Strong Impact

Character Analyses

Emily Becker

Authors Note:
This is a piece that analyzes how the main character, Lily, in the book The Secret Life of Bees changes when she meets August throughout the journey of a lifetime.

“I’d been kneeling on grits since I was six, but I still never got used to that powered-glass feeling beneath my skin. I walk toward them with those tiny feather steps you expect of a girl in Japan, and lowered myself to the floor, determined not to cry, but the sting was already gathering in my eyes.”(page 25) In the book Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd the main character, Lily changes from the inside out as she meets the right people to help her through her life.

As the story begins Lily and her "fill in mother" Rosaleen, run away from home to get away from her abusive and cruel dad and she wants to learn more about what happened to her mom who had died when she was four. After Rosaleen gets arrested for confronting three racists, Lily decides to break Rosaleen out of jail, and together they run away to a place Lily suspects once was a special place to her mother.

When Lily and Rosaleen run away they end up living with the Calendar sisters in Tiburon, South Carolina. All the sisters are super polite people but the one who had a strongest impact in Lily's life would be August. August is a strong person physically and emotionally, she is an exceptionally wise person whose words give you hope and fill you with knowledge. When Lily and Rosaleen showed up at the sisters doorstep they  were hungry, dirty, and tired; yet the sisters took them in with open arms. Since lily and Rosaleen were strangers, the sisters wanted to know some things first, but because Lily and Rosaleen needed to find a place to stay; they had to lie to Calendar Sisters about their past that were filled with crimes. As there connection grows,  Lily trusts August so much that she finally confesses the guilt she felt from her past, namely that she accidentally killed her mother when she was four and broke Rosaleen out of jail. After Lily told the truth August helps Lily confront her father and August convinces him that Lily should stay in Tiburon to live a joyful and free life.

In the book Touching Spirit Bear the main character, Cole, is in a bad place in his life. He has resorted to lying, stealing, and injuring innocent people. After Cole attacked someone on the street and nearly gave them life threatening brain damage he is banished to a remote Alaskan island. There is where he come to meet a white bear from the native american legend, and that bear transforms his inner soul and shows him the consequences for  his horrific actions. This is just like Lily because although Lily does not critically injure anyone around her, she does start to lie and steal but fortunately when she meets August her whole life changes. In the two books the white bear is like August, they both use the skills they have in different ways to transform a young person's life.

Once cole met the bear he was changed because he was surrounded by good people. In the book Secret Life of Bees, Lily changes when she meets the right people in life and that is true for anyone. Having good dependable people in your life can help you structure yourself so you can have a successful future. When Lily was living with her dad she was a mess, her dad wasn’t any help at all he was just mean to her, but when she moved to the Calendar sister’s house she was well balanced and better setup for success in life. The best people in your life are going to be the ones who help you through tough times and be with you all through life so you can live happily for many years.

An Exciting Climb

personal Narrative

Emily Becker

Authors Note:This piece is my personal narrative I wrote about my fun filled adventure with my family.

I could feel the cold moving through my body, as the temperature dropped lower and lower I put on all the layers that I had brought with me. As I looked up, I saw the 11,000 foot  mountain towering over me as if I was a little bug below it. Being only 12, I didn’t know how I was going to make it to the top and back, but I was going to try.  I will never forget the entertaining, joy filled day that took place when I hiked Telescope Peak with my family.

Because the mountain was so tall, we had to start hiking from our campsite that was already 8,000 feet up the mountain. To get there, we first had to drive up the rough road ahead of us. The road was incredibly bumpy and had sheer cliffs with 90 degree drop-offs; this road was extraordinarily difficult to get up. Once we got up to our campsite, we set up our camp and went to bed. In the morning none of us felt like sitting out in the 45 degree weather and eat breakfast. As a result, all five of us sat in an average sized SUV as we ate breakfast while the windows steamed up with condensation.  Once we finished breakfast and got the courage to face the cold,we got out of the car and we were ready to leave for the 14 mile long hike.

We left at seven in the morning for the hike. We were expecting it to be cold so we put on a ton of layers. As it turns out, we were facing the east so we were sweating buckets. Since the path circled around the mountain we were soon cold enough and the sweat had cooled, making us even colder. 

 

After the five hours of hiking, we reached the top of the mountain. I remember twirling around at the top and being amazed at how high up we were and how beautiful and breathtaking everything was. On top of that, it was a perfect day for hiking because of the bright blue skies, crisp air that is easy to breathe in and out, views as miraculous as you could even imagine, and all this time I’m spending with my family. When I stopped looking around at the view I saw a green box,  an American flag, and  a picture frame sitting at the top. Inside the box was a notebook and a pen where you could write your name and the date of when you made it to the top.  In the picture frame was a picture of a soldier who died in war. One of the solders good friends hiked up the mountain and put the American flag and the picture in his honor, which was really fascinating  to see. It was lunchtime, so we all sat on the top and ate lunch, and all this time we were soaking in all the beauty that was around us. After lunch we were really tired so we decided to take a nap, and now I’m one of the few people who can truthfully say “I took a nap on top of a mountain in North America.”

After refueling with lunch and  a much needed nap, we decided to head back down, which was very slippery because of the snow. It was also very tiring on our toes because as we walked down the steep incline our toes were constantly getting rammed into our shoes.  Unfortunately, that wasn’t the most painful part. After walking down about one third of the mountain I tripped on a rock, my hand went out to stop my fall and I got a fistful of cactus.

After thinking about all the joy, fun, pain, and beauty that went on that day I realized that my family and I hiked a 11,000 foot mountain for a total of 14 miles in one day. Even though I was young when I climbed that mountain, I’m glad I did because that day was filled with a lot of family  memories that will last a lifetime.

Anne Frank

Conflict/Resolution

Authors note:

I wrote this piece as a re-do of my first conflict and resolution peice. While you read this please look for my use of text to text connection. 

Anne Frank was a young Jewish girl who lived and died during the Holocaust in the late 1900's. The Frank family hid from the Nazis for two long years in a Secret Annex at the back of a warehouse. During that time, Anne kept a diary in which she not only wrote about the horrors of war but the everyday problems of being a teenager.  In this book the main conflict is person vr. society . 

The conflict is that the Nazis wanted all Jews like Anne frank eliminated from this world. This story relates the book Among The Hidden because in the Among the Hidden any third child in a family isn't allowed, and they have to hid because of the government and this makes them feel like they "don't  belong." This reminds me of Anne Frank because she has to hide from the Nazis and as a result she feels like she doesn't belong.  When you read the book you will notice that it is through the eyes of her journal and as a result there is no defined resolution, because once the Nazis have her she cant write in her journal any more so the ending is mostly based off of research.

Appreciation and Gratitude

Patriots pen

Emily Becker

Appreciation and Gratitude

Authors note:
In this piece I was trying to show the importance that the founding fathers were to the formation of this country. Not just saying thank you but saying thank you for the incredible thing they did to build up our country.

The founding fathers wanted pure American liberty. The founding fathers wanted a properly limited government. The founding fathers wanted everyone to cherish that freedom and study what will be this great nation. If I could say anything to the founding fathers today I would have to say thank you for all the things they did to make the country what it is today.

One thing I do is appreciation for those who stood up to fight for the freedom of our nation. They acted on their beliefs to declare independence and lead the country through eight years of war to achieve freedom. I would thank them for wanting everyone to have freedom to be whatever religion they choose and to be able to stand up in public and express our ideas for everyone to hear.

After the founding fathers fought for many years to to achieve the gift of freedom, they formed the first government under Washington D.C. and served in the first Congress. Their legacy can be found in all aspects of the American government. They gave us a government that combined responsibility and accountability. This form of political practice gave us the responsibility to hold our government accountable for their actions, but every democracy has its problems. As president Thomas Jefferson once said, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never can be.”

Talking to the founding fathers today would be impossible, but if I had the opportunity to, I would thank them for all the things they accomplished. A lot of people look at the economy today and grumble about what is going on in our government, but how many of those people stop to think about how much different the world would be without the founding fathers?

Anne Frank- Cause and Affect

Authors Note: 

I wrote this piece to show my understanding on how to talk about the cause and affects of the main conflict in a book or short story. 

Anne Frank was a young Jewish girl who lived and died during the Holocaust in the late 1900's. The Frank family hid from the Nazis for two long years in a Secret Annex at the back of a warehouse. During that time, Anne kept a diary in which she not only wrote about the horrors of war but the everyday problems of being a teenager.  In this book the main conflict is person vr. society. 

The main cause is that Anne Frank is a Jew and the Nazis wanted to eliminate all Jews from the world. With multiple other reasons one reason that the Nazis didn't like the jews is that with the start of World War two in September 1939 Hitler became obsessed with the idea that 'the Jews' had started the war. The affect of this happening is that a lot of the Jews were forced into hiding of fear that the Nazis would put them into a concentration camp to torture people till the death. Just imagine what if the story changes and the Nazis weren't against the Jew there might not have been the hundreds and hundreds of people that died as a result, may be World War two would have never happened. I think the Holocaust was a good way to open the eyes of people in the world because now a lot of people have a good idea of what can happen when two types of people turn against each other. 

Top Chicken-conflict/ resolution

Authors note:

This is a childhood game on the monkey bars. In this piece i talked about cause and affect and how the story would have changed if the climax would change.

This short narrative that I read is about a simple childhood game called chicken. How you played this game is when someone said go you would grasp onto the cold monkey bar and the main goal was to knock the other person off the bars without falling off yourself. The pressure for this young girl was amazing, her entire team was counting on her to pull off a win here and it all comes down to her. 

One Main event that happened in this story is when she wins because she was able to hold on to the other person and the affect is that her entire team is so proud of her and she is the hero who one the game now alot of people want to talk to her to see how she did it. Although she did win what if the story changed, what if due to the pressure on her to win and how strong the other person is she falls and loses the game for her entire team, now her entire team is disappointed in her, no one wants to even talk to her because she was the one who caused her team to lose.

Top Chicken- cause and affect

Authors Note: 

I read a short personal narrative called Top Chicken by Katie Jaques and figured out what the conflict and resolution were in the story. 

This short narrative is about a simple childhood game called chicken. How you play this game is when someone yells go you would grasp onto the cold monkey bar and try to knock the other person off the bars without falling off yourself. The pressure for this young girl was amazing, her entire team was counting on her to pull off a win here and it all comes down to this, who will win?

She had her legs around Julie Grovners body,  her legs pulling down on her with every bit of energy she had,  she knew when Julies hands fell from those cold monkey bars she new that she had just one the game for her team. At that moment she could feel the joy flowing through her body, she had just one the extremely important game of chicken.