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.