A Big Change

Author's Note~ This is a character development piece I wrote to meet my goal of scoring a 9.5 or higher in this category.

A fighter, a hard worker, that pretty much explains Bruce Edwards story in A Caddy for Life, by John Fienstein.  Bruce faced trouble throughout his grade school career and had to be sent off to a prep school to keep him out of trouble.  The one thing that kept Bruce out of trouble during the summer was caddying.   Bruce loved caddying and the game and you could tell that through the game he changed from a trouble maker to a nice, loving, caring man.

At the start of the book Bruce was messing around all day and doing bad things.  His parents noticed and sent him to a prep school.  Both of his parents believed that the prep school would help Bruce turn himself  around and become a much smarter and wiser person.  It turns out something totally different than his parents thought.

When Bruce was diagnosed with ALS he was given great respect from all players and other caddies.  Bruce changed a lot throughout his life in this book.  He became a highly respected person in the game of golf and he was able to change many people throughout his career as a caddy.  Many people gave Bruce great respect throughout his career as a caddy and that changed his life.

When people heard about Bruce’s story they all felt bad for him and thought he would have to quit caddying right away and never be able to caddy again.  Bruce motivated millions by still caddying and inspiring others with ALS.  Once Bruce kept on caddying people were amazed and inspired by what he could do with such a killing disease.

When I read the book I was motivated as the reader.  This story was sad and the readers view on everything changed a lot.  Bruce was a bad boy that people didn’t like but as he grew throughout the story and his life he received great respect.  Bruce was a hard fighter and tried to live as long as he could with ALS and fight his hardest.

Bruce’s story reminds me of Glory’s of the main characters in the book Under a Baseball Moon.  Glory was bullied as a kid and ended up turning into someone who would sit in the corner and throw fits a lot.  No one was her friend.  She moved to Arizona for a couple of years and then ended up moving back to Ocean Beach totally changed and as a new person and athlete.  She relates a lot to Bruce because she found a sport that changed her life dramatically.

Bruce and Glory changed a lot throughout the stories.  Both of them found a sport or activity to change their lives.  Bruce motivated thousands with ALS or people who didn’t even have ALS to try harder and fight harder in life.  Through the love of caddying Bruce, a nice, loving, and caring man changed his life.

A Stressful Story

Author's Note~ This is my figurative language piece on the poem Release. I want to score a 9 or higher on this piece.

The stress in life and how you get rid of it.  In the poem Release, by Mark R Slaughter, the whole poem revolves around a man’s stressful life.  What the poem tells you to do is release all of your problems and stress.  The author realizes that stress is an everyday encounter between people and that the acceptance and releasing of it is the most important.

During the poem the poet used many onomatopoeias to give the reader a different view and perspective of the poem.  Words such as “thunder, crack, and pop” were used during the poem.  As the reader read the poem these sound words it grabbed the reader in and showed more suspense during the poem.

“Arms like his would suit me well -I'd bust the walls; escape this hell”.  This line could be a couple things, a simile as well as a hyperbole.  When the simile was used it affected the reader as if he was jealous of somebody.  Then when the hyperbole was used it clearly pulled the simile and the hyperbole together.  It affected the readers perspective because the word “hell” could be used as an exaggeration and he would need to be really strong to break out.

As figurative language is used in the piece it changes the tone the reader has.  I would say that it adds a more dramatic tone towards the poem.  The poet was probably trying to do the same thing by inserting figurative language to make the reader think more and add more suspense into the piece.  Also as figurative language is used in the piece the main character had many different traits and you could figure that out by analyzing figurative language.

In the poem the poet used many examples of figurative language and it was obvious that it affected the piece as well as the final lesson the reader got out of it.  When someone reads a poem they always know that when a poem has figurative language the poem becomes more interesting and a higher quality piece.  During the poem the poet uses figurative language to tell the reader about overcoming stress and the hardships in life.

The Overcoming of Death

Author's Note~ This is a conflict resolution piece that I am trying to score a 9.5 or higher in and get a good thesis statement in introductions.

In the book A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving, death was brought up in the begging of the story.  Johnny’s mother dies in a horrific accident at a baseball game and everyone there saw. The thought of overcoming death is such a scary thing at such a young age, and Owen and Johnny had to overcome the conflict person vs. self.

In the book Johnny had a great relationship with his mom as well as Owen.  Both characters had shown sign of sympathy within each other.  Owen and Johnny had some issues overcoming her death such as when they would see her room, or think about all the good times they had together.  It was emphasized that Johnny was able to take the death a lot better than Owen was.  Owen was having issues overcoming her death and not having her to accompany him. 

This conflict was resolved in a simple way.  About a month later Owen couldn’t stop thinking about her.  He visited her grave often and never seemed to get over her death.  When Johnny was cleaning out her room they had decided to take out her manikin that she used and saw every day.  Johnny’s step dad was going to take it to his apartment, but Owen insisted it should go to his room.

Ever since then Owen was able to accept the fact that she had died and he was able to have a part of her with him.  Owen should more of his old self and the reader could verify that through Owens’s attitude towards life.   In the book The Way we Fall, by Megan Crewe, Kaelyn had to overcome the death of her mom and lead the island back to a safe and healthy climate.  She and Owen used their own strength to persevere through death.

Each reader could tell that in both stories each character had to resolve the fact that someone important in their life had left them and they would need to survive without them.  Owen and John were able to resolve the death using each other to rely on.  Overcoming a person vs. self conflict can be hard usually involving fight or death with someone, but Owen and Johnny overcame that at a young age amazingly.

Fooler

Author's Note~ This is a creative piece on a man who travels to Jamaica to get his money back but all he can think of is dying.

I have always worried about putting my credit card into the computer.  How safe are those programs.  I’m a young boy out of college, I can’t afford losing all my money now.  When I clicked checkout I didn’t know what would happen.

6 days later……

“It finally came” I told my girlfriend Karen. 

“It’s about time” she said dully.  I had just ordered this new video game and she didn’t seem so excited.  Now me, I was as happy as I could ever be. 

2 days later…..

Phone ringing!!!!!!! I picked it up and said “hello”.

“Yes, this is MasterCard”.

A shock ran through my whole body.  “Yes what happened?”

“It appears that you have been spending thousands of dollars in Jamaica” the lady said.

“I think you have mistaken this ma’am”.  I replied scared to she has to say back.

“Your card shows that you have spent a total of $9,999 in Jamaica.  If this would have been $10,000 our system would’ve alarmed us but it did not.  Unfortunately we can’t take this payment back I’m sorry”.

“Come on!!!!!!” I screamed, “Your telling me that I can’t even get my money back”.

“No sir I am sorry”.

“Noooooooo” I yelled as I slammed the phone to the ground.

“What happened” Karen asked.

“I have been scammed”.

4 days later……..

“Welcome to Jamaica” a young happy man told me as I got off my plane.  I saw a sea of people surrounding me, like I was a celebrity.  Feeling like a rock star I thought where are these people with my card.  I was given a card locater and noticed they were just 10 minutes away.

“How’s Jamaica”  Karen said.

“It’s great and really cool” I said happily.

“I hope you have fun, and stay safe”. Karen said and hung up.

When I sat  in my bed I thought of the crazy day I was going to have ahead of me.  The intriguing discussions I was going to have and lastly how do I stay safe.  What do I do.  All I can do is pray, and if I die here, well I knew I died trying, trying for something I knew was right.       

  

Who's View Is It?

Author's Note~ This is my point of view piece on the point of view in the novel A Prayer For Owen Meany, by John Irving.  I want to get a 9 or higher on this piece.

Owen Meany isn’t your average joe kid.  He is the kid whose feet don’t even come off the chair while sitting down.  A Prayer For Owen Meany, by John Irving tells the story of this unusual character.  John Owens friend was the main character and the whole story was in his point of view.  John’s point of view of Owen however didn’t change much and he had great respect for Owen throughout the book.  This book would’ve been taken in a different way and reader’s views of other characters would’ve been very different in someone elses point of view.

Johnny thinks that Owen is god’s instrument affecting  his own life.  John analyzed everyone from a normal standard depending on what they did Johnny would change his own view of everyone.  He seemed like an average kid but as he gets older in the book and when he talks about what he did in the past he changes.  Looking at his past he reflected on what he did good and what he did wrong as a kid.  The book clearly was is Johnny's point of view the entire time.

Owens point of view was much different.  He liked to criticize almost everything he saw weather it was on TV or it was a real event that occurred in his own life.  Owen was very bias to his own religious and showed a vigorous attitude to the Catholic Church and the way they did everything.  People also would see Owen differently and didn’t like the way he was so Owen must have had an edge on everyone criticizing him he did it back.

As I read each character seemed good but if this was in Owen's point of view his criticism would have been different on everyone else.  The book ( in Johnny's point of view) always had no bad guy in the story.  Each person was being nice to everyone and it was a normal happy town.  Now because Johnny thought that Owen was unusual if the book was in his point of view it could have been a lot different and could have varied.

Johnny’s mother died while he was young and Johnny was scared with the image of seeing his mom die in such an unlikely way.  She has always kept a manikin in her room to watch over her at night.  When Johnny’s mother passed the manikin went to Dan’s her boyfriend.  Owen didn’t think that it should be there and took the manikin back to his own house.  As I read I could see that Johnny and Dan were a little aggravated by this. 

If this event would've been in Dan's point of view I could have seen him being very aggravated at Owen but over all I think that it was the right move to give the manikin to Owen.  If Dan would have kept the manikin he would have felt touched by her and had her in his mind more often.  Now I'm going to write in the point of view of the manikin on moving to Owen's house. 

I just got stuffed in this big truck. What the heck.  Where am I going I liked it with Dan, he was a nice loving guy.  O my gosh I’m going to that annoying little brat Owens house.  This sucks he won’t even dress me I’ll just stand there lonely.  “WELCOME HOME,” as Owens high pitched voice pierced my ears.  ‘WERE TAKING YOU RIGHT UP TO MY ROOM,” Owen said.  Oh no  this will be miserable.

As the reader read they read the life of one crazy person Owen Meany.  Although Johnny told us the story in his own point of view you could tell there were other people pitching in and you could see how others thought of Owen.  Some thought that he was a courageous young man and some thought he was an annoying human being.  Differences between whose telling the story can change the readers input on who each person acts throughout the novel. 

Alike and Unalike

Author’s Note~ This is a compare contrast piece that I am trying to meet all my goals with.

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Chains. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2008. Print.

The Patriot. Dir. Roland Emmerich. Perf. Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Joley Richardson. Columbia ;, 2000. DVD.

There are so many twists in life and it seems that they are always different.  Just like every human being which makes writing an essay comparing things should be easy.  Right?  Well there were two sides back in the Revolutionary war time and the book Chains, by Laurie Halse Anderson and the movie The Patriot showed two totally different sides.  Struggling to keep on in both stories the characters showed determination and bravery to show pride for their side. 

Being owned by a loyalist family Isabel worked hard as a slave and while working she met a colonist soldier.  They then talked about British attacks to help the colonists.  Benjamin Martin lived with seven children and one who just went off to war.  He decided not to enter right away but he would end up being one of the most significant fighters.  They were both on the same side and both tried to help the colonists make a miraculous comeback and free themselves with victory.

Both living in South Carolina at a time they believed in the same concepts freedom.  I may be focusing on a word here but freedom is the main relation in this book. Being a slave wasn’t fun and all they wanted to do is be like everyone else.  Benjamin just wanted the war to end and create a free peaceful place to live in for his children and generations to come. 

The Hunger games can relate to this stories in Chains and the Patriot.  Katniss had to fight for her own life and family just like Benjamin and Isabel had to do while fighting for their freedom.   After fighting, Benjamin and Katniss had the same feeling a feeling of relief and the feeling of satisfaction.  What a great feeling something anyone of us would love to have.

Now to the second part unalike.  Isabel lived in an area controlled by the British while Benjamin and his family lived in a area with more colonists fighting for their land.  The British also had the advantage of bribery because they were more wealthy and had more land.  Down south most people didn’t like the king so trying to put together an army wasn’t as hard as it was in the north.

Isabel was treated so much worse than Benjamin and his family.  Benjamin had many people where he could help his family out when he was in war. “Isabel, ma’mm,” I said. “Isabel Finch.” “Ridiculous Name,” madam said”. Page 55. Isabel was treated like crap when she did something bad.  But both didn’t contrast a lot because both had happy endings and each family was happy at the end.

This war affected so many people especially us today.  Just think about being held under the king today.  Our country showed great pride during this war and the people fighting like Benjamin really affected the war.  Showing pride for the colonists both characters were determined to have freedom.

A Theory

Author's Note~ This is my theme essay on the book Chains. I want to get a 9.5 or better on theme in the reading rubric.

There is always that one person that is treated unfairly or the one at the lunch table sitting by himself.   In the book Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, two sisters are African Americans during the Revolutionary War time.    Now days we treat people unfairly for the fun of it but back then they treated African Americans unfairly because they had black skin and we had white, what a shame.

                                                       

Slavery was such a shameful thing for all people who used because they were so lazy.  Just because the color of their skin it ruined African American lives from then and they are still treated wrong today.  Whether your skin is black or white you should not be treated unfairly.  As a theme unfairness is a leading role in Chains.

"Craaaack! Lightning struck from a blue sky; Madam slapped my face so hard it near threw me to the ground." page 33.  Some people believe this is the way we should all live; have people do our work and all we do is give them food and a bed.  This type of theme can be related to any things such as The Hunger Games when they force teenagers into war to practically kill themselves.

Forcing people to do things is a cruel thing and has occurred so often in our society and the society back then.  As humans we should all be treated fairly and the right way.  Slaves back then were treated so unfairly the whole nation decided to go to war and kill thousands.  This is such a shame to all the believers in slavery.

Believing in slavery back then was normal and now most Americans believe it is the cruelest thing we can do to people.  Treating people fairly is what everyone should’ve done back then and many American feel angry at how we did that..  Whether having black skin or white, treating others unfairly because of their skin color is a shame.