Christmas Carol Assignment

This is a piece on what the quote below means.

Quote:

"If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future , none other of my race," returned the Ghost, "will find him here.  What then?  If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the population." (66)

A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens

In this quote, the Ghost is hinting on the fact that Scrooge's logic is actually very illogical.  Quoting Scrooge's earlier comments effectively triggered Scrooge's better side.  Seeing that his earlier comment almost wished for the young boy to die, I believe this is one of the turning points to Scrooge's behavior.  From here on, Scrooge's behavior definitely changes to the better.

Survival Again?

Author's Note: This is my theme essay on the theme survival.  Although I had a piece just like this all about Life of Pi, this one compares this to Milkweed.  Please comment on my theme analysis.

Are you capable of killing or stealing from another human being? Now think about this.  Would you be willing to kill or steal from another human being if your survival depended on it?  In the books Milkweed and Life of Pi, both of the main characters are forced to either to kill or steal in order to survive.  Survival is a major theme in books, and it brings out a very thought-provoking question.  What would you do in order to survive?

In the book Milkweed, Misha is a young boy who lives on the streets of Warsaw during the Holocaust.  His only memory is that of stealing food on the streets in order to survive.  When all of the Jews, along with Misha,  are sent to the Warsaw Ghetto, Misha still finds a way to steal food.  He has already lived the lifestyle the Warsaw Ghetto has forced upon its occupants.  Also, although he steals food to feed himself, he is also able to share his stolen food with the Milgroms and the orphans. 

Pi, the main character in Life of Pi, had a much different situation compared to Misha's.  In the story, Pi is trapped on a boat in the middle of the ocean for 227 days accompanied by an adult Bengal tiger.  Unfortunately for him, Pi is a strict vegetarian and simply refuses to touch meat.  This is where the Bengal tiger is very important.  The Bengal tiger symbolizes Pi's development of an alter-ego, which enables him to, when faced with starvation, put aside his vegetarian ways to be able to stay alive.

As you can see, Misha is a static character due to his lack of change over the course of the story, unlike Pi, who is a dynamic character because of his dramatic change from beginning to end. The character in Milkweed who would best compare to Pi would be Uri, because, like Pi, Uri is a dynamic character.  Uri completely changes from being a Jew living on the streets stealing food to becoming a Nazi officer.  Becoming a Nazi officer was Uri's solution to surviving.

Pi's situation, as you can see, is much different compared to Misha's.  Being a vegetarian forces him to adapt to the sudden change of events while Misha can simply continue living the life he is very familiar with.  Although they face different ordeals, both characters have the same common goal; survival.

Milkweed Point of View

Author's Note: In this assignment, we have to break down how the narrator affects the reader's interpretation.

The book, Milkweed, was told in the point of view of a young child.  Unfortunately for the reader, this child does not understand any of the things that is happening to him, resulting in some confusion.  For an example, he made the invasion of the Nazis sound joyful, and thinks of it like a giant parade.  Also, when he snatches food from people, he thinks its all a game and tries to get away from people, thinking they're playing too.

If this story was told in the point of view somebody with knowledge of what is actually going on, like Uri, the whole story would create a whole new feel to it.  Instead of describing the invasion as a joyful parade, Uri would understand the Nazis were coming to take over the town, making the scene more fearful.  Also, while Misha thinks it's a game, Uri snatches food from people because he has to in order to survive.  If it was told in his perspective, snatching food would sound daring rather than fun.  As you can see, if this story was told in Uri’s perspective, the feeling to the entire story would be completely different.

Misha vs. Pi

Author's Note: This is a character analysis assignment.  The character I chose was Misha, who I also compared to Pi from Life of Pi.

In the book, Milkweed, the main character is a young boy, named Misha who lives on the streets of Warsaw in the year 1942.  Misha has no memory of his own name, his age, or even who his family is.  His only memory is that of sealing food on the streets in order to survive.  Survival is a key theme in both Milkweed and Life of Pi. 

Misha uses his street smarts in order to survive.  In order to eat, he steals food and his small size and quick speed help him accomplish this  He does not have feel remorse when he steals the food because, to him, that's his way of life.  Since this is true in both the beginning of the book and while in the ghetto, I believe he is a static character.  Pi, on the other hand, is a dynamic character.  In the beginning of Life of Pi, Pi was a strict vegetarian.  When the struggle to survive on the lifeboat worsened, he was forced to abandon his beliefs in order to survive.

Both characters face difficult situations.  When Pi is facing starvation, he develops an alter-ego in order to cope with what he is forced to do so that he can live.  When Misha is facing starvation, he simply did what he does best, and that is when he steals food.  This is where the two boys are different.  Pi abandons his beliefs while Misha's beliefs and behaviors are almost reinforced.  Although these two faced extreme situations, one went through a radical transformation, while the other remained essentially the same.

Survival

Author's note: This is a literary analysis response to the book Life of Pi.  It describes the point to the story and the symbols the support it.  I would like some feedback on the content and my word choice.

Life of Pi is a thought -provoking book full of symbolism.  It chronicles the journey of a young man lost at sea whose religious beliefs are put to the test.  Will he abandon his beliefs in order to survive?  Pi is faced with a traumatic event that tests his religious beliefs and changes him as a person.  Pi was forced to abandon some of his strong beliefs and resort to his primal animal instincts in order to survive.  The tiger is symbolic of Pi’s conflict.

The Bengal tiger, Richard Parker, is the most important piece of symbolism used in the book.  Sometimes when people experience traumatic events, they develop another personality to cope with the extreme stress.  The tiger acts as Pi’s alter-ego and represents Pi’s survival side.  Pi is forced to abandon his religious beliefs and become more animalistic in his efforts to survive.  This is shown when faced with starvation, the vegetarian Pi reluctantly kills and eats fish.  Initially, this act is repulsive to Pi, but as the days at sea pass, he begins to enjoy the act of killing and eating the fish. Like a tiger, Pi is forced to hunt and kill for food. 

More proof that Richard Parker is a symbol of Pi’s animalistic side occurs when Pi and Richard Parker encounters the blind Frenchman.  Although the blind man appears to attempt to kill Pi, it is Richard Parker who kills the blind man.  This version of the events allows Pi to remove himself directly from the act and place the murder upon the tiger. 

It is interesting that Pi also loses his vision during this time.  Pi’s blindness symbolizes his denial of committing the act of murder as well as the abandonment of his religious beliefs in order to survive. 

As you can see, Pi did have to abandon some of his beliefs in order to survive.  His survival instincts, which was symbolized by Richard Parker, was able to beat out Pi’s original beliefs. 

When Pi and Richard Parker finally reach land the crisis is over.   Pi’s animalist survival skills are no longer needed and Richard takes off.  The alter-ego is no longer necessary.  Pi is interviewed by his rescuers. His initial version of what happened at sea is thought to be so unbelievable that he tells a second story.  In the second version, he replaces the animals on the boat with human counterparts. In this version, Pi says he killed his mother’s killer.  In the animal version it was Richard Parker, the tiger, that eats the hyena who represented his mother.  This supports Pi seeing Richard Parker as part of himself.

The tiger’s arrival coincides with Pi’s emerging survival instincts.  The tiger also helps Pi cope with the abandonment of his religious principles.  The abandonment of his beliefs was the only way he could survive.  Yann Martel’s message is crystal clear and also comes with a question: Would you abandon your beliefs in times of crisis?

Belief?

Author's Note: This is a response to the quote,"the idea of a religious boy in a lifeboat with a wild animal struck me as a perfect metaphor for the human condition. Humans aspire to really high things, right, like religion, justice, democracy. At the same time, we're rooted in our human, animal condition. And so, all of those brought together in a lifeboat struck me as being... as a perfect metaphor," said by Yann Martel.

In this passage, I believe it reveals the entire point of the story, which tells us how humans' beliefs may change during crisis. Sometimes, we believe in something strongly, but then we may have to abandon our beliefs in order to survive. Yann Martel, referred to Pi and the lifeboat as "a perfect metaphor for the human condition," because Pi's religious beliefs had to be put aside in order to survive on the lifeboat. Pi understood that he wouldn't be able to survive if he was going to stay a vegetarian.

Zombies!

Author's note: this is the writing piece about Halloween we had to write about in language arts today.  I got zombies.  

I  died a slow and painful death when the bullet hit my head.  Once all the life drained from my body, my attacker sank into the shadows and disappeared just as uniformed humans arrived and tried reviving me.  After several failed attempts, they placed me into a large plastic bag that fit me perfectly .  Once in it, I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Finally after an eternity, I was put into a coffin.  Yes I said a coffin.  The very same kind of box vampires use in the movies.  I slept silently and peacefully in my very own coffin, until I was finally buried in a large, rectangular hole in the middle of the cemetery. 

As the last of the rotten earth was finally placed on top of my tomb, an unimaginable energy flowed through me.  My eyes felt like they were going to pop out of my head.  My arms sprang forward and instinctively pushed up on the cover of my coffin.  The strength from my arms was incredible.  It took me only five minutes to push the cover of my coffin and dig through the enormous pile of dirt covering my grave. 

I was alive, well, at least I thought I was.  No thoughts filled my head, which allowed me only a few skills.  Choosing where I walked was not among them as my legs took me to through the gates of the cemetery and out onto the main highway.  As I walked- if you could call it that- down the highway, a car stopped right in front of me.  A man of about 40 years of age got out from behind the steering wheel.    He spoke, but I could not understand his words.  My feet dragged me to the man until I was right in front of him.  That's when I attacked.

First, both my arms swung and started hitting the man.  He cried out in surprise and fell to the ground.  Then, I jumped up on top of the man and started beating him.  Eventually, after enough pounding, he fell limp.  I reached for his head, but was interrupted by a single bullet.  It hit me right where the first bullet hit me when  I died the first time, right in the back of the head.  I slumped to the ground, this time dead for good.

Proud

Author's Note: This is my patriot's pen.  The theme for this year was "Are you proud of your country?"

Are you proud of your country?  Are you proud to be an American?  All Americans should be proud to be who we are, a strong country with many freedoms.  Unlike some countries where the majority of citizens are born into castes in which their lives are predetermined and there are no opportunities for advancement, we have the freedom  of choice to simply be who we want to be, and do what we want to do our entire lives.  In these caste systems, people have to marry certain people and can only work in certain jobs, but in America, you have the freedom to choose all of these.   Also, we Americans have the freedom of speech, even if it is in disagreement with our country.  In some countries, one can be jailed for doing that.

The United States not only has many freedoms, but they also protect freedoms throughout the world. We look after countries that aren’t as fortunate as we are.  In both World Wars, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, America helped to protect human rights.  Also, Americans are the first to come to the aid of countries in need around the world, whether it is Thailand after the tsunami, or Haiti after the devastating earthquake.

Americans should not only be proud of their freedoms, but we should also be proud of our government.  In my opinion, a democracy is the best form of government a country can have for many reasons.  According to dictionary.com, a democracy is defined as “a government by the people”, in which our government is based.  In our government, men and women have the right to vote for our leaders.  Also, almost everyone has the opportunity to hold office or even be the president.  In some countries, people are born into the role of the leader.  In other countries, people are governed by dictators.  With our example, look at what is happening around the Middle East in places like Egypt and Libya, where citizens have risen up and replaced the dictators in their quest for democracy.

The United States, in my opinion, is the strongest country in the world.  This is because of all of its freedoms, its ability to protect freedoms throughout the world, and its democratic government.  So, when I am asked if I am proud of my country, my answer is a definite yes!

PS3 vs. Xbox 360

A so-called "evenly" matched battle has erupted.  One side consists of PlayStation 3 fans, and one side consists of Xbox 360.  The question is which is better?  Obviously the PlayStation 3 fans will say the PlayStation 3 while the Xbox 360 fans will say the Xbox 360, but who's actually right?  Well obviously the PlayStation 3 is superior.

Although the Xbox 360 has better GPU, the PlayStation 3 still holds way more advantages compared to the Xbox 360.  One major advantage the PlayStation 3 holds is its massive memory.  Comparing the standard systems, the PS3 holds 160GB of memory, while the Xbox 360 only holds 4GB.  Besides gigantic memory, the PlayStation 3's computer processing unit (CPU) is performs better than the Xbox 360’s.  The GigaFlops, performance numbers for CPU, in a PlayStation 3 is almost three times as much as the Xbox 360 (Xbox 360- 77 to PlayStation 3- 230).

Besides just the gaming systems, the online game modes are also in favor of the PlayStation 3.  One major reason why the online game modes are in favor of the PlayStation 3 is because of its price.  Compared to the Xbox Lives' $60 annual cost, the PlayStation Network is at the amazing price of $0, otherwise known as free.  Also, social networking and streaming movies are better using PlayStation Network.  This is because on the Xbox 360, you have to have a gold membership to access these features, while on the PlayStation 3, it's free.

Finally, the motion gaming on the PlayStation 3 is easier to use compared to Xbox 360’s motion gaming.  I believe this for couple of reasons.  First, even though Kinect for Xbox 360 does not require a controller, its accuracy is not as good as the Move.  Accuracy is very important because this makes a game easier to play.  Also, the Move's setup is far easier.  Setting up a Kinect takes about 10 minutes for first time users, but the Move's setup consists of just setting up the camera. 

As you can see, the PlayStation 3 is easily superior to the Xbox 360.  Even though the Xbox 360 system does cost less money compared to the PlayStation 3, one year's worth of online on the Xbox 360 would actually end up costing more than the PlayStation 3 with one year's worth of online.  Comparing the two systems, the PlayStation 3 completely destroys the Xbox 360.  These facts should certainly prove to all you PlayStation haters that you guys are just jealous. 

The Savior

It all happened on a typical October autumn day in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at a high school named Kingston High School.  The day started out like any other school day.  Students trudged into school at their own leisurely pace.  They went to their lockers, made sure they had their proper materials, and then walked to their classes.  Teachers reviewed their instructions for the day's lessons.  While this all happened, a couple of kids were huddled around a table outside of the school far out of sight of any passing students or teachers.  Among them was a bully magnet named Steve Bart.

Steve, a freshman, was the "perfect" bully victim.  His clothing consisted of pants, a green turtleneck long-sleeve shirt, large headphones that stuck out like Mickey Mouse ears, and Harry Potter like glasses.  He didn't seem to have any friends either.  At lunch, he always sat alone in the corner of the lunch room.  

At Kingston High School, teachers were oblivious to Steve's plight.  They were busy with their teaching , overwhelmed with their  class loads, and counting the days until summer.  When a teacher would walk down the hallway, the bullies paused long enough to make sure that the teacher was out of ear shot before beginning again.  Name calling was the least of Steve's problems.  This is where the headphones were helpful.  They blocked the taunts that kids whispered to him.  The physical abuse was another matter.   To the other kids, he was known as Defenseless Steve.  This nickname was given to him because of his lack of retaliation during a fight.

Today wasn't much different for Steve.  The group by the table outside, unsurprisingly, was a group of bullies taking shots at the young freshman boy.  Steve lay on his side and was curled up in a ball.  He laid there rocking back and forth as the group of juniors took turns punching and kicking him.  Butch, the leader of the group of bullies, slowly walked to the bruised and bloodied student.

"Why you never fight back little boy?" taunted Butch.

"Yeah! Why you never fight back little boy?" repeated one of Butch's followers.

No answer.  Steve never retaliated and always took his beatings.  Butch prepared for his next punch.  His arm wound up and hung in the air for several seconds hoping for a dramatic effect.  Steve allowed himself a small peek and instantly wished he never allowed himself to do so.  The fist quickly came down and screamed toward Steve's covered face.  That's when the unbelievable happened.

"Stop!!!" yelled a loud and booming voice.

All five heads turned towards the voice.  Surprise filled Steve's face as he soon realized that finally someone was standing up for him.  His savior was unfamiliar to him.  He stood at about six feet three inches, had olive colored skin, and held a look that could turn even Medusa to stone.  Butch would be as dead as a dodo if a fight was going to break out.

"Well, well, well.  What do we have here?  A senior standing up for a little scrawny freshman?" asked Butch with a sarcastic tone. 

"What? Think beatin' up on freshmen makes you look soooooo cool do ya?" replied the senior.

"You know what, your dead Fred.  Look at reality, it's five on one.  You can't win."

"I am not looking for a fight. Just stop picking on Steve."

"Yeah well you're going to have to fight if you're going to stop us.  Julian, let's go."

Butch and a chubby looking kid named Julian slowly walked towards Fred.  Steve couldn't believe what was happening.  Some one finally stood up for him!  He was astonished.  Pain was ignored as Steve slowly got to his feet.  Everything in his body screamed for him to stop, but he could not let his savior fight on his own.

"I'm gonna beat you like an egg!  I'm gonna smash you like a pumpkin!  I'm going to cream you like corn!" screamed Butch.

Julian just followed along, but said nothing.  It was clear that he did not want to try and fight Fred.  The two bullies too up boxing stances and slowly closed in on the senior.  Fred seemed unfazed by facing two opponents and took up a boxing stance of his own.  Butch attacked first.  He threw a mean looking punch that Fred easily sidestepped.  Fred countered with a right hook that connected with Butch's jaw.  Butch staggered backward.  Steve saw a window of opportunity.  He stuck out his leg, and was able to successfully trip Butch.  With a loud grunt, Butch landed heavily on the ground.  Everyone went silent. 

Julian grabbed his friend by the arm and said," Let's got outta here."

The two left, embarrassed by their quick defeat.  They were soon followed by the rest of the group.  Steve allowed himself a big grin. 

"Hey, if these guys bother you again, my friends and I will be there.  I've got your back," said Fred.

Steve thanked Fred, but Fred shrugged and just told him," No problem."  The two shook hands and walked back to school together. 

The True Ending to Rapunzel

Author's Note: This piece was for an assignment in language arts.  The assignment was to create an alternate ending to the story Rapunzel.  I think this is an alright conclusion, but I think I may be missing something. Please leave comments for any possible improvements on this conclusion.

Golden soft and luscious hair flowed swiftly and silently down the side of the tower into the arms of the sweet prince.  The prince takes a firm grip of her hair and takes a slight reassuring tug making sure her hair was strong enough for his frame.  Satisfied, he leaps and clutches the golden hair as tightly as he can.  Suddenly, a sharp crack echoes throughout the canyon.  The prince slips from her hair and hits the ground below him with a thump.

"Rapunzel?!" yelled the prince.

A round and spherical object lands into the prince's arms.  A quizzical look from the prince soon turns into a horrifying look of terror.  The spherical object wasn't just any spherical object, it was the head of Prince Alfonso's love, Rapunzel.  The painful events of the past few seconds shows on her soft and delicate face.  Shocked by his love's sudden death, Prince Alfonso knew not of what to do, so he ran away crying; leaving Rapunzel to Mother Nature.

Language Arts Hook

Author's Note: This piece may sound completely different compared to the writing I've done before, because, well, not saying names, but, some groups in language arts gave us some very... different characters and settings.  This is just the introduction, but I hope you like it.  Please comment for any suggestions on how to make this better.

The talking waffle shark was frolicking in the unicorn pastures of Cloud 9 happily enjoying himself.  A low rumble suddenly filled Carlos', the waffle shark, ears.  It must be nothing, thought the waffle shark.  Carlos continued to frolic through the unicorn pastures when the same noise streamed into his ears.   This can be no coincidence, thought Carlos.  This last rumble seemed much closer than before.  He searched and searched for the source of the noise, but could not find it.  After giving up, IT came.  As you can see, children have many odd and wacky fears in their youth lives.  Can these be prevented?

Terrorists at the Mall

Author's Note:  This piece is just a random fiction piece.  We had to include an old man and a mall.  We also have to include the plot triangle.  My plot triangle- Exposition- terrorists attack the mall, rising action- terrorists take hostages, climax- the two agents intervene, falling action- terrorists discover the two agents, resolution- the two agents are killed

Thick black smoke filled the skies over New York.  The Mall of the Nation, a newly built “super mall,” has just been attacked.  Inside, people were trapped inside the shopping mall as a group of Russian terrorists stormed through the building.  The mall’s security had no chance against the Russians’ RPD light machine guns as they tried to repel the invading terrorists.  Thirty minutes later, all the shoppers and the staff members were taken hostage and were guarded on the third floor.  It appeared that they had everything under control, but little did they know that there were two American spies looking to spoil their plans.

“Alright there are only two people on the first floor guarding the door.  The second floor is clear,” said Grandchild, one of the two American spies.

“There are about five near the staircase and elevators, five guarding us, and an additional three on surveillance on the first floor.  Do a better job next time young one,” advised Olde Mann, the other American spy.

The two agents took a quick yet precise survey of their surroundings, and then formulated a plan to try and safely evacuate all of the hostages out from the mall.  After successfully making a plan, the two American agents instantly put it to action.  Phase one of the plan was to eliminate the terrorists guarding them.  This task was not going to be easy because all of the hostages, including Olde Mann and Grandchild, were laying face first in an open food court. 

“We’ve been sitting, excuse me, lying here for three hours now.  Aren’t we ready to act?” asked Grandchild with frustration.

“Why do you think it is the time to act Grandchild?” replies Olde Mann.

“’Cause we’ve been sitting here for the past three hours!  Didn’t you hear me the first time?”

“Yes, I did, but apparently you still do not know.  It is time to act because they are about  to change shifts.”

“Okay on my go.  3, 2, 1… go!”

As soon as Olde Mann said “go,” Olde Mann and Grandchild jumped up and sprinted to the Subway food stand.  Grandchild easily cleared the food stand’s counter, but Olde Mann had trouble getting up.  Knowing that they had to act fast, Grandchild grabbed him and pulled him over the counter just in time.

“That was a close one,” whispered Grandchild.

“Indeed.”

Going to the Subway food stand was no random choice.  Inside the freezer in the back was where the two US agents had stashed their silenced pistols.  Olde Mann and Grandchild had joined the mall’s security a couple weeks ago after CIA got a tip from an anonymous caller.  The caller said that a group of Russian terrorists were going to attack this mall.  CIA tracked the call from a pay phone right next to the mall, but had no clue who may have called.  For the first week, security was tight at the mall, but after the seven days, security thought it was a prank and returned to normal.

“Okay Olde Mann, you ready for this?” asked Grandchild

“Yup.  I got the two on the left.  You take the three on the right,” ordered Olde Mann.

“Okay, fire when ready.”

Five shots were fired and five terrorists fell to the floor dead. Both agents jumped from behind the counter and dragged the bodies over to the Subway.  One by one, Grandchild and Olde Mann stuffed the dead bodies into the freezer.

“I think we’re done here,” said Grandchild.

“Agreed.  Let’s move on.”

The two American agents sprinted to the corner near the staircase and elevator.  Olde Mann peaked around the corner and was only able to see two of the five terrorists.   The two that were in sight were guarding the elevator.

“Take a peak Grandchild.  See your surroundings.  Remember them.  Remember where your target is.  Take them both out whenever you’re ready.”

Grandchild did everything he was told and was rewarded with two more dead terrorists.  Without saying a word, Grandchild and Olde Mann sprinted to the staircase and took out the last three terrorists on the fifth floor.  After finishing them off, the two agents slowly made their way down to the first floor.  A group of five terrorists were the only ones in the two agent’s sights.

“This will be tricky.  Get to the garden pots about ten yards from their position.  Make sure all your shots hit,” says Olde Mann.

“Yes sir.”

“Ready, go!”

Olde Mann and Grandchild dashed to the garden pots and crouched behind them. 

“No need to play spy anymore American!” said a voice. 

The voice had a thick Russian accent.  Olde Mann and Grandchild still stayed put hoping the voice was not intended for them. 

“You do know I am talking to you two, right spies?” said the same voice. 

This time, Olde Mann and Grandchild finally gave themselves up and walked toward the group of five.  They were all staring at the two American spies with cold, evil looks that seemed to match their smirks.

“You talk good English for a Russian,” said Olde Mann.

“Very cute.  I have to admire your courage to try and break from my grasp up there.  I have to say it was pretty good, but it still wasn’t good enough.  Since you killed some of my friends, I must kill some of yours,” said the English speaking Russian.  As soon as he finished his sentence, he pulled out a pistol of his own and fired a single bullet into Grandchild’s head. 

“No! Grandchild!” yelled Olde Mann, “How’d you find out?”

“You don’t think there are security cameras?”

Olde Mann instantly felt his foolishness.  Why hadn’t I thought of the security cameras? He thought to himself.

“Goodbye Olde Mann.”

The terrorist grinned to himself.  He slowly lifted his gun to Olde Mann’s head, and fired a single shot.