Monday, November 22, 2010

Analysis of Speak

In the book “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson there are excellent examples of symbolism. And also has an interesting character named Melinda that everyone hates after she called the cops at a party in the summer.

A list of symbols in “Speak” is the couch, Melinda’s room, the mirror, the mascot, and the trees. First, the couch represents two identities like Melinda, a good side and a bad side. Then Melinda’s room doesn’t reflect her personality at all and that symbolizes that she doesn’t really know who she is. The Mirror symbolizes that she doesn’t like who she is. There school mascot keeps changing which symbolizes that the school doesn’t have an identity. And finally the trees represent growth in Melinda’s identity and how she grows to be more comfortable throughout the book.

Melinda is a teenage girl who called the police at a party where everyone was drinking at and she got a lot of people in trouble. When school starts she becomes an outcast and everybody hates her. In the book Melinda seems to be lazy and has no motivation in life. She says that she would rather sleep than do homework and her parents make her stay after school everyday to get help from her teachers.

This book had very good examples of symbolism, and many interesting characters. This book shows what not to do during your summer vacation.

Friday, October 15, 2010

patriotism

I think patriotism still matters because without patriotism, there would be no motivation for our country to celebrate anything. So for example the Forth of July wouldn't really matter anymore. And also without patriotism there would be no motivation for our country to move on in life.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

The Story of an Hour

Imagine thinking your husband is dead and having him walk in the front door unexpectedly. Well, that’s what happened in “The Story of an Hour”, by Kate Chopin. This story is an excellent example of a tragedy and she did a good job on making the symbols hard to find.

First of all this story is a tragedy. It starts out realistic by her husband dying. Her tragic flaw is that she thinks she is free by her husband dying, which is also her tragic fall. And in the end of the story she ends up dying because her husband walks in the door, and dies of a heart attack because she was so happy to see him.

The symbols in this story are the stairs, the open window, the locked door, and the season spring. The locked door symbolized the isolation between the wife and the rest of the world. The open window represented all the new opportunities she has with her husband dead. The next symbol is the season spring which represents life. And lastly the stairs represents the rise and fall of the main character.

“The Story of an Hour” was an awesome story with some very good examples of symbols and a tragedy. And it has an important message that you should not marry unless you actually like the person. I recommend this story to any one who is thinking about reading it.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Ribbons

Imagine having your Grandma from Hong Kong coming to America to live with you. That what happens to Stacy in the story, Ribbons.
It was very hard to identify the mode of literature, but it is a comedy. At first I thought it was a romance because it had a life affirming symbol at the end it but then I realized it wasn’t because it wasn’t a perfect world. But it had a the requirements for a comedy. I know it’s a comedy because first of all it started out with normalcy, the conflict arises when her Stacy’s grandma won’t let her put on the ballet shoes, the resolution is the grandma realizes that the shoes are for dancing and it’s a return to normalcy.
It seemed like her grandma was being mean because she was not letting Stacy dance. But in the end her grandma really wasn’t mean. She was just trying to protect Stacy because she didn’t know what the shoes were for. Her grandma thought the shoes would make here feet all crooked like her parents did to her.
This story reminds me of every-day life because there is a lot of misunderstanding things that people think is bad but are actually good. It also relates to every-day life because there is a lot of people’s relatives moving to America from different countries

What would I buy if I won the Lottery

I was sitting in my living room watching the TV, when all of a sudden, I heard my lottery numbers on the news. It felt like I swallowed my heart, and I almost blacked out. I rushed to the Lottery office to pick up the check.
The first thing I would spend my money on is a big house out in the country with huge, wide open fields. I don’t think I’d like a big and fancy mansion, just a normal sized house. I would live out in the country because I don’t like the sound of cars driving by my house all the time, I like places that are quiet and there are barely any cars. And I really like the scenery in the country.
The second thing I would buy is a big recording studio for my bass guitar. It would have a huge editing system, a sound proof room, a huge case for all my basses that I bought, and a big computer that I could mix all my CD’s on. If I had all that I would freak out, I’d spend all my free time I had in my recording studio. That would be my number one wish to have a recording studio in my house.
The last thing I would probably buy with my money would be a gigantic dirt bike trail. That’s one of the reasons I would want to live in the country, because of all the land I would have. It would be so fun to just ride around on a dirt bike along a long dirt trail with beautiful scenery. And it would be cool to have friends over so we could race or something.
If I had a billion dollars I would probably buy a lot more things than just these, but these would be my top three things on my list to buy. Hopefully some day I will win the lottery, and actually have all these amazing things.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Papa's Parrot

Parents need to realize that their kids grow up and not want to hang out with them as much. That’s what happened in this comedy with an every day character named Harry named “Papa’s Parrot”. This story shows an impressive amount of things that relate to real life.
Papa’s Parrot mode of literature is definitely a comedy. It starts out with normalcy. The mild conflict is when Harry grows up and does not want to hang out with his parents as much because now he is by his friends more. When Harry realizes the conflict between him and his dad, he hears the parrot saying, “Where’s Harry”, “Miss him”. Lastly, Harry resolved that conflict by going back to the hospital and visiting his dad.
Harry is just another kid who grows up and doesn’t want to spend a lot of time with his parents anymore, Which that’s what most kids do. But later on in the story, Harry realizes that his dad really missed him and wanted Harry to spend more time with him.
I think this story can relate to real life because this happens a lot in every day life. I sometimes don’t want to spend time with my parents as much because I’m hanging out with my friends a lot, but I always find some time so I can be with my parents also.
“Papa’s Parrot” is a great comedy tat anybody can compare to real life. Kids grow up and not want to hang out with their parents as much and the parents need to realize that. “Papa’s parrot” is an excellent life lesson story.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

???

… Day 37,

It’s not long before they find me, I can’t stay in the abandon hut for ever. Any day now they’re going to find my tracks leading to this place…

Day 39,

Finally! Food at last! All that sharpening of rocks finally paid off! Good thing I’m hiding out in the forest.

Day 40,

Got enough food to last a week or so, and so far, no sign of the bandits.

Day 48,

Storm clouds are coming, wonder if this place can hold up…

Day 48,

Just started raining.

Day 52,

Days of rain had swelled the river, and floods threaten to break loose, need to pack up and head out to find a new location.

Day 54,

Haven't found the right place yet, decided to set up camp in the forest some where.

Day 55,

Just woke up, only have two days worth of food left, I'm paking up camp and heading out..

Monday, February 8, 2010

Pete's Irony

Pete Adams worked at a big business in New York. His job started at 8:30 am and he was going to be late. Pete had never been late before which made him worry.

“I really hope I don’t get fired.” Pete said. He franticly looked at his watch, the time was 8:16.

“I’m never going to make it on time.” Pete thought.

When Pete finally got to work it was 8:45. His boss was surely going to be ferocious with him

“Pete, why are you so late? I can’t run this business with out you.” His boss said.

“Sorry sir, I woke up late.”

“Well don’t let it happen again.”

Pete felt so embarrassed when he was walking down the hallway. Everyone was watching him when his boss was yelling at him. He entered his office, sat down and took a sip of his coffee. When he turned on his computer and went on his business file. He looked for the project he had been working on for a meeting with his company, but he couldn’t find it. He looked franticly on all his files but it was gone. His hart dropped.

“I will never get this project done in time.” Pete said.

It was 9:00 and his meeting started in Two hours. Pete didn’t even bother to try to redo his project because he knew it wouldn’t get done. He just sat in his chair and thought what his boss would say when he got to the meeting and it wouldn’t be done.

When he got to the meeting everyone was waiting for him to put his project up on the board. He whispered to his boss to tell him that he did not have his project done.

“Pete I hate to do this but, you’re fired.” His boss said. Pete couldn’t believe what he had just heard. He sulked out of the room thinking how he is going to get a different job. When got to his car he hoped in and turned on the radio and started to drive. He was the saddest he had ever been in his life, he did not know what he was going to do. Suddenly, a large truck swerved out of control and smashed into Pete’s car knocking him into to the side of the road. Pete died five minutes later.