Mockingbird Essay #4

      In How to kill a Mockingbird Tom Robinson overcomes a lot of obstacles. Everything that Tom Robinson goes through really changes him. Here are a few ways Tom Robinson overcomes obstacles throughout the book.

    One obstacle Tom Robinson faces is the court case. He was very honest throughout the entire case yet was continuously accused of rape and giving her a black eye.

“Then what happened?”

“Mr. Finch, I was runnin‘ so fast I didn’t know what happened.”

“Tom, did you rape Mayella Ewell?”

“I did not, suh.”

“Did you harm her in any way?”

“I did not, suh.”

“Did you resist her advances?”

Page.104

The plaintiff made up many different realistic scenarios that could have been possible and made it seem like Tom actually did them when in reality he didn’t. One of the things he said was that tom was strong enough to lift up Mayella with one hand. Even though his left arm was crippled and Mayella’s dad is left handed they still made it seem like it was Tom.

Another obstacle Tom faced in To Kill a Mockingbird was racism. Throughout the entire book there was tons of racism mostly against Tom. Especially in court when Tom was clearly not guilty they would still say he is guilty because he is a black man. Whether it was in court or anywhere else people did not treat Tom right throughout the entire book.

"Scout," said Atticus, "nigger-lover is just one of those terms that don't mean anything—like snot-nose. It's hard to explain—ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody's favoring Negroes over and above themselves. It's slipped into usage with some people like ourselves, when they want a common, ugly term to label somebody."

"You aren't really a nigger-lover, then, are you?"

"I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody... I'm hard put, sometimes—baby, it's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt you."

Pg.107

One last obstacle Tom faced was the aftermath of the trial. He was facing jail time and he came to the realization that he would never be treated fairly and attempted to escape the prison but died.

“To Maycomb, Tom's death was typical. Typical of a nigger to cut and run. Typical of a nigger's mentality to have no plan, no thought for the future, just run blind first chance he saw.”

Pg.128

Those are a few obstacles Tom faced in the book To Kill a Mockingbird.

Old man in the sea by Ernest Hemingway. Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1952. Genre: Fiction

A classic book that will bore you

The old man is about an old man named Santiago fishing in the sea and he gets a 1000 pound marlin that bites his line. The old man spent several days at sea trying to reel in the huge fish so he could tie it to the side of his boat. Eventually he got the fish close enough to throw a spear at it and he tied it to the side of the boat. The book ended with the old man trying to defend off sharks that kept biting away at the dead marlin on the side of his boat until the old man was left with no marlin and wasted all of his time trying to catch the great fish.

“The writing was repetitious and predictable. Very disappointing from such a renowned writer” -Amazon comment (Dulcinea)

I choose this quote because the old man in the sea is a very repetitious book and is a lot of the same. Almost the entire book is based around an old man fishing in the sea and the amount of detail describing some of the things are very  redundant and useless. I wish the fishing portion of the book would be a bit shorter and the conclusion of the book would be longer maybe with the old man talking to the boy and the other fisherman.

The books writing style is highly based on detail. There is a lot of detail. The author describes an old man fishing a 1000 pound marlin for almost the entire book thats how much detail is in this short novel. Nothing in this book lacks (in terms of detail), if anything there is too much.

“It was was cold after the sun went down and the old man’s sweat dried cold on his back and his arms and his legs.” -Ernest hemingway (pg.47)

Although if i was to compare this book to any book I would probably compare it to Our Town because the book also has a lot of useless dialogue. Although in terms of different things going on in the book Our Town had a lot more going on. Again, The old man in the sea takes place in the sea for 90 pages.

“A man can be destroyed but not defeated”

The quote above to me means that you can be destroyed and feel like nothing is going your way, but you're never defeated. You can can just keep trying and trying until it goes your way. Kind of like a game; you can lose a game of basketball but the next game you come back striving to do better and you win.

If i were to compare this book to a life story i would probably compare it to the snowstorm when we had no electricity and there was nothing to do. I would rather do nothing then read this book because it was that boring. Overall i rate this book 1/5 paws. Its not worth your time reading this book and i had to force myself to read through it.

The missing dog

 Authors Notes:
1. I'm not really trying to get anything across but just make a surprise at the end when what he thought happened didn't. 
2. I think the twist at the end was the easiest to right and kind of pulled the whole story together to make it the most interesting.
3. The weak areas of my paper are probably the detail within the story for certain parts. 
4. I would like feedback on spelling & grammar.

     Justin woke up on a Saturday morning. As usual he woke up late in the morning but he had a hockey game at 12:00 so he had to get ready. About an hour before he was going to his hockey game he thought he would take his dog. He remembered that his dog slept in his bed so where was he now? He figured the his mom let his dog out of his room so he went to go ask his mom where his dog went and she said he was out in the back yard. So he went out in the back yard and there was a hole in the fence where his dog was suppose to be. He was in the woods.





    Max! Max where are you! Justin jumped over his fence into the woods and ran for thirty minutes looking for his dog when he stumbled upon a cave. He figured theres no way he would go in through the cave. Its way too dark to go through there. As he turned to go look through more places in the woods he heard a loud bark in the cave. He jumped and turned and he looked in the cave. It was pitch dark and you could not see anything. He took out his phone and used it as a light source. He traveled through the cave for hours looking for his dog then all of a sudden he got to where the sound was. It was a tape recording of a dog barking...

 

      He was so confused and frustrated at what happened. So many things were running through his head. How hes going to get out, where his dog is now, why is this here, etc. All of a sudden his phone shut off and he was in pitch darkness. He heard a loud noise then a laughter. Then someone the phrase “Welcome to hell hahaha” echoed throughout the cave. Justin was more scared then confused at this point. He started running and ran into a wall. He was trying his best to be as careful as possible so he didn’t hurt himself again but he wanted to get away from this person. As he was running he got stopped at a dead end and a wall raised behind him. All of a sudden the room filled with tear gas and Jason fell asleep.
    Jason woke up. He was now in a very small room tied up to a wall. A guy walked into the room who was very tall and had body armor on. He said,

 
 
“Do you know who i am?”
“No... What, what did you do to my dog! Why am i here?!"
“Oh, no worries your dog is right here. Why are you here? Thats a good question. Well you won’t be here for long.”

The guy integrating Jason now pointed a gun at him. He shot him once and left the room.Jason was now bleeding out. Right when he was on the brink of death he woke up. He opened his eyes and he was in a hospital.

“What? Where am I?” Jason said slowly

 “You’re in the hospital. You had a concussion. If it makes you feel any better we won the game on a powerplay because of the guy who got a penalty who checked you. You should be back on your feet in time for the playoff game!”

“But, but what about Max? He ran through my fence and I had to go jump over my fence to get him! I thought he was in the woods but then I came across a cave and he was inside the cave and some weird guy shot me and i was about to die!”

    “Wow that must have been some dream you had Jason! Haha. Don’t worry you will be better soon. Must have been them medication they put you on.”
    The next day Jason woke up. His mom was right beside him reading a magazine. His mom said, “Oh Jason you’re awake. Are you ready to go home now? Jason said, “Yeah. Lets go home”. Jason’s mom brought him back home. It was one hour before Jason’s playoff game. Jason took a nap right before his game to make sure he had plenty of energy when he played his game. He went down stairs and asked his mom where his dog was. He wanted to take his dog for a walk before the game and so he could get some exercise too. She said he was outside on the lawn. So Jason went outside to see where his dog was. There was a hole inside the fence...

Value Essay

Priceless or Worthless?

     

     During the holiday seasons there are a lot of things you put price tags on. Whether it’s a computer, clothes, gift cards, etc.. Although how about the priceless memories individuals have during that time that can’t be bought? Maybe a time you went on vacation to Cape Cod. Maybe something you own is mass produced and you can get it really cheap, but it has sentimental value to you. Maybe you have a basketball that you could go to the store and buy for $15 but its worth much more to you because its the first ever basketball you got. We value some things we own more than others. Although some memories or items are priceless.

     My Xbox 360 was priced around $300 when I got it. Its shape is hard to describe but its a rectangular shape that curves up to the top and bottom of the Xbox. It is black and very shiny. The Xbox also comes in two different models. The 250gb hard drive and the 4gb. I got the 250gb hard drive because you have to download lots of updates from games that take up to 2gbs and download different games onto your hard drive. As for playing games on the xbox there’s not much to say. The xbox runs all my games pretty well and I also use it to watch videos, movies, and the internet as well as many other things. Although my xbox 360 is something i can go right to a store and buy. That and the fact that it really has no meaning to me its just something that plays games for me is the reason I don't value it that much.
   
     Its that time of the year again. Summer vacation. A time to relax, take a swim in the pool, sleep in, and go to Bermuda! Yes, during my summers we usually always go to at least one place over the summer over vacation. Whether it’s going to visit Cape Cod or Lake George where we have been many times before, or going somewhere exotic and new like Bermuda. I would say the cruise to Bermuda was one of my favorite vacations of all times. Not just because the crystal clear water and the sand is as perfect as it can possibly be, but because of the priceless memories. One of the ones I remember is going scuba diving in the ocean. The water was so warm you didn’t even have to wear a water suit! We got to see a variety of sea creatures, and we even got to touch some of them. It was definitely nothing like I have ever done before, but it’s something I would do again if given the opportunity.
   
     My Xbox 360 and vacation memories are very difficult to compare. They’re obviously out of the ordinary and are completely different for each other. There is a way that they are both similar, however. I value them both.   I can’t relive those priceless memories from my vacation. As for the xbox 360 I could go buy a new one, but even if I do get a new one I would still value it. I spend quite a bit of time on it and it is fun to play games.

     Two things that are different about the vacation memory and the Xbox 360 is that one is something you can touch or visually see, whereas the other item is just a distant memory from when you went on vacation, but it was one of the best vacations. Another thing that is different between the two is that one can be purchased if it breaks while the other one is just a memory, it can’t break or be lost.

     I value these items in different ways. I value my Xbox because of the time I spent on it and mostly just because it’s fun to play. I value my vacation memories because you can’t go and buy them at the store. They are once in a lifetime experiences and you can’t change that. I also value my vacation memories because of the fun things we did in Bermuda.
  
     Overall we all value something in different ways. Something useless to me could be worth a lot to someone else. It’s very interesting to see some people digging around dumpsters for old antique items on some of the t.v. shows. Although when they restore it they may be restoring a memory for someone who had the same car or same item back when they were younger. The value of an item varies on who the person is. Think again when you see something lying around and you think it’s useless, just remember, there may just be a person who values that much more than you do.

Catching the Contender

Alfred- The Contender
Katniss- Catching Fire  

    It was 11:00 pm and Alfred Brooks has won the most important boxing match of his career. He won by technical knockout and was heading back to his house in his friend’s truck.

“That was a great match Alfred.” Said; Alfred’s Friend

“Thanks, and after only 2 minutes into round 1.”

“Yep. That was a great match. Although you really got to keep some ice on that eye. Its really swollen.”

“Yeah i know.”

“Ok were here. Well that was a great match Alfred see you at the gym tomorrow.”

“Ok see you later.”

Alfred got out of the car in the dark night sky as his friend took off in his truck. As Alfred walked into his house he went into his bedroom to go to sleep after a long fight.

The next day Alfred woke up went for a jog and when he got backed called his coach, Mr. Donatelli. He told him he was gonna stay at home and keep some ice on his swollen eye. His coach said it was fine and he deserves a day off after the amazing fight he had. Alfred watched some t.v. while applying ice to his face and went to take a quick nap. He woke up and looked at the clock and was surprised to see it was already 7:30 pm. He decided to take one more quick jog. Although instead of taking his usual jog he decided to jog along the path behind his house in the woods. He thought it would be nice to switch it up and so he went through the gate and started jogging through the woods...

After about 15 minutes Alfred decided to turn around because it was getting dark and Alfred’s eyes was affecting his vision. As he turned around he heard a loud scream coming from about 50 feet away. He wasn’t sure if he should run away or go towards the scream. He decided it was dangerous because it was so dark out but whoever needed help he must go try to help them. Alfred approached a body laying on the ground. He was sure they were dead. He found a note taped on the body that said “I’m going to kill you.” Alfred ran as fast as he could towards his house. As he was running he saw someone jumping tree to tree following him. Alfred tripped on a rock poking out of the smooth dirt path. Then he felt an arrow pierce through the side of his thigh. He couldn’t move as the bow was stuck in the ground and everytime he tried to pull it out he felt a pain rush through his thigh. He heard footsteps behind him. He saw a girl with a sword attached to her leg. She also had a bow loaded into her bow and arrow as she approached him.

“Aww so sad. It seems you you’re stuck in a ‘tight’ situation haha. Its to bad i’m going to have to kill you.”

“You, You don’t understand! I’m not the person you want please don’t kill me! I’m Alfred brooks, a boxer, the next contender for a huge boxing match coming up. Please, Please don’t kill me!”

“Well, Well, looks as if your my next Contender on who wants to lose the Hunger Games.”

“What are you talking abo-”

Before Alfred could answer Katniss decapitated him with her machete. But Alfred couldn’t believe what happened next. He woke up with his coach, Mr. Donatelli standing next to him in a room with a doctor in it.

    “Ughh my head hurts so badly. What, What happened?”
    “Oh Alfred you became unconscious after your opponent sent an insanely powerful right hook into the side of your face. You have been unconscious for the past 30 minutes. Although you put up a good fight. You made it to the third round. For now just get some rest Alfred.”
    “Mr. Donatelli you don’t understand! I won that match in the first round by TKO. I got chased by some crazy girl in the woods and they killed me! And, and-”
    “Calm down Alfred! Just get some rest. You obviously had one crazy dream... it must have been that book you read. Catching Fire.