said he was sitting with a shadow from the leaves on his face and shadows are dark so that put a dark looking scene into my head right away. Another thing that surprised me was the way the cafe looked, I was expecting more of a modern looking cafe with clean lines in the design of the building, I also thought the building would of had large windows to look through because they said they saw the solider and the women walk by so I was assuming they were looking out of a large window.

Some thing that added the affect of everyone there other than the young waitress being lonely is the music and the lighting. The music in the beginning was sad and depressing and just a little bit off key so that put a sad thought in your mind right away. Also it is night time so it is dark outside and they show the outside of the building and it is the only building they show that is open but it looks a little run down on the outside. If they would have started this scene in the day time and they were playing a song by Katty Perry or The Wanted it would have set a very different mood. 

Flipped Upside Down

Authors Note: 

This is an essay talking about the difficulty astronauts have living in a micro-gravity environment for long periods of time. Please notice my use secondary sources noted at the bottom. 

Imagine the world is floating, every task you try to do your weightless, your whole world is literally turned around. This is what it is like for people living on the international space station also known as the ISS. Everyday tasks become a challenge like eating, brushing your teeth, working out, and even going to the bathroom because they all require special equipment and skills.

The ISS is an important feature to the exploration to the atmosphere around us.  On the ISS they can find ways to predict weather more effectively, see where to clean up pollution and oil spills, and find lots of ways to improve our life on Earth. (The Space Operation Learning Center). In total, more than 400 scientific experiments in fields such as biology, human physiology, and physical and materials science,  have been conducted on or in the space station over the last decade. (Is the International Space Station Worth $100 Billion?) They also use this facility to see how peoples body’s adapt to living in a microgravity for long periods of time.

Now getting to how people live on the ISS, when they wake up the first thing they do is get up and go to the bathroom and brush their teeth, seams simple but it’s really not. To brush your teeth on the ISS, you first take a sip from a bag with a straw but don’t swallow,  then grab your tooth brush and your tooth paste and you brush, when it’s time to spit you have to do it differently. If you spit into a sink your spit would just float everywhere in the air so instead you spit into a  Kleenex then throw the Kleenex away. (The Atlantic, How to brush your teath on the international space station). Since there is no gravity to either hold a toilet bowl full of water in place or pull a humans waste down, the toilets are much different in space. Although it is designed to be as much as possible like those on Earth, there are a number of changes. Straps are there to hold feet against the floor, and pivoting bars swing across the thighs ensuring the user remains seated. There is a hose, which can be used in a standing position or can be used sitting (Space/Astronomy).

Although getting up, brushing your teeth, and going to the bathroom are all a key point in life you need food to survive! On the ISS there isn’t a refrigerator and since you’re in space for a long time the food you eat can’t perish you have to eat a special kind of food. The food they eat is like the food you would take camping for a long time. It has to be something that can cook by just adding moisture. According to Irene Klotz of the Discovery Channel website, some of astronauts favorite foods include Japanese takeout, Sweetish meatballs, yogurt, chicken  soup, tortillas, shrimp, hot sauce, M&Ms, dried produce, and mystery meals. If you want salt or pepper on any of those meals you can but they are only available in a liquid form. This is because astronauts can't sprinkle salt and pepper on their food in space, the salt and pepper would simply float away and that causes a danger that they could clog air vents, contaminate equipment or get stuck in an astronaut's eyes, mouth or nose (The Space Operation Learning Center).

There are many reasons why you must work out in space. Since astronauts are in orbit around the earth they don’t feel the effects of gravity there for they don’t have to use their muscles as much doing normal everyday things (Rothstein). Because of that they have to work out with special equipment to prevent muscle atrophy, a condition astronauts experience after long periods of inactivity (The Space Operation Learning Center). Muscle atrophy is a decrease in the mass of the muscle; it can be a partial or complete wasting away of muscle (Merrian-Webster).  So because of that astronauts exercise two hours per day. Lifting 200 pounds on Earth may be a lot of work, but in space it is easy, the 200 pounds appear to weigh nothing. Therefore, exercise equipment needs to be specially designed for use in space so astronauts will receive the workout needed.

One way they prevent muscle atrophy is by using a piece of specialized equipment call an Advanced Resistive Exercise Device or aRED for short. This device acts like a weight machine but it doesn't use weights at all, instead it has a system of vacuum cylinders; canisters with air that have had a vacuum suction that provide  up to 600 pounds of weight (Landau). When you’re using this device it is kind of like a bicycle pump only in reverse. So if you squat the vacuum compresses and then when you stand back up the vacuum sucks air into it and as a result puts strain on you as you try to stand back up making it a effective workout (Landau).

Every kid in the world had a dream occupation they wanted to be weather it was a fireman, a police man, or a doctor but in 2013 it was reported that astronaut was the second highest ranked dream job of kids across the world (Share Ranks). For all the kids and adults out there that want to be an astronaut just remember that you could live on the ISS and help the development of space exploration.

Bibliography

Is the International Space Station Worth $100 Billion? (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2013, from Space.com: http://www.space.com/9435-international-space-station-worth-100-billion.html

Landau, E. (n.d.). CNN health. Retrieved April 18, 2013, from www.cnn.com: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/diet.fitness/11/18/exercise.in.space/index.html?_s=PM:HEALTH

Merrian-Webster. (n.d.). Retrieved April 7, 2013, from http://www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/atrophy

Rothstein, D. (n.d.). Curious About Astronomy. Retrieved April 19, 2013, from curious.astro.cornell.udu: http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=367

Share Ranks. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2013, from Most Popular Careers Children Want when they Grow Up: http://shareranks.com/4780,Most-Popular-Careers-Children-Want-when-they-Grow-Up#b

Space/Astronomy. (n.d.). Retrieved April 7, 2013, from Potty Training - How To Go To The Bathroom In Space: http://space.about.com/cs/spaceshuttles/a/bathroominspace.htm

The Atlantic. (How to brush your teath on the international space station). Retrieved March 26, 2013, from http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/09/how-to-brush-your-teeth-on-the-international-space-station/262046/

The Space Operation Learning Center. (n.d.). Retrieved March 26, 2013, from What does the ISS do: http://solc.gsfc.nasa.gov/kids3/kids3_what_does.html

African-American Identity

Authors note:
Below is the poem Aunt Sue's Stories by Langston Hughes. In my short response I analyze how the way he was raised affected the style and topic Hughes chose to write about.

Aunt Sue's Stories

Aunt Sue has a head full of stories.
Aunt Sue has a whole heart full of stories.
Summer nights on the front porch
Aunt Sue cuddles a brown-faced child in her bosom
And tells him stories.

Black slaves
Working in the hot sun,
And black slaves
Walking in the dewy night,
And black slaves
Singing sorrow songs on the banks of a mighty river
Mingle themselves softly
In the flow of Aunt Sue’s voice,
Mingle themselves softly
In the dark shadows that cross and recross
Aunt Sue’s stories.

And the dark-faced child, listening,
Knows that Aunt Sue’s stories are real stories.
He knows that Aunt Sue never got her stories
Out of any book at all,
But they came
Right out of her own life.

The dark-faced child is quiet
Of a summer night
Listening to Aunt Sue’s stories. 

All throughout his life Langston Hughes had a passion to write about the beauty of African -American identity. When his dad left him while he was trying to find work and his mom worked various low paying jobs all around, he was raised by his maternal grandmother in Lawrence Kansas. Hughes remembers as a child sitting in his grandmothers lap as she told him long beautiful stories about the people who set the Negros free. Hughes grandmother never told stories out of a book witch makes me wonder if I the line, Beat out of blood with words sad sung,  from the poem "Afro-American Fragment" is a reflection of what his grandmother stories talked about or what kind of feeling they portrayed.

There are two main reasons that I believe Hughes was so interested in writing about the beauty of African-American people. One way is The way his grandmother told beautiful stories of the brave people who set the Negros free was the driving reason Hughes wanted to write about this. In her stories everyone always moved ahead heroically towards an end. Nobody ever cried in his grandmothers stories, they just worked, schemed or fought, but no crying. The second reason is after high school Hughes went and work with his father for a long painful year in Mexico where they clashed about a major issue, his father hated Negros. Since Hughes didn't know his father very well and he was raised with a clear image of all Negro being strong and brave people; and the fact that Hughes father hated Negros inspired Hughes more. When his father said this to him it inspired him even more to go on to write great poem, and plays about strong beautiful African american men and women.  

Crystal Stair

"Mother to Son" 

By: Langston Hughes

Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor --
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now --
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

Authors note:

In this short response I analyze what the crystal stairs are representing in the poem “Mother to Son” and how the poem changes at a time in the story when the mother says a certain phrase.  

In this poem called “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes the crystal stairs represents a good life, a walk in the park with no obstacles to get around. The mother in this poem is telling her son about how life isn't going to be easy, there are going to be bumps in the road. The crystal stairs are smooth and obstacle free but the stairs of her and many other people were bumpy and had splinters as the mother said in the poem. When the mother said “I'se been a-climbin' on, and reachin' landin's, and turnin' corners”  that was the turning point of the poem where she turns into an inspiring speaker trying to motivate her son to keep going in life no matter what happens. 

Im Different And I Don't Care

Authors Note:

This is a piece I wrote about the book Peace, Love & Baby Ducks by Lauren Myracle, I talked about the importance of being true to yourself and knowing from the inside out who you are.

Your sitting on a bench in your normal everyday clothes, you’re not wearing high end designer clothes, but your also not wearing old, ripped, or dirty clothing but yet everyone else around you stares at you and judges you for who you are on the outside not even getting to know you first. This is how Anna feels as she tries to get out of the thought of everyone else that If you don't have the hottest boyfriend, the best clothes, or the best body you are considered a weirdo. The book Peace, Love & Baby Ducks by  Lauren Myracle may be very girly but it shows the way you can be true to yourself and still be loved by others.

Wearing a dahiki to school is the definition of social suicide for all Holy Roller students, but this defines Carly, she is different, she doesn’t care what people think about her. She doesn’t want to be like all the other girls who need to have the best hair, perfect nails, designer jeans and shirts, she just wants to be herself. This is important in the world as life goes on because how do you expect to find a true friend who knows all the truth about you if you’re not even being truthful with yourself.

When Carly goes off to help the poor people to get away from the perfect image all Holy Roller kids have, her younger sister Anna starts to grow up. Anna starts to care more and more about how she looks, who her boyfriend is or how many friends she has on Facebook, she is becoming like all the other Holy Roller students and this is exactly a 360 degree change from the person that Carly doesn’t want to be. Carly really does not want to be like the rest of them that all they see in people is how popular they are, or what their status is.

Learning to express who you really are is a major point in Laurn Myracle book Peace, Love &   Baby Ducks. If someone told you that you could be a rock-star and that all you had to do is change everything that you are and everything that you believe in, would you do it? If you did change would you feel comfortable knowing that the person that the world sees and loves is really a fake. Maybe not quite to this extreme of changing who you are but when you act different around people to get there acceptance your really just cheating yourself from the potential of having a true relationships with people.Do 

The Dark Alley

Authors note:

This short response is showing my understanding of figurative language. I used different colors to show the figurative language and under the text I wrote a short response about how the figurative language changes the mood in this piece written by Rachel Rosencrans.

The dark alley slowly started to get smaller and smaller.  What little light remained, was dissolving faster than she could move.   She walked, forward, not a doubt in her mind.  But her mind was wrong.  Her mind had not a sliver of sense.  She continued, forward.  Down the alley she went.  One step at a time.  Thump. Thump.  Her feet carried her into the darkness.  She knew not where she was going, but had faith.  She had faith that things would be better this way,  everything would hurt less this way.  A cool, brisk wind tried fiercely to hold her back, but she had to keep going, forward.  She walked until death was looking her in the eyes like the monster it was; but she was not afraid.  She walked until she could see nothing.  She walked until she could hear nothing but her own two feet and the beating of her heart.  Then, she stopped.  She stopped moving forward.  She stood still for what seemed longer than an eternity.  She stood until she saw a glimpse of light. It began to grow.  Bigger and bigger, faster and faster it came. One step, one step she took forward.  One step forward into the light. 

What little light remained, was dissolving- This is a Personification because if your standing in a room the light would not literally be dissolving it may be getting darker but not actually dissolving

Her mind had not a sliver of sense-  This is a metaphor because is talking about her mind as if it was something else this can also be seen as a personification because your mind doesn’t actually have slivers of sense

Thump. Thump. - This is an onomatopoeia because you can hear the sound in your head as you read the piece and the words sound like the action taking place.

Her feet carried her- This is a personification because it is giving feet the ability to carry you when really that's not possible. It gives a human trait, feet, an inanimate ability, carry.

A cool, brisk wind tried fiercely to hold her back-  This is a personification because a cool brisk wind can’t actually try to hold you back

Death was looking her in the eyes- This is a personification because death was looking her in the eyes but death cannot really look anyone in the eyes, death doesn't even have eyes

Death was looking her in the eyes like the monster it was- this is a metaphor because it uses like to compare death and a monster. 

she stopped.  She stopped moving forward.  She stood still for what seemed longer than an eternity.  She stood until she saw a glimpse of light.- This is an Alliteration because you can feel the rhythm of the sentences as you read it because  it repeats to make rhythm, she stopped, she stopped, she stood, she stood, you can see the rhythm.

One step, one step she took forward.  One step forward into the light. – This is an anaphora because it is repeating the phrase “One Step” over and over again.

The figurative language in this piece changes the tone a lot. The use of personification and the word choice makes the readers see a dark place. As you read you don’t picture a warm happy place.  When you read the first line, “The dark alley slowly started to get smaller and smaller” it immediately gives you a grim and sad feeling. As you read on the writer uses a metaphor to give you a sense of a girl not knowing what’s going on as the light is slowly dissolving. These first few lines make you feel like there’s a place that is dirty and dark and maybe a lost girl who feels like the world is caving in on her.  The onomatopoeia followed by the personification really gives you a feeling of the girl being lost and maybe something is chasing her while she is trying to find her way in this scary dark world. “Her feet carried her” and “A cool, brisk wind tried fiercely to hold her back” really make you feel like she is trying to run but something non literal is trying to stop her like an emotion or dark thing in her past.  Through the book you also read metaphor’s, alliteration and anaphoras  and without these in a short story, poem, book or even a song everything would be bland and the reader would lose interest really easily.  All the figurative language in this book add so much expression and emotion into the piece which makes it better and more interesting to read. 

Just Relax

Authors Note:

I wrote this piece as a creative piece to show my understanding of how to use figurative language to enhance a piece.

The world is racing 100 miles an hour, people need your help over and over again at work, questions are being asked and your mind is stretched to the max. You just need to get away, you need to go somewhere to relax so you leave to go somewhere new. The next thing you know you hear splashing against the shore, you hear birds chirping all around you, you feel the light breeze sweep across your face and your whole world is at ease. Your mind has not a worry in the world. Sitting there, relaxing, you can see the reflection of reds, yellows and oranges shimmer in the water as the sun sets and shines down on the earth. This is your time to relax, your time to be alone, your time to enjoy nature. As you lay there and let the warm and beautiful night soak through your body. As your laying there your world gets quieter, quieter, and quieter as you drift into a deep sleep before you have wake in the morning to the reality of the real world. 

Humans Are Different

Authors Note:

I wrote this piece to show my understanding of point of view. I wrote this point of view piece on Humans are Different.

Your strolling along on a warm and humid summer day when some random person that you don’t know walks up to you and wants to be your friend because they thought you looked lonely, but really they just make you angry because you’re doing just fine and now they’re annoying you. This is exactly the feeling I bet that the human got in the short story Humans are Different by Alan Bloch. In this story is quite clear who is narrating this story,  the robot. From this perspective, a lot of events and characters are portrayed in a way that create the reader to have a forgiving heart for the robot and his actions.

In the beginning the robot goes off to do research on another planet and he finds a lone colonist who has lost all connection to other humans, and they become friends. One afternoon they were together when the human said he was hot so the robot checked his thermos-stat and the robot thought something needed fixing. The robot pushed the needle into the humans neck to operate the cut-off switch, and the human stopped moving, just like a Robot; but when the robot opened him up he wasn't the same inside.

In the story the robot made it sound like he was the nice guy but I think the human would have had something else to say about that. One example of this is the robot said “he'd forgotten how to talk—he'd been alone so long.” Once he learned our language we got along fine together, but what really happened? The human was actually doing just fine and on the planet he was on when the robot just came out of nowhere and wanted to be the humans friend. The robot was intruding on a perfectly happy human and the human just wanted to be left alone.  This is only one of the main ways that you can see the different outtakes a reader has on a story based on the person or thing that is telling the story.

This is a scene from the Humans point of view:

I was on my planet minding my own business living a content, peaceful life  on my own.  One calm afternoon I saw a light slowly appear in the distance I was scared because I have never seen such an object in my life, It was round, silver, and gigantic with smoke coming up from around it.  As it landed the door opened and out walked a green person that I had never seen in my life. After we meet  I thought he would be soon leaving but I was so wrong on that.  He began to bother me more and more as the days went on, he kept trying to make me say these weird words.  I was walking in the park and he annoyingly fallowed me, he saw that I was sweating and he asked if I was ok and of course I was but he said he need to check my thermos stat, I was about to say that I don’t have one but before I could he stabbed me in the back of my neck, and that was the end of our relationship, the end of my life.

Adventures

Authors Note:

I wrote this piece to illustrate the major themes in the book Palace of Mirrors. If you are planing on reading this book in the future I just want to let you know that I did talk about part of the ending. I hope you enjoy!

Can you imagine having to stay inside your neighborhood your whole life? Can you imagine having to stay hidden and unseen by anyone outside of your tiny town? Can you imagine knowing that something big is out there for you to get but you’re not allowed to get it?  This is exactly how Cecilia felt her whole life when she was stuck in her town and knew that the palace was waiting for her to come out of hiding and take her place on the throne. Throughout  the book Palace of Mirrors by Margaret Peterson Haddix it is apparent that during many scenarios courage and the ability to compromise is portrayed as a major theme in this story, as well as other stories found across the world.

If you want to have fun in life, take risks, and make your life full of adventures you’re going to need to have courage. The moment Cecilia said “Maybe… Maybe I should stop hiding,” was the moment it all changed for her. That was when I could tell how much courage was needed for Cecilia and Harper to run away from their moms and their safe town to go to the palace. They needed to have courage to face the cold, dark, danger filled outside world when they ran away in order to go on their life changing and fun filled journey to find their true calling in life.

After Cecilia got the courage to take a risk in life and go out to find her true calling, she realized she was going to need certain other skills to survive on her journey. The ability to compromise is an important attribute to have. It is apparent that Cecilia has that ability throughout her journey in the book Palace of Mirrors. After Cecilia arrived she was ready to take the throne as her own but she soon found out about the other 12 girls. All the other girls were hidden away in the palace and each of them claimed to be the true princess. After  they got the matter sorted out one palace guard smartly said “ Now we have 13 girls who all want the same throne, but yet none of them deserve it.” Luckily they soon found a compromise that used all 13 princesses to make the palace run smoothly, happily, and efficiently by using each one of the princesses’ different skills.

These themes like the courage Cecilia had to and the ability to compromise with the other 12 princesses are found in thousands of books across the world. One example is the book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. In The Hunger Games there is a girl named Katniss who lives in a poor district on the outskirts of town but the capitol wants to control everyone, even if they are poor. So every year the capitol requires one girl and one guy from each district to sacrifice their lives and compete in the hunger games. When Katniss’s younger sister gets chosen Katniss shows great courage and love and volunteers to not only  take her sisters spot but to save her sisters life. Katniss show great ability to compromise when she has to collaborate with the boy that got chosen for her district, Peeta, towards the end of the hunger games Peeta was her last hope of surviving and Katniss was his last hope of surviving and even though they didn't like each other they both had to compromise if they wanted to survive.

It is apparent that courage and ability to compromise is a major theme in this story, as well as other stories found around the world. Everyone in this world wants to be happy and enjoy life, but it’s hard to enjoy life just sitting on the couch in their house, that’s why it's important to have courage and be able to compromise along the way. If Cecilia had never taken those steps outside her town and decided to put her fate in her own hands she would have never ended up where she did. If she just stayed in her town all her life she would have never been able to change the palace’s history, or meet any of the other 12 princesses. If you always stick to the status quo you're never going to find your true purpose in life.

Fear While Hiking

Authors note:This is a creative piece I wrote in class one day about my exciting and exhilarating trip up a spectacular mountain.

It started as calm peaceful morning in Death Valley, the sun was shining, the mountain glowed with magnificent red-orange color, and there was happiness in the air, but this all changed as the day went on. Me and my family were spending the day hiking and we all wanted to get to the top, the mountain started off with a very well defined path but as we hiked up the twisted mountain and climbed around the boulder and the hike dwindled on the path vanished. We were hiking along when the path just diapered, gone, what were we going to do? It was already getting late and starting to get dark and after trying to find our way up the mountain with no path we needed to go back, there was just one problem, where’s the car? We  had been wandering around for so long we had no idea how to get back or even what direction to go to get back. Right then a huge feeling of fear rushed over us, an indescribable feeling that we wouldn't be able to get off this mountain before nightfall, a indescribable feeling that we would run out of food and water, an indescribable feeling that we would have to hike on the rocky mountain with no light. We all started panicking, we were alone on the mountain with no one else around but each other. So we started wandering around the area we were trying to find the path down. After wandering around for about another half an hour when we found the path to get down. At this point it was already late and getting darker and on top of that we had to still hike about one and a half more miles. By the time we got all the way down the mountain and to the car it was dark and starting to get cold but we made it back before any of those fear could become a reality. Although this day was filled with us being lost and being scared It was still a great time hiking with the family, and a adventure I will always remember. 

Something New

Authors Note:

I wrote this piece to show my understanding of point of view. I wrote this point of view piece on Humans are Different.

In the short story Humans are Different by Alan Bloch it is quite clear who the narrator of this story is, the robot. From this perspective, a lot of events and characters are portrayed in a way that create the reader to have a forgiving heart for the robot and his actions.

In the beginning the robot goes off to do research on another planet and he finds a lone colonist who has lost all connection to other humans, and they become friends. One smothering afternoon they were going for a stroll together when human said he was hot so the robot decides to check his thermos-stat and the robot thought something needed fixing. The robot pushed the needle into the humans neck to operate the cut-off switch, and he stopped moving, just like a Robot; but when the robot opened him up he wasn't the same inside. Then after a while the human just turned to bones.

In the story the robot made it sound like he was the nice guy but I think the human would have had something else to say about that. According to the robot, the human was alone and lost and the robot came and rescued the human but, what really happened? The human was actually doing just fine and on the planet he was on when the robot just came out of nowhere and wanted to be the humans friend. The robot was intruding on a perfectly happy human and the human just wanted to be left alone.  This is only one of the main ways that you can see the different outtakes a reader has on a story based on the person or thing that is telling the story. 

Struggles Through Similarities

Authors note:

This piece is a comparison between a book and a movie that talk about the Revolutionary war. While reading this please look for my use of descriptive use of vocabulary. 

The Revolutionary War was a immense time for people of all walks of life.  Especially for the people that are part of the continental army, the militia army, and their families. I have recently read an excellent and insightful book called The Fifth of March by Ann Rinaldi and watched the movie The Patriot by Roland Emmerich. The movie and the book were similar in many ways such as rebelation, and fighting, but they were also fairly different.

In the movie The Patriot, Benjamin is a single father of seven but oldest son, Gabriel, goes off to war without the blessing of Benjamin (Emmerich). Likewise in the book The Fifth of March,  Rachel Marsh who is nanny to John and Abigail Adams' children and also a patriot meets a solder by the name of Matthew, but she like Gabriel, disregards the awfully important and smart warnings of their parental figures and does whatever they wish (Rinaldi).

The book and the movie the kids should have took their parental figures advise because while Gabriel and Rachel sneak out there ate many dangerous things that happen. In the book there are various times when the church bells rang for a riot; people were throwing rocks and stones at the soldiers from inside their houses there was people yelling out their windows and then a riot was started and people started getting vicious (Rinaldi). In the movie the battles were taking place right in the town also.  After Gabriel was shot in a nearby town he hobbled to his family’s house where a fight broke out once Colonel Travington found out that Gabriel went home. As the war was raging on Gabriel and Benjamin had a front row seat sitting inside their house just 50 yards away from where the battle was going on (Emmerich). Having the battles right in your front yard would be very horrifying and shocking especially during the frightening time period of the Revolutionary War.

Although there was a lot of fighting in both the movie and the book, the ways of fighting only had a modest difference. In The Patriot there was a lot of the fighting and a lot of mind games involved; trying to sneak up of the other side and not get caught because the movie was taking place during the war. Unlike the book The Fifth of March because the book was taking place  before the war was started while the colonist were still upset because the British kept making more taxes to help pay for the French and Indian War. This made the battles more of a rage and more out of control because all the colonist were upset and were just trying to get the Red Coats back for all the taxes. While all this was going on a  supplementary amount of soldiers were showing up making the colonist upset to a greater extent.

As you can see this essay has shown many similarities and differences between The Patriot and The Fifth of March. Although these two books take place during two different time periods the themes are many the same. Even if in The  Patriot there are many more deaths, the drive for both sides to win is very apparent. In The Patriot the colonist could have given up but they didn’t and it paid off so always go after what you want and you just might get it. 

Never Give Up

Theme Essay

Courage,  the mental or moral strength to persevere, and to withstand danger, fear, or difficulty; to keep going even in a daunting situation.  Determination, the firm or fixed intention to achieve something, the will to keep going during the tough times (Merriam-Webster). These are only two of the countless themes that are in millions of books across the globe including the book Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.

During the beginning of the book you can really see the courage shining through. Rosealeen, a larger black caregiver poured black tar all over the biggest racist in town and he got her arrested then she was put in jail. After that Lily, a young lady who gets abused by her dad after her mom died at a young age, showed tremendous bravery when she broke Rosaleen out of jail. Once they are free they both have the courage to run away from the house that was filled with dreadful people and exceptionally bad memories. Courage is all around.

There are many examples of courage in Secret Life of Bees likewise there are other books with this same theme. In My Sisters Keeper Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can fight the leukemia that has overwhelmed her since childhood. At age 13 Anna decides to show great strength and courage when she puts her foot down doing something that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and perhaps have fatal consequences for the sister she loves so dearly to her heart.

Although courage is important we would have no need for it without the determination to accomplish a task. When Lily runs away with Roseleen she shows the determination to break free from the house that was filled with anger, frustration, abuse, and many other things. Once Lily runs away she shows tremendous determination to find out the secrets to her mother's past.

Without the determination of Lily and Rosealeen in the book Secret Life Of Bees the plot would be flat and boring, this is also true for the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. The books are about the adventures of a wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry shows remarkable determination on his quest to overcome the Dark wizard, Lord Voldemort, whose goal is to conquer the wizarding world, control all non-magical people, and destroy all those who stand in his way, especially Harry Potter.

There are numerous different themes in the book Secret Life of Bees including determination and courage.  When a child takes their first steps, finally walking alone it is a huge step on the ladder of life, they had to show great determination and courage to get up off their stomach and see life from a whole new perspective. This just goes to show you that determination and courage is everywhere and is in everyone.