Modern Day Mythological Times

When I read "The Trojan Horse", by Virgil, I was fascinated that it connected to a modern day TV show episode.  In "The Trojan Horse", the Greeks brought over a giant wooden horse to the Trojans.  Little did the Trojans know that some of the Greek army were hiding in the horse.  They came out during the night and attacked the Trojans.

Same as in the original version, I-Carly's Spencer, goes to prison to help the prisoners make an art project.  They decide on making a huge pair of pants.  One day, Carly, Sam, and Freddy come home from school.  They're all just casually talking, when all of a sudden, 2 prisoners come out of the pair of pants.  They escaped from prison through the pair of pants.  Freddy, Carly, and Sam all get duck taped to chairs.  

Some similarities between I-Carly and "The Trojan Horse", are the fact that they both had people coming out of a large object for a bad reason.  In "The Trojan Horse", army from the Greeks came out of a giant horse and killed the Trojans at night and killed them so therefore the war was done.  In I-Carly, prisoners escaped out of giant pair of pants into Carly's house.  The differences are that in I-Carly the prisoners helped Spencer make the giant pair of pants.  In "The Trojan Horse", the Trojans didn't have any idea that the Greek army was in the giant horse.

I though it was a good remake because it was funny.  I really didn't even realize it was way back from the mythological time until Ms.Hanson said something.  It was funny because of the fact that it was a giant pair of pants.

A Clean-Well Lighted Place Re-vision

Author's Note: This is a re-vision of my other piece, "A Clean-Well Lighted Place".  I am trying to score a 10 in organization.

An old deaf man sits at the bar alone drinking his alcohol.  There is a young, impatient, selfish, and rude waiter.  The other waiter is a middle-aged, patient, polite, and respectful waiter.  The young waiter just wants to leave the restaurant and close up.  He doesn't want the old man to keep drinking.  On the other hand, the middle-aged waiter can connect to the old deaf man because he is somewhat old himself too.  The old waiter connected to the old deaf man because he felt at a time that he couldn't sleep and was depressed as well.  The old waiter's personality is sort of happy on the outside, but crushed and alone on the inside.  The young waiter's personality is rude and selfish on the outside, but on the inside he is just really tired and wants to go home.  In the story, A Clean Well-Lighted Place, by Ernest Hemingway, the cafe represents a safe and secure place for the old deaf man, and is very different from the bar that the old waiter visits.

Even though you should feel sympathy towards the old, deaf man, I feel more sympathetic toward him watching the videos.  The music plays a big role in the videos because it sets a sympathetic and sad tone towards the end.  In the beginning of the video the music sounds sort of scary and suspenseful.  The light in the café resembles comfort for the old man.  He knows he can take a bottle of brandy and go home, but that wouldn’t be the same as sitting in a well-lighted place with company of others.  Although he doesn’t really communicate with the waiters, he still likes their presence. 

 While I feel more sympathetic toward the old man in the videos, I also feel bad for the older waiter as well.  The bar that the waiter goes to at the end of the night is really loud and not very well lit.  He didn't seem to enjoy the company of others because there were too many people.  This bar sort of represents a dark place for the waiter because he did not like it there.  Personally, I didn't mind the long screen shots because I could listen to the music in the background and focus on that.  If I were a person who was bothered by the screen shots, I probably wouldn't have finished the videos in the first place.  The short story was obviously different because you couldn't see anything, only read and visualize.  I liked the videos better because I am more of a visual learner so I like to see things.

Although I feel more sympathetic for the old man in the videos, when I read the story I could picture how the bar was very different than the cafe.  It was noisy and there were a lot of people there.  As apposed to the cafe, where there was no noise and it was clean well lit place.  In my opinion, the cafe would be a much more pleasant place to be in because it wasn't loud and there weren't people mauling each other's faces.  

Everyone feels a little lonely sometimes. Whether you're going through a break up or loosing a loved one, everyone has that moment of despair.  Everyone needs to cope somehow.  The cafe was the old mans coping place away from his home.  In life everyone has that moment of depression, even if it's only for a little while.  You just have to keep your head up and go forward.

Connecting With Ribbons

Author's Note:  This is my cause and effect piece on "Ribbons" by Laurence Yep.  I tried to focus on actually writing about the cause and the effects of the story in detail.

When I read "Ribbons", I was really interested in why they bound the women's feet in China. They used to tie satin ribbons around their feet to reduce the pain.  In "Ribbons", by Laurence Yep, two little kids'  Grandmother comes to live with them.  The kids studied the Chinese culture before she came into town.  When she gets there, she favors the little boy because boys were really important back in China because they were the bread winners.  The girl shows her Grandmother her ballet shoes with satin ribbons on them.  The Grandmother or "Paw-Paw" gets really upset when she sees them and demands her granddaughter to hand them over. The little girl refuses to give them up until her mom comes into the living room and says something.  All of a sudden the little girl started to cry and went up to her room.  The climax was the satin ribbons being taken away and the separation between the granddaughter and the Grandmother.

With the kids' grandma moving in with them and the fact that Grandma took away her granddaughters ballet shoes, everything started to get heated.  When the little girl noticed she wasn't getting a lot of attention from her own grandmother, she decided to show her her ballet shoes.  Her grandmother wasn't pleased at all to see the satin ribbons.  She actually told her granddaughter to bury and burn them!  Obviously the little girl did not like hearing that something she was really passionate about was hated by her grandma.  This specific part of the story was the setup of why Paw-Paw and the girl started to avoid each other.  Whenever they saw one another in a room, one of them would leave room simply because they did not want to be in each others presence.

Although the grandma and the girl weren't communicating, the little girl talked to her mother about the whole situation.  She was very confused on why Paw-Paw didn't like her shoes, but it wasn't the shoes that she didn't like, it was the satin ribbons.  Then, the little girl talked to her mother about her grandma and why she was so mean to her about her ballet shoes.  Her mother finally told her that back in the day in China they used to bind the women's feet, and the satin ribbons would stop the blood flow to keep their feet small and to reduce the pain.  The little girl realized why Grandma was so protective and touchy about that certain subject.  She started to feel bad about being so mean to her Grandma, so she went to talk to her.  Her grandma actually began to cry because she didn't think that her little, sweet, granddaughter would understand her frustrations and pain towards satin ribbons.  After they talked, it was almost like the ribbon brought them closer together.  There was a metaphorical ribbon around the two in the end of the story symbolizing togetherness and friendship.  

Even though the little girl talked to her mother and apologized to her grandma, the disconnection with the girl and the grandma still happened in the beginning.  If that never happened, there would be no climax of the story, therefore a boring story overall.  Just the fact that there was that one scene with the Grandma yelling at her granddaughter, it created a sense that there was heat between the two.  If the little girl never showed her grandma the shoes, then the grandma would've never yelled, and the whole story would've been all happy butterflies and unicorns.  

In conclusion, the story ended on a good note.  The little girl and the granddaughter made up and built a imaginary satin ribbon around their love.  Satin ribbons obviously meant two different things to the grandma and the girl, but in the end they figured out a way that they could both enjoy ribbons and be happy.  Overall, I thought it was a short quick story to read that taught you many life lessons.  One being, don't judge someone unless you have a really good reason to back it up.  Second of all, in the end of life, you may end up liking the person you thought you would've never had similarities with.

Response To Ribbons

Author's Note: This is a short response to Ribbons.  Comparing China's culture to ours.

What's the differences between the Paw-Paws cultural to ours?  They used to bind the women's feet so they were "attractive".  They tied ribbons around them to stop the pain.  We don't bind our feet in America.  But in America, some women starve themselves to be skinny. Also, teenagers cake on make-up to make themselves pretty.  But in reality, they look like a clown or cake face. We try to be someone were not to impress others.  

I personally think it's a bad thing because God put you on earth to be you.  Not to be someone your not. If you try to act a certain way to impress someone, it's almost like you are insulting him for not liking yourself.  But back in the day in China, they probably didn't think of God; just how their feet looked.  I could not even imagine the pain these women went through.  I think sitting in a desk for 70 minutes is hard enough, I would never be able to survive my feet being bound.  

Psyhchology

Authors Note:  This is an essay on why I want to become a psychologist and some important Psychologists to know about before you become one.

Sigmund Freud was a Austrian neurologist who became known as the founding father of psychoanalysis.  He came up with the theory called, “oedipal complex”.  Psychology is a hard degree to get because you have to go through many different steps to become a psychologist.  I’ve always wanted to be one and I started to study the field of psychology along with other theories of psychology and Sigmund Freud and his theories.   

Oedipal complex is a term in Sigmund's theory of psychosexual stages of development.  This is when a boy is between the ages of 3 and 5 and he starts to feel jealous of his father.  He wants attention from his mother so he begins to dislike his Father.  The exact opposite for girls is called Electra Complex.  They feel jealous of their mother because they crave attention from their Father.  The term was named after the character in Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex” who accidently killed his father and married his mother.  I think this is kind of a weird theory because when I was young, I didn’t feel this way about my Mom.  I wanted to be by both of my parents.  Maybe because I have 3 older brothers and we all just wanted attention from anyone.

Even though Sigmund’s’ theories are a bit crazy and weird, I still want to become a psychologist.  I think it would be fun and interesting to learn about how and why people think a certain way.  For example, how would you describe the color “blue” to a blind person.  You couldn’t say, “Oh it’s the color of the sky,” because they have never seen the sky before.  My brother has an anatomy class in high school and he always comes home talking about the human brain and how it works.  I started to get fascinated by this because I never really thought about the brain, simply because what teenager really thinks a whole lot about anything?  When I first started researching psychology, I had to read the material over and over again just so I could understand what I was reading.       

Although I want to become a psychologist, I want to know more about how and why you dream.  I found out that when you dream it’s usually about something that craves a lot of your attention.  Also, things in your dream can represent different things, such as a train going into a tunnel can symbolize sexual intercourse.  At least that what Sigmund Freud thought.  On the other hand, Carl Jung had a different opinion. He thought that you dreamt because you were reflecting on your waking self and working through your issues.  When we sleep our brain goes through 5 different stages.  Stage 1 is a light sleep and you could wake up.  Stage 2 is moving into kind of a heavier sleep.  Stage 3 and 4 are our deepest sleep hours.  The 5^th stage is rapid eye movement or REM.  Your brain slowly slows down throughout the stages so that in stage 5 you can have REM.

With more studying about why and how we dream I will begin to understand the brain a little bit more.  Sigmund Freud and his theories are really weird and hard to connect to because I’m still young.  I am going to try to become a psychologist when I’m older because working with the brain is actually fun and interesting to me.

Being Overly Nice Isn't Always Nice

I thought that they way the Mom talked to the little boy was very rude and stereotypical.  She was trying to prove that all colored people are poor, big, and know how to sew.  Boyd proved her wrong.  I sometimes feel this way when I'm with one of my friends.  She tries to finish my sentences and it really bothers me.  In Pewaukee, we have vast cultural schools.  We have many different races here so we don't care what you look like or how you dress.  I mean sure there's a few people that will judge you, but that's only because they feel like they are better than everyone else.  Shirley Jackson was trying to teach us that not all people are the same and don't judge a book by it's cover.  Also that if you are a certain color, you should act a certain way.  Which isn't true. 

Response To A Clean Well-Lighted Place

In the story there is two very different waiters and a old man.  One is a young, impatient, selfish, and rude waiter.  The other one is a old, patient, polite, and respectful waiter.  Then there is this old deaf man who is drinking at the cafe.  The young waiter just wants to leave the restaurant and close up.  He doesn't want the old man to keep drinking.  On the other hand, the older waiter can connect to the old deaf man because he is old himself too.  The old waiter connected to the old deaf man because he felt at a time that he couldn't sleep and was depressed as well.  The old waiters personality is sort of happy on the outside, but crush and alone on the inside.  The young waiter's personality is rude and selfish on the outside, but on the inside he is just really tired and wants to go home.  The cafe represents a safe and secure place for the old deaf man because that's where he feels he can be himself and doesn't feel alone there like he does at home.  

When I read the story A Clean Well-Lighted Place, I didn’t feel as sympathetic to the old man because there is no music in the background.  The music plays a big role in the videos because they set a sympathetic and sad tone towards the end.  In the beginning of the video the music sounds sort of scary and suspenseful.  The light in the café resembles comfort for the old man.  He knows he can take a bottle of brandy and go home, but that wouldn’t be the same as sitting in a well-lighted place with company of others.  Although he doesn’t really communicate with the waiters, he still likes their company. 

The bar that the waiter goes to is really loud and not very well light.  He didn’t seem to enjoy the company of other because there were too many people.  This bar sort of represents a dark place for the waiter because he did not like it there.  Personally, I didn’t mind the long screenshots because I could listen to the music in the background and focus on that.  If I were a person who was bothered by the screenshots, I probably wouldn’t of finished the videos in the first place.  The short story was obviously different because you couldn’t see anything, only read.  I liked the videos better because I am more of a visual learner so I like to see things.

Irony

Authors Note: This is a text analysis connection on two different stories.  I was trying to do A-B transitions again with this piece.

Irony is something that happens when an event is suppose to go one way, then it goes the complete opposite.  In The Possession, there's this really sweet, loving, brown nosing girl, that all of a sudden becomes possessed.  It was ironic because the teachers pet turned out to be possessed and scary in the end.  Also in The Ransom Of The Red Chief, by O.Henry, a 10 year old boy got kidnapped.  The irony was that he actually liked being away from home and he said he was having the time of his life.  In both stories there is an ironic plot twist in the end.

In The Ransom Of The Red Chief, there's an important quote that really shows irony in the story.The quote was, "When the kid found out we were going to leave him at home he started up a howl like a calliope and fastened himself as tight as a leech to Bill's leg."  I thought this was an irony because normally when a child is kidnapped they want to go home and be with their parents.  But in this case, he wanted to stay with the men that took him.  I was really confused when I read this part because I thought that the boy would want get the heck out of there.  Obviously  I was wrong.  The overall irony in the end was a great plot twist that I didn't see coming.

Although there is irony in The Ransom Of The Red Chief, there was a also a great ending to The Possession.  A girl teenager out of the blue becomes possessed.  No one expected it because she was always on task, quiet, and overall a teachers pet.  One day she started growling at people and snapping her fingers and twitching.  At the end she killed a classmate of hers.  It's very ironic that a teachers pet would become possessed because normally those type of students end up succeeding in life and not killing one another.  I did not expect this type of ending with someone dying because the story seemed to be having a kind of cheerful tone in the beginning.  I didn't really enjoy reading this piece because of the non solved ending.  There was no solution because the possessed girl just ended up dying and killing someone.  She didn't become her self again and she just went on a rampage of twirling around, hitting things, screaming, and then eventually killing another student.

Even though I read two different stories and one didn't have a resolved ending, they still connected.  The way they connected was because of the obvious irony.  In both stories you would've expected a complete opposite ending to happen.  I was really baffled by how in The Possession, there was such a bad ending.  I wanted there to be a surprise but not that would disappoint me in a way that I wanted to write a whole different ending.  Normally you can predict how a story is going to end, but then when it happens you're sitting in your seat with your mouth open because you could predict it from the beginning.  Another way they connected was because they both had crime in them.  One story a kid gets kidnapped.  In the other, a girl kills another girl.  Now in most movies someone usually dies, but not by a possessed person.  

With both stories having a plot twist ending, they both connected in a way.  I was more shocked by The Possession because there was no solution.  I was kind of upset when I finished it because the girl just died.  I thought she would've became un-possessed and not killed someone.  Overall, both stories had obvious irony in them.

My Bestfriend

Authors Note: This is a poem dedicated to my best friend Dr.  I was trying to create a poem including figurative language in it.

The day I met my best friend.

She was sitting in a beanbag drawing.

I asked to color with her.

We instantly became the best of friends.

She’s the peanut butter to my jelly.

I’m the slim to her shady.

We never get sick of each other,

We never are apart,

We never go a day without talking,

We love each other with all our heart.

When we fight, it’s only for a little while,

Because eventually we miss each other

And come crawling right back.

The way we are sarcastic with each other

Makes people question our friendship.

She’s always there for me,

I’m always there for her.

We have eachtohers back, no matter the situation.

We love to be around eachtoher

because the laughs never stop,

the food never stops being eaten,

the tears always get wipped away,

and the love is unstoppable.

The Ransom Of The Red Chief

In The Ransom Of The Red Chief, a 10 year old boy got kidnapped.  The irony was that he actually liked being away from home and he said he was having the time of his life.  The most important quote was, "When the kid found out we were going to leave him at home he started up a howl like a calliope and fastened himself as tight as a leech to Bill's leg."  I thought this was an important quote because normally when a child is kidnapped they want to go home and be with their parents.  But in this case, he wanted to stay with the men that took him.  It was also important because it's irony.  It's irony because the boy wanted to stay with the men and not to return to his home.  Also that when he got home, the kidnappers paid the Dad $250.  You would think that the Dad would pay any fee to have his child at home. 

Tasty

Authors Note: This is a parody of This is Just To Say.  It's about a pretzel being eaten.

Thank you for eating me

I enjoy your spit

all over my body

smooth and sticky

Your teeth feel like heaven

when you bite so hard

I thank you for the

mingy bite against my salt

Forgive me

for my salt covered body

I will try to work on that

I hope your mouth is happy

Turning Eleven

Authors note: This is a analysis on Sandra Cisnerros' Eleven.  Rachel just turned 11, but for her, that's not a big deal at all.

Eleven may seem like a big deal to most kids, but to Rachel it's just another birthday.  She doesn't think it's such a special day because she still feels like she's 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2 and 1.  The author makes you wan't to read this short story because of her figurative language, she uses a lot of similes throughout the piece.  This story would be very boring without her similes.  It would basically sound very monotone and a worthless story to write.  But with her figurative sentences, it adds spunk to the piece and spices it up.

The author includes multiple similes to engage you into the story.  She says, "like an onion or like the rings inside a tree trunk."  She is comparing growing older to an onion, or the rings inside a tree trunk because the rings inside a tree, you can see all the different ages.  Rachel doesn't feel like turning 11 is such a big deal because she still feels like all her younger ages.  The overall tone of the piece would have to be annoyed and frustrated.  It's annoyed because Rachel's teacher puts this sweater on her desk and Rachel knows it's not hers.  She tries to tell her teacher it's not hers, but her teacher just walks away.  The tone would also be frustrated because Rachel can't get rid of the awful sweater on her desk and she still doesn't feel any different age wise.  

While the author included a lot of similes, she also painted a great image in your head while you read her short story.  When she says "I pushed the ugly red sweater to the edge of my desk and it looks like a waterfall."  When I read that I thought of Niagara Falls and a girl sitting in a desk pushing away a really ugly red sweater.  I also thought of kids teasing the girl because she was just yelled at by the teacher and the fact that she owns a hideous sweater.  I would hate to be in her situation especially on my birthday because on your birthday you want to be happy and be around the people that love you, but in Rachel's position she was in a classroom filled  with kids that are annoying her and a teacher that refuses to take the sweater off of Rachel's desk.  The imagery throughout the piece was strong because of her figurative language.  Her similes help draw an image in your head of a sense of annoyance and frustration.

Even though the author creates great images throughout the story, the story also has a good meaning in the end to tie up the story.  With all the similes and the figurative language, the meaning is really shown at the end.  I think what the author was trying to say was that even if you have a terrible day and everything goes the wrong way, there's always something good in the end.  Rachel felt like she wanted to be 102 years old, anything but 11.  When her teacher put that sweater on her desk, it really made her upset and she just wanted to brake down like a 3 year old and cry, which she did do.  Even the littlest thing on your birthday can make you cry.  That's how I felt Rachel felt because I mean she started crying over having a sweater on her desk.  If it weren't her birthday, I don't think she would've cared as much.  In the end of the story, she went home to her mom's cake and her birthday song. 

The authors good meaning towards the end  really wraps up the story.  With Rachel turning 11 and everything that happened at school, she was happy to come home to cake and singing.  Even though she didn't have a good day at school and she wasn't happy about turning 11, she was excited at the end of the day.  Sandra Cisnerros'  figurative language added spice to the story as well as imagery.  It all helped create a scene in your head.  Lastly, the overall tone and figurative language portrayed a lot in this particular short story and helped readers get engaged.

Beatings After Beatings

Author's Note:  This is a short scene from the Mom's point of view from the book, "A Child Called it."  Besides the fact that she's a major alcoholic, she's also in a unhappy marriage.  Her husband is too weak to stand up for himself and his kid.  The mom believes in beatings, the father doesn't.

"David, get down here!  Time for your punishment!."  I scream.  David comes down the stairs and is forced to go into the bathroom to puke up his crackers that he stole from the grocery store. After he pukes it up, I make him eat it.  I got a phone call from the police saying that he stole crackers from the local grocery store.  I was so ticked off and I didn't know any other way to punish him.  The next day, I get a phone call from David's school.  The principal says that he stole some kids lunch.  I mean, REALLY?!  I know I don't feed him at home, but that does not give him the right to go and steal.   He has been so out of hand lately and all I want to do is beat him!  I know people may say that I act this way because I drink, but it's not my fault that this kid steals and chooses to do stupid things for food.  He also goes through our garbage can to find food.  He's almost in second grade, does he really need to eat every day?  

David is the reason that my husband and I are in a unhappy marriage.  He is always like, "I'm hungry," or "I don't want to eat his diaper."  This one time I was changing David's little brothers diaper, and I tried to make him eat it, but he refused.  Since he didn't do what I said, I beat him.  I don't when he's going to learn to respect me.  Maybe he'll learn to start doing what I say, then his beatings will stop.    

Letter To Bunny From Oreo and Peanut

Dear Bunny (Sophia),

I am writing this letter to you because I am very frustrated with you always pooping in my kitty litter.  You do know you have your own cage, right?  GO IN THERE!  Peanut and I do not appreciate your little rabbit pellets always in our litter when we are trying to do our business.  I understand that when you hop around the house you can't just jump into your cage whenever you plead, but you should just poop on the carpet.  Our owner has to clean it up anyway.  Besides, your turds are the size of a pea.  They can clean it up!  Anyways, you think you're all hot stuff because you have a nice little lamp and a blanket.  Well I am here to tell you that we were living in this house way before you and for you to just come into this house and take over?  No!  Peanut and I (Oreo) run a tight ship around here, and we don't like unwanted guests.  I understand that Tiffany (your owner), may seem to take care of and play with you a lot, but ever since you came last year November, Tiffany hasn't been paying an abundance amount of attention to us.  We would like our friend back please.  And more importantly, our litter box!  

Trevor and Stanton don't even like you anyway.  Besides the fact that you are constantly pooping in Trevor's room, they think that you are a wild bunny taken from the woods. Now I know that you're not, but the boys seem to think of you as a evil little thing.  And I just want to go along with what everyone else thinks.  I don't need my owners hating me as much as they hate you.  Well I have to go because I am due for a petting in the living room.  Lastly, stay out of our litter box!

Sincerely,

Oreo and Peanut

Don't Run Away From Change, Welcome It!

Author's Note:This is my prediction piece.  I was trying to work on body paragraphs and sentence fluency.

Imagine yourself having to choose between your parents or your siblings to live with for the rest of your life.  But, the other thing is, you're dead.  You have to go live in a place where your surrounded by dead people.  In the book, Radiance, by Alyson Noel, a young girl named Riley, is torn between living with her sister or parents for the rest of her life.  After choosing her parents, she lives in a place called Here and Now.  There is no time at Here and Now , because everything is at the time of Now.  Riley is used to eating, showering, and having a normal life.  Well, now she gets to manifest anything she wants, doesn't have to shower, and doesn't have to eat (although she still does because she likes the the taste of pop tarts).  Sadly for her, she still has to go to school.  I predict that Riley is not going to fit in at her new school and she will be a social outcast until she meets a boy of some kind. Also, that she will become used to her new life and forget about her old.

 The reason I think Riley won't fit in her new school is because she just moved to Here and Now, and she is still trying to get used to everything and how it all works.  Sure that's how all stories normally are, but for some odd reason, I feel like Riley just won't cope with the fact that she can't go back to living a normal life.  The first day of her new school, she sits right in front of the teacher and next to a nerd.  Riley is a strong minded individual, so she judges the nerd by saying "move over geek",  and, "do you mind?!".  What she doesn't know is that this "nerd" could really be a big source in her new life.  Riley is still shaken up by this whole situation.  I would be too though if I was in her shoes.  I wouldn't know what to do I would want to die, but I would already be dead.  

By the time Riley settles down and gets used to her new life she will forget about her old one.  One reason I think this is because Riley's character seems like a type of person to get attached to something and forget about what she first started with.  I sometimes am like this because I get too happy with what I am currently living with or doing, and then I forget what I first started with.  Second reason, it says in the book that Riley is a person to forget her past.  So with that being said, it makes it pretty darn clear to me that Riley will forget about her old friends,home,and life as time goes on.  She will realize that her new life isn't as bad as she thinks it is and she will move on from her old life.

When Riley meets the "Radiant boy" she realizes that he is very strange at first.  She thinks this because he has glasses and he skateboards.  What she doesn't realize is that he knows a lot about Here and Now and that he is her guide for this place.  She gives him a hard time at first and teases him.  But then she gets a little vision of her and him walking together and he doesn't have his glasses on and she thinks he's a cute boy.  Then she snaps out of her vision and goes back to being Ms. Sassypants.  Later on in the book Riley figures out that this "nerd" might be a great friend to have.  I think that she will want to be more than friends and she will fall in love with him.  At the end, I think that they will end up together and she will regret being so cruel to him at first.  Just remember, don't judge a book by it's cover.

In conclusion, I think my predictions will end up more than likely to happen because the genre is a fairy tale.  Remember that vision I said in the beginning?  Well think about it now, did your decision change at all?  I would have went with my parents just like Riley did.  Lastly, don't judge a book by it's cover, don't be afraid of change, and always stay true to yourself!

Point of View of David

Author's Note: This is a point of view essay on the book, A Child Called it by Dave Pelzer. I was trying to work on having strong body paragraphs so I only wrote 2 because I wanted to see if I could get a 10 in "body paragraphs".  

In A Child Called it, a young boy is being abused by his mother.  The father is afraid to stand up to the mother, because he does not want to get abused either.  The name of the little boy is David, but the mother refers to him as "it".  She has 2 other sons, but for some reason, she likes to pick on David.  The story is written in David's point of view.  From this perspective, a lot of events and characters are described in a way that creates the reader to feel bad for David because he is being very abused and neglected. David's father feels very bad for him, but he is too much of a coward to say or do anything.  When young David gets thrown down the stairs, the father tries to yell at the mother, but she just yells back and storms out of the room.  "Its" brothers, are also afraid to stand up to their mother because they don't want to get awful punishments along with "it".

From David's point of view, the reader feels sympathy and compassion.  When David is forced to eat his own feces, the reader feels disgusted, but at the same time they felt bad for him because he did nothing wrong and he was getting treated this way.  In the mothers perspective, David is the most annoying, brattiest, rudest, disgusting child there is out there.  She treats him poorly because she doesn't know how to take her anger out on anything else but him.  When I was reading this book, I felt as though David was getting treated this way because his mother was always drinking.  My opinion on the mothers perspective; well I could never feel that way about a little innocent boy.  She just doesn't get how to handle bad situations when they occur.  And yeah, I mean David eventually learned to stand up for himself when he got older and stronger, but if he never got the opportunity, he maybe wouldn't be alive today.

 On the contrary, the reader would feel a lot differently about David if they were put in the perspective of his mother.  If you were her, you would be fed up with his stealing and lying too.  Well, maybe if you were drunk all the time like she was.  The reader might feel anger, zero patience, and the lack of love for this child.  I personally, would always love and care for my child no matter the circumstance.  If the novel was written in the dad's point of view,  you would feel shy and empty inside because you have no guts to fill it.  If If the reader was in the dad's point f view, they would be saying, "Oh, I can't stand up to her, she'll kick me out of the house".  I think that the dad needs to put his big boy pants on and stand up for what's right.  He needs to tell off his wife and lay down the lay in the house and tell everyone who's boss. 

  As you can see, the point of view of a story makes the reader only see one side of the story.  Which in this case, the reader can only see David's point of view.  In A Child Called It, the narrator's perspective makes the reader feel sorrow.  I think that in this story the author was trying to send a message across. What message I got from David's perspective is, "Be strong, stay strong, and MOVE OUT and go live with your dad".  I can't have a message from the mom's perspective because it was only written in David's point of view, and I would never be able to think/act like her.  Just remember, don't take things for granted because there will always be someone who has lesser than you!

Comparing a Book to a Movie

Authors Note: This is a compare and contrast essay.  I am comparing and contrasting a book to a movie that we watched in social studies.

The Revolutionary War was a very sad time for many families, towns, and villages.  The movie, The Patriot by Roland Emmerich, was about  a father and his 2 sons that fought with him during the war.  Both of his sons end up dying during war, but the father stayed alive.  The book I read which was, Cast Two Shadows, by Ann Rinaldi, is about a family of 3 that only can stay on one room of a house.  It’s a girl named Caroline and her sister named Georgia Ann and their mama. There are many more differences than similarities from the movie that I saw, and to the book I read.

One of the many differences from the movie to the book are the main characters.  The theme would be participation in the war.  In the movie The Patriot, Benjamin is a widowed father of 7 children. But, in the book, Cast Two Shadows, the main character is a little girl named Caroline.  As you know women were not allowed to fight in the war so that is a big difference between the two.  Benjamin has to fight at war to protect his town and his family.  Caroline has to stay in her one room to pretty much protect herself.  It is very rare when she can leave the house.  On the other hand, Benjamin is rarely AT his house.  He is always busy fighting at war and planning schemes to kill the British.

Another big theme was family problems.  Caroline got her Mama taken away from her.  Benjamin got his family taken away from him.  Caroline only was with her mom for 3 years of her life, then she got her taken away.  Benjamin is fighting in war so he obviously can’t be with his family.  So in both stories the family is being torn apart.  I would be depressed if any of my family members got taken away from me because even though we aren’t the closest family, we still love and look out for each other.

One of the other big themes I caught onto was bravery and courage.  In The Patriot, Benjamin has to show bravery and courage by fighting in the war for his family.  He has to protect them and be a smart man to not do or say anything stupid to the British.  And in Cast Two Shadows, Caroline has to show bravery for herself as well as her sister. Her sister, Georgia Ann, likes to tease her sister Caroline a lot, so if she doesn’t show bravery her sister would make fun of her for being scared.  I honestly would be so terrified of the war because I would be afraid that all of my brothers and dad would die.  Both characters show bravery and courage throughout the entire story.

In conclusion, The Patriot was a lot more gory and interesting than Cast Two Shadows.  However, they both shared some common themes, but there were definitely more differences.  I enjoyed The Patriot better, because personally I like movies better than reading.  To wrap things up, the differences were a lot more significant than the similarities. 

Bibliography

Emmerich, R. (Director). (2000). The Patriot [Motion Picture].

Rinaldi, A. (1998). Cast Two Shadows. Orlando, Florida: Hartcourt, Inc.

Bravery And Coping with Change

Authors Note: This is a theme essay about if you have bravery and you cope with change, you can fight off diseases.

In the book Between Shades of Gray, the main characters (Lina and her brother),  struggle with snow storms and very, very little food rations.  Most people are dying because of the temperature and no food.  The author teaches us that with bravery and coping with change, you can fight off diseases.

One of the major themes in this book, is bravery.  Lina is 15 and her brother is 11.  They struggle with very little food or nothing at all each day.  Lina is showing bravery by giving up herself to the NKVD or the "Soviets".  She has to do countless chores for them such as, collecting wood for them during the winter,  getting them food, and pretty much overall being their little slave.  Bravery is in Lina's character because she doesn't want to show fear because her brother might start to worry and freak out.  While bravery is in a lot of novels it is showcased a lot in The Hunger Games, and Twilight.

A great book/movie called, Twilight, also has bravery as one of its themes.  The main characters Edward, Jacob, and Bella, all have to have bravery in them because they are fighting for themselves and their daughter.  If you have read the book or have seen the movie, you know that Bella and Edward have a child.  But the "rulers" of the town think the child is dangerous because it's half mortal half immortal.  Bella and Edward show bravery by protecting their daughter from the "rulers" and they have to keep her safe where no one can see her.  This book/movie connects to Between Shades Of Gray, because in both stories the main characters have to protect themselves as well as their loved ones.  In Between Shades Of Gray, Lina has to protect herself, brother and Mom. Next, in Twilight, Bella, Edward, and Jacob all protect Renesme (Bella and Edwards daughter).  Another theme is Between Shades f Gray, would be coping with change.

Lina has to deal with change because she was used to living in a nice home, getting food every day, being able to be independent, and overall living a normal life.  She now has to deal with the EXACT opposite of that.  Her brother, her mom, her and a couple of other people are all living in a jurta in the Arctic.  They had to build this little shack out of sticks and moss.  Imagine living in a little hut with very little food and no heat for the whole winter with the temperature dropping as the days go on.  Pretty vivid picture right?  Well, Lina deals with this major change by taking the little things out of this situation and making them happy.   For example, she has a rock from Andrius (boy she likes and has a thing with but he works at a different camp), and she keeps it in her pocket at all times.  When something goes terribly wrong, or someone is ill, she just reaches in her pocket an rubs the stone.  I think that this is her way of escaping her life for just a couple of seconds.

To conclude, in the book Between Shades Of Gray, Lina and her brother end up staying in the arctic and continue to work for the Soviets.  On the other hand, in Twilight, Edward and Bella get to keep their kid because one of their relatives shows the rulers what’s going to happen if they try and take Renesme.  Both books tell you that if you really put your mind t something, you can achieve anything you want in life.