Hot and Cold

             Have you ever been in a situation where your choice might affect how the rest of your life turns out? One wrong choice and you will regret your decision for the rest of your life. Caroline in the book Cast Two Shadows, and Ponyboy in the book The Outsiders both had to make a choice: stay home and be safe, or travel far away risking everything they have.

            Caroline, a 14 year old girl lives in an old time period of 1780. Back then things were much different than they are now. War was going on and there was much danger within the town of Camden. I can’t imagine living in such danger. I would be so frightened that I would get killed or captured. But Caroline and her grandmother, Miz Melindy, face this fear. They go on a mission to find and take home Caroline’s brother that has been wounded in the war. On the journey, they face many hardships which include getting captured for one night by a woman and finding a man whom is tied up with a rope in his own house. Their journey is similar to the movie, Finding Nemo. Nemo has been taken away and his father is trying to find him. He goes through many obstacles including fighting sharks and getting hurt by jellyfish. I would never be that brave to do such a thing. Even though Caroline was in a different time period than most, the same situations can happen to anyone.

            In 1980, things were difficult for Ponyboy, a 14 year old greaser. Unlike Caroline, there were no worries about war, but another problem sat before him. Gangs and violence were the most dangerous things to worry about. After getting into serious trouble and killing someone, Ponyboy and his friend, Johnny run away to the country so the cops won’t find them. They wait in a vacant church for their friend to pick them up. When they turn away for one hour, they find the church to be on fire. They all get severely injured from helping little kids out of the burning church. Sadly, Johnny ends up dying. This shows how brave they are for risking their lives to save others. If it were me, I would not have gone in that burning church. Ponyboy and Johnny were very brave to go in it. Even though Ponyboy and Caroline are so different, they are more similar than anyone would think.

            People can change. Even if you might not think they can, everyone has a change in heart.  Ponyboy and Caroline are innocent, young teenagers who are not very outgoing and are not known by many people. When problems set into place, they both must face a decision. To go away from everything they have or stay where they are. Well of corse they both go away and face many things on their way to their destinations. Luckily, they both come through safely. While on their journeys, there are little to no parents with them. Caroline traveled with her grandmother whom is old and weak. Ponyboy travels with his friend, Johnny who is 16 years old. They are not very experienced at how to take care of themselves or know what to do in problems. This reminds me of a movie where a boy about 8 years old finds the president’s dog. He sets out on a journey to try to bring the dog back to the president while traveling half way around the world. This shows that he is very brave and determined. There are many people like Caroline and Ponyboy in the world who would do just the same thing.

            Take a moment to think about why teachers make you compare and contrast. They probably do it to make you realize how much different and unique everyone is. It also could be to make you think about how much we are the same as well. Caroline and Ponyboy share many similarities and have many differences. Yet, they are both the same in some way because of the things that happen in their lives.

The Trip to Save Johnny (Cause and Effect)

            Johnny, a soldier, brother, and loved one is injured and needs help. Caroline and her grandmother (Miz Melindy) need to go and find Johnny so they can tend to and bring him home. The events leading up to cause this problem and the effects are shocking and true in war life.

            Just being informed of her brother’s injury and condition, Caroline takes action by informing her family like any good family member would. Her family comes to a conclusion and decides that Caroline should take on the trip to bring home Johnny.  A Colonial, Rawdon, approved of the idea but insisted on her grandmother’s acquaintence. Riding alone during war times was very dangerous. In a movie, a girl runs away from home during war and gets captured resulting in never seeing her family again. The journey began and Caroline and Miz Melindy already wasted many hours helping a starving family. This did show that they are very kind people but it resulted in already being behind on their journey. I’m sure many others would have done the same thing. They stopped at a stream before dusk to get some water to cool them down. While fetching some water, there was a scream back at the wagon where Miz Melindy was waiting. Caroline hurried back only to find that a woman was holding a musket to her grandmother’s head. The woman took them away to her house where she would decide what to do from there. I don’t know what will happen to Johnny. Sometimes in tough situations people can act crazy and do unexpected things just to make them-selves feel better. In a book I read, a man just lost his family and made himself feel better by killing someone else. This shows what can happen in a bad situation and how quickly settings can change.

            Have you ever really thought about why things happen and for what reason? There can be many effects to problems that you might not even know about. Things remain unpredictable for what will happen to Johnny but many things lead up to the journey that Caroline and her grandmother faced. Different points of view and determination.

           

           

Celeste's Get Away

            “Mom make me breakfast,” demanded Georgette! “Pack my lunch,” yelled George! “Hold on, I just got out of bed,” whined mom. Mom (Celeste), trotted down the stairs sleepily and yawned. Georgette and George were eating bacon and sausage out of the pan and more was crackling in grease on the stove. “Ahhh”, screamed mom. “That is way too fatty. Don’t eat that!” “Sorry mom”, said Georgette. “We couldn’t find anything else to eat”. “Ok fine. Oh, your bus will be here in two minutes. Get moving. Here are your backpacks. Grab your lunches and head out the door. Have a great day in third grade”, said mom worriedly. Mom was so stressed out from all of the morning excitements so she plopped herself on the couch in front of the T.V. A commercial for Navy Pier was on. “Come one come all to a free lunch at Bobby Joes. Enjoy fine food and music for no cost only today. Offer expires by 5:00pm”.

            A light bulb shot out of mom’s head. She was going to Navy Pier. She grabbed her purse and ran out the door. She drove up to the nearest city bus station and got on a city bus to Chicago. The only seat open was between a man with live chickens and a lady who was mixing batter for cake. She had no choice but to sit there. The bus started to move and when they hit a speed bump, the batter smelling of chocolate flew up and fell right on Celeste’s white blouse. “Ahhhh”, screamed Celeste in a high pitched tone. “Ohhh maym iya ama sow sowry abourt thart”, said the lady with the batter. “Oh, that’s ok. I’ll just buy another shirt when we get to the city”, said mom fakely. Next to Celeste, the chickens were all stirred up and shook. The feathers flew out of the cages and stuck to Celeste’s shirt. “Oh great! Now I Iook like a chicken too” whined Celeste. The next stop back home would be in two hours. “Uhhh maybe I should just go home”, sighed Celest. And that’s just what she did. After two long hours on the smelly bus she finally arrived in time for George and Georgette to get off the bus. “What happened to your shirt mom”, said Georgette? “Don’t get me started. It’s a long story”, said mom.

Caroline's Perspective

            In the book Cast Two Shadows, Caroline, the main character, sees things from a different point of view. She is a 14 year old girl who only wants to get her father out of jail and protect her family. She probably feels cramped because she has to live in the upper part of her house. The soldiers and people from the war took it over by force. Caroline has a grandmother who is an African American and works at their house and helps prepare food. Caroline sees her as just another servant. But when asked by Rawdon, a general, to ask Caroline’s grandmother to make she crab soup and she accepts. The only reason she does is because Rawdon wants to take Caroline’s horse and the only way he might not is if he is happy and has a good meal. This shows that if Rawdon wants something he gets it. From his point of view, everyone else is like a dog and he is the master of them. He doesn’t think about others feelings and only thinks about himself. This reminds me of the movie Geek Charming where the popular girl has people do everything for her and she treats them like slaves. If Rawdon was the main character, the book would be so much different because you would get the vive of evilness and cruelty. You might even get the urge to be mean just like him. The author did a good job choosing the point of view of Caroline, an innocent, kind, young girl who is determined to protect her family.

The Surprise Vacation

             On a gusty, chilly Thursday morning, Lilly came sleepily down the stairs to eat breakfast before school. Her mom was sipping coffee at the table and reading a magazine. Lilly’s mom gestured her to come and sit down next to her. To Lilly’s surprise the magazine cover was a tropical beach in Jamaica. Her mom told her that since there was no school on Friday, they would leave that night and take a plane to Jamaica for a week trip. Lilly almost jumped out of her seat. She was so excited. Her mom explained that as soon as Jake, her 7 year old little brother, woke up she would tell him too. “Beep beep”. The bus was waiting for her outside. “Bye mom”, shouted Lilly as she rushed out the door.

             After school that day Lilly found her mom to be packing up her clothes and trying to squeeze them into a tiny suitcase. “Honey begin packing your suitcase. Jake will be home soon so you can help him too” said mom. Lilly began packing and then she heard the garage door open. Her dad was home! She sprinted down the stairs to greet him and jumped up on his shoulders. “How’s my little 10 year old today,” said dad. “Great! You’d better start packing dad,” shouted Lilly. Her dad unpacked his work items, settled down with a snack, and went to start packing. As soon as Jake got home from school, he ran in circles around the room saying how exited he was. Mom had to quiet him down.

              That night for dinner, Lilly’s mom and dad explained all of the vacation details including where they would be staying, what they were going to do, and how well behaved Lilly and Jake would have to be on the plane. Lilly and Jake agreed and they helped with the dinner dishes. After that was done, they loaded all of their luggage into the van and started getting ready for bed. Lilly’s mom and dad tucked in Jake and came to her room. “Sleep good. We will be waking you up at about four o clock to catch the plane so make sure you get well rested. Goodnight”, said mom.

               Lilly was sound asleep when she woke up to a bang on the door. It was Jake that woke her so she could get ready to go to the airport. “Are you crazy? Its four o clock in the morning” exclaimed Lilly! She jumped out of bed remembering the trip and carefully walked down the stairs with the rest of the family in the dim lighting to fetch breakfast. They quickly ate and ran out the door with last minute items including Jake’s Nintendo DS because he can’t live without it. Their trip to Jamaica had only begun.

Rawdon

Authors Note: This is the point of view of Rawdon, a general, in the book Cast Two Shadows. I would like to know if my sentences are understandable and if you can picture what kind of person this might be.

Rawdon from Cast Two Shadows is a selfish character because he only worries about himself and never thinks about anyone else. He and his soldiers have taken over the main floor of Caroline, a 14 year old girl's home. Therefore she has to live in the cramped upstairs with her mother and sister. Rawdon also put Caroline's father in jail only because he believed differently. This shows that he does things just for the fun of it and doesn’t really care of the affect it might have on others. This reminds me of the movie Peter Pan when the captain of the ship wants to find the treasure and will sacrifice any of the crew members to get it. In Rawdon's case, he likes Caroline's sister, Georgia Ann, so he is trying to find any way to merge into the family and take over her. This is wrong and he should be thinking of others and not just himself. I hope he will find his way through selfishness.

Choose Your Side

            When you are shopping at a store do you notice that everyone buys something different than everyone else?  There are many different types of groups of people in the world: mean, generous, popular. Some feel like they fit in and some just don’t. Stereotypes affect how people act around others and everyone should express how they are different in a certain way.

            When you are with your friends, do ever feel like you have to act like someone else or say something you normally wouldn’t say? You shouldn’t have to if they are your real friends. Sometimes, I feel that I have to dress differently than I normally would just to fit in. In the movie, Camp Rock, a girl wants to make friends with the “cool” girls so she wears fashionable clothes that don’t fit her personality. This shows how she is trying to impress them. In the book, The Outsiders, the two groups, greasers and socs, don’t try to be like the other group. The greasers’ opinion of the socs is wealthy, cold hearted, and always looking for a fight. Johnny said, “It seems like there’s gotta be someplace without greasers or Socs, with just people. Plain ordinary people.” This shows that you were either a greaser or a soc. Nothing else. People need to express their own self and show the world who they really are.

            Imagine a world where everyone is the same. Everyone has the same clothes, has the same hair cut, and has the same personality. The world would be boring, simple, and people would probably have no fun. You wouldn’t be able to express who you are as an individual and you would get treated the same way as everyone else. Therefore, people should respect others differences. I was at school one day a while back and a boy got laughed at because of his weight. This probably made him feel like he was less than everyone else and that he had no friends to stick up for him. In the book, The Outsiders, Ponyboy pretends to be cool with the rest of the greasers but he is unique in his own way. He smoked and tried to speak in a slang way. Josh Groban, a singer, says, “Don’t try to be like me. Try to be like yourself. Try to be very good at being like yourself.” This shows that he feels strongly about expressing yourself. Being yourself is one of the most important things in the world. Don’t change who you are.

Next time you are shopping with a friend, don’t buy what they want you to buy. Buy what best fits you and your own personality. Stereotypes are affecting people all over the world by making people be someone their not so you should always be yourself. Remember this and you will be better off in life.

           

           

           

           

           

How Randy Changes

Randy changes in many ways in the book, "The Outsiders". The night of Bob's death (Page 51), he probably realizes that there is no point in jumping anyone because it doesn’t make him feel proud. He just lost one of his best friends just because they were goofing around. He was so focused on being the tough soc that he didn’t realize that after he jumps people, his life moves on and it is just for the thrill. He was just too focused on being the tough guy. This reminds me of the movie, Soul Surfer. The main character is too busy focusing on winning the surfing competition, she doesn’t have time to go on a retreat to a poor country to feed and help them. It isn't until she looses an arm when she realizes similar situations are going on all around the world. Randy then realizes that greasers will always be greasers and socs will always be socs and that they should stop fighting. 

Johnny's Life or Death Situation

Author's Note: The purpose of this piece is to describe how a shy person could become a murderer in a life or death situation. In other words, how someone can change so quickly? I would like feedback about if I wrote the piece well so others can understand it.
             
       Johnny is known as the pet of the greasers. He would not hurt a fly. His parents abuse him to the point of Johnny not loving them anymore. Most every night, Johnny's father comes home drunk (If Johnny is even there to see him). Johnny usually spends the night at his friend's houses or in the streets so he doesn't have to suffer harsh beatings of his father. Being jumped is the thing he fears most. He took a harsh beating and got cut up to the point of death before. One night, Ponyboy, Johnny's friend, and Johnny walk around and fall asleep in an empty alley. Ponyboy wakes up and goes home only to find that his older brothers, Darry and Sodapop, are worried sick about him. Darry gets so mad that he hits Ponyboy who quickly storms out the door. He meets up with Johnny once again and they walk to the park. All of the sudden out of nowhere, a nice car pulls up and five socs get out. They walk over to the boys and Bob, one of the socs, starts to drown Ponyboy. Johnny then stabbed Bob and the rest of the socs ran away. He didn’t believe what he just did but he was just trying to save Pony. I think this was just self defense and Johnny did not really mean to kill anyone. But, after the first beating that he had, it scared him so much that he said he would use the knife he carried if needed. Here was the time to use it.

Ponyboy

Ponyboy is a 14 year old boy. He has two older brothers named Dally and Sodapop. His parents died in a car crash when he was 12 years old. Ponyboy is known as a greaser which is a person who had their hair slicked back and is of the lower class. He tipically wears sneakers, jeans, and a t-shirt. I predict that later in the book after the fire, Johnny and Ponyboy will make it safely out of the fire. Something will go wrong after this but I am not quite sure yet.

Tell Tale Heart

Imagine a man with a strange eye that called attention to anyone who passed. Another man kills him because of his eye. Who gives someone the right to do this? The killer is inane for murdering because of appearance.

Late at night, for eight days straight, this insane man crept up on and followed the man with the eye to his house where he waited outside his bedroom door for the right moment. He wouldn’t make a sound or sudden movement to wake the man from his sleep. He just waited. On the eighth night, the man with the eye made a sound. He was awake. The man who was waiting outside the door took an hour or so to sneak in but when he did, he cut off his head, legs, and arms. The man then buried them under a floor board. All of a sudden, the doorbell rings and police arrive to investigate a shriek that was heard next door. The police walked up to the man with the eyes room to find evidence. The man who killed the man with the eye had a throbbing sensation in his heart and it became so loud that he was sure the police could hear it and confessed. The police ripped up the floorboard to find the remaining flesh. To begin with, a normal person would never even think of killing someone, therefore stalking them for nights. This man should have told the man with the eye to put on an eye patch or explain that it bothered him before he even had the idea of murder. What a dumb thing to do.

Today, people’s appearance effects how people treat them and act around them. Let alone, killing someone is never the right thing to do. The man who killed the man with the strange eye is insane and out of his mind.

Patriot's Pen

            Do you ever think about all of the people who sacrifice their lives for our country? Young men live in Iraq for a couple of months at a time. When they come home to see their families, there is a burst of joy and everyone is in tears. People in our country help others every day and make their lives better. We have freedom. People can do whatever they want without hurting anyone physically or mentally. What the United States needs to do right now is bring back the economy and make more jobs for people. To do this, we all need to compromise and work together to make our country a better place.

           

Christmas Tree

         Christmas trees. The forest green kings of Christmas. Their scent of fresh pine needles and sap. The prickly needles that  prick your hands when putting up ornaments. Decorating the tree with all kinds of shapes and colors of design. Their shine that will blind your eyes if you stare too long. The tingling of jingle bells rings through your ears as someone brushes by the tree. You are the thing that children run to on Christmas Day. And most of all, you fill our hearts with hope.

Peter Pan with a Twist

Peter is getting more frustrated and annoyed by the second. Wendy is telling extremely bad jokes and laughs like a snorting wart hog. As soon as they reach Peter’s home, he gestures Tinkerbell to fly over to him. He explains his plan of telling Wendy that there is a volcano that will be erupting soon and that they need to fly back to her home. They start to leave and Tinkerbell sprinkles some pixie dust on Wendy. All of the sudden while flying up in the air, she screams, falls, and makes a big splash in the water. The dancing crocodile eats her up. “Glug glug munch”.

Jonsey and Teddy

          In an underwater restaurant lived Jonsey, the bomb diffuser who use to  live in Iraq. He spent day and night defusing bombs at a rate that no one could count. His best friend, Teddy the turtle, worked with him and now own a restaurant together. While cooking up some fresh clam chowder with his cuddly teddy bear, Teddy felt a shudder and out of no where came an octopus. He snatched Teddy with his slimy tentacles along with his teddy bear, and stormed out the door.

The Story of an Hour

            In the short story, The Story of an Hour, the setting takes place at Mr. and Mrs. Mallard’s home. The characters are Louise Mallard, the housewife, Brently Mallard, the husband, Josephene, Mrs. Mallard’s sister, and Richards, Josephene’s husband’s friend. A tragic problem occurs when Mrs. Mallard comes down the stairs.

            After Josephene receives the news of Mr. Mallard’s death from the railroad disaster, she has to inform Mrs. Mallard of the news very wisely and carefully. Josephene tells her in hints and slow sentences.  Mrs. Mallard has heart trouble and too much of a shock might cause a heart attack. As soon as Mrs. Mallard gets the hint, she runs upstairs weeping. This is the rising action.

            Mrs. Mallard stares out the window and sees the tops of trees and partial blue sky. She cries and sobs like a baby while slouching in a cushioned chair. A thought comes into her mind but she can’t process it. Then it comes to her. She is free. There would be no one for her to live for anymore. She did love her husband though, most of the time at least. Then she hears her sister outside the door begging for her to come out. This is also part of the rising action.

            Mrs. Mallard explains that she is okay and they both walk down the stairs. Someone opens the door with a latchkey and Mr. Mallard walks in. Richards tries to hide him but it is too late and Mrs. Mallard sees him alive. This is the climax. He is completely unharmed and was far away from the accident. It turns out that Mrs. Mallard suffered from a heart disease-of a joy that kills. This is the falling action and the resolution is that Mrs. Mallard dies.