Every human being experiences a  point  when they need to mature and fend for themselves.  We can’t live as a carless child all of are life, but the coming of age is tough to deal with. When you do mature to that state where you understand who are and who are not the people you need to be hanging around with, but it takes courage to do something about it. It's hard to let someone go as a friend especially if they were the closet friend you had all through elementary school. Like a chain your friend ships evolve as does yourself. Your personal outlook on life, your beliefs all morph to yourself opinions.  Your opinions will never be the same as they were as a child thus the fact that if you loose common interest or beliefs it can tear apart your friendships. We all mature at different periods and begin to fend for ourselves.  If a friend was holding you back evolving into the person you want to be and getting themselves into serious trouble its very difficult to do the "right" thing. There's a difference between knowing what's right and what is wrong but actually taking action and risking the you relationship with a friend to possibly better both of your lives. The possibly part is the thing that catches most of us. Its nearly impossible to say you live with no regrets. As much as all of us would like to believe it there is always that part of our mind that wanders and tears apart every detail of a situation, and start to play the "what if" game with it.  From personal experience it is one of the hardest thing to do. Risk a great friendship to possibly better both lives, and even save a life.  Although no one views the world the same, and if you’re the one getting into serious trouble because a friend snitched on you it would be difficult to understand the caring gesture behind it.  The great deal of respect for a person that you would give up everything you have with them.

The vovux our group made is a series of word warped into a picture of a chain. Each link representing another step of evolution beginning with innocence and traveling to experienced. Everyday there's a progression of change, but we broke it down into core sections. The colors representing each stage. As an infant we are pure, white. Around the age of nine we begin doing everything to please our parents, and the progression of our life warps the personal decisions we make, and we become ourselves making the transition to self limited, and experienced. 

Honesty is Respect

If we respect each other why do we lie? Why do we hide the truth, and loose are honest opinions with a false alibi.  The fake images we see of people become a safety net for the person to hide themselves.Once you hide yourself and your beliefs behind a mask they become pointless.

Society today does not comprehend honesty. We believe that it is rude to answer a question truthfully becoming an automatic answering machine.  Truth is respect, but respect is difficult to express if you are frightened of the outcome, scared of others expectations, and there acceptance of your answer. Why don’t we accept the truth?

"People blind themselves from the truth"- Playto's Allegory of the cave: A conclusion we can also draw from Mark Haddon’s novel The curious incident of the dog in the night-time.  Mr. Bonne’s attempt to keep Christopher from the truth showed his lack of trust and respect for him. Truth is respect, but respect is difficult to express if you are frightened of the outcome, scared of others expectations, and there acceptance of your answer.  It’s easy to lie, therefore possibly the reason for his actions towards Christopher, but honesty is worth so much more.

Your Opinion is more meaningful than any lie even if it makes things better for a moment. In deference to someone be honesty. The truth may hurt, but can bring you closer to one another. Do not let your voice become lost in your lies.

"Courage is a kind of Salvation"

Each night the stories retold until burned into your memory. Unaware of its strength, because of how ancient it has become. You’re always prepared to be recalled to recite the passages for the final time, but for now passing them down secretively amongst one another to keep our literature alive. As long as I'm living the pages are safe, because no one can take what I know away from me. Somewhere inside I doubt that my knowledge will be protected, but I believe that somewhere I will be saved. The moments that are unknown you will fear, but the sacrifices you make will save you in the future.

Fear that lies hidden in the shadows of Guy Montag's past, and forces him to question the world and its moments to come. Forces the scars of Guy's past to become noticeable. Becoming scared and unhappy with his life, and frightened of the distopic fairytale vision that awaits him he begins searching for answers. Clarisse begins to show him the truth of his life, and slowly fear creeps into his mind. “But he knew his mouth had only moved to say hello, and then when she [Clarisse] seemed hypnotized by the salamander on his arm and the phoenix disc on his chest." The phoenix is a symbol of Montag as a loner about to travel on an adventure of rebirth as he questions his world, and the actuality of his job. Montag is terrified of his future, because he regrets his past and fears how it will affect his future.

The guilt builds his fear terrifying Montag even more. In the beginning of the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Montag says, "So it was the hand that started it all…his hand, with a brain of its own, with a conscience and a curiosity in each trembling finger, had turned thief… he could feel the poison working up his wrist and soon through his arms". He begins feeling guilty for what he has done, causing the death of an innocent woman. “They sat there looking out the front of the great Salamander as they turned a corner and went silently on” the salamander symbolizes the fire truck, and in this case Montag deals with the actual fire he helped start and the internal conflict or "fire" of the woman burning, and is terrified of the outcome of his future.

Fear has become a recurring factor in his life, until now. When Montag finally looks within himself to understand he cannot live life fearing the moments ahead or you might as well not live life at all. Montag takes his situation and turns his life around. He feels he needs to prove to himself that his past may have already been done, but his future is still up to him. He can release the poison from his body, and become himself again. Upon realizing this he risks everything he has for the existence of literature letting all the fear he has go. His sacrifices through running and hiding saved him in the end. Once finally reaching his destination across the river, and finding others like him who have memorized several different books. When the bomb exploded killing everyone, Montag was saved. His sacrifices he made saved him in his future.

"Courage is a kind of salvation" a quote said by Plato describes Montag well. Montag courageously got over his fears, and risked everything for the life of literature. Therefore salvation saved him in his end. You can’t let fear control your futures outcome. When your courageous salvation will save you in your future making all you risked worth it.

Pain Will Only Strenghen Us

Running, striding, running, running, running, falling, crashing. This pain strikes like a lightning bolt exploding in every part of my body. Each movement of my feet reminds me of the fall. A moment passes, and the pain continues. Standing, running, continuing. I have to finish what I have started, and I won’t give up. In the hardest of moments where pain questions are strength we prove our power, and show it only makes us stronger.

“What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger”- a quote said by Friedrich Nietzsche proves to us that what you are going through will only make you stronger in time to come. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury the protagonist Guy Montag discovers pain throughout the novel. An incident that he faced was when Clarisse died. He suffered through the pain of his loss, and managed to use it as knowledge. This pain can only strengthen Montag, unless it defeats him.

Pain is weakness leaving the body. After Montag had faced the death of Clarisse, he was stronger and more prepared for when he learned the truth about his wife. He also uses his experience of these situations when he hurt his leg, because instead of giving up he continued on and struggled through the pain but never gave up.

We can’t let pain defeat us we have to prove our strength. When we face the hard times, we can’t let them defeat us. They can only make us stronger, and help us in the future.

Patriotism in Our Country

Gathered around the table by your family, warm potatoes are passed around, and turkey begins being carved. You bow your head, and take a moment to realize what as an American we have to be grateful for. Today's society forgets about the great life we have due to patriotism, and how much there is for us to be proud of.

“We Americans suffer occasional setbacks, but we have so much to be proud of.”-as said by Dave Strang, proves to us that when there is the minor setbacks we face, but our patriotism to ones country is everything our nation stands for. Patriotism is the fight to protect our culture, love, and faith we owe to our nation. People who show their devotion to our nation keep the peace and stability of our government. Without patriots our country would be chaos.

Take the chaos in North Korea for example. Because no one there shows the love and apreatation they have for their country, no one cares what happen to their nation. Many have given up on their government, and will let their country get run over by others. Therefore patriotism is very important for the structure of a country.

In America some show their patriotism through fighting for our country. I come from a family of many who have served in the military. My aunt served 10 years in the navy, currently her son is enrolled in the navy, and serving overseas in California aboard a ship. This same cousin’s father and Uncle served in the navy for numerous years. Although being away from your family and friends is difficult, because of people like them who will sacrifice such things to serve our country keeps our nation under control.

We take our country for granted occasionally, but we need to stop and remember how without patriots and the men and women who sacrifice their life to keep the peace of our nation it would be chaos. Patriotism most definitely still matters and we need to take time to think about how life would be without it.

Power Will Corrupt

You sit there in the corner of the meeting room silent like a shadow in the dark thinking about the horrible tragedy that will occur once this is over. You’re a witness to scared to speak up. It’s easy for you to sit there, and think about how this is a terrible mistake to give someone total control, but much harder for you to actually let your thoughts be heard. When you have all the power it’s guaranteed to corrupt. This is exactly what happens in Animal Farm by George Orwell.
Many think that they will be able to control themselves, but in Animal Farm it shows that there is no true way around it. Boxer is a hard working horse taken advantage of. He does his best and has trust that Napoleon, their leader, will be faithful, but is lied to and disrespected. One of the first signs that Napoleon had too much power was that. When he began to take advantage of one of his most loyal followers. It shows that Napoleon knew that he had total control over the animals. He did not worry about them becoming upset, because he knew that they did not have enough courage to stand up to him. Napoleon beat his fellow comrades down until they had no strength to build themselves back up, to take him down. They were lied to over and over again until they could not tell the truth from the lies.
The lies did begin to pile on, until the animals believed every word that escaped from Napoleons mouth was the truth. In the begin of the growth of their society the pigs meant no harm. They had six rules that stated:

1. All animals are equal.
2. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall drink alcohol.
5. No animal shall kill any other animal.
6. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend
7. No animal shall sleep in a bed.

These rules were expected to be followed by every animal, but as time carried on mysterious incidents occurred. The pigs did not treat themselves equally to the rest of the animals, because they felt they were more valuable, and intelligent. After awhile more extreme outbreaks transpired. One of the most important rules was “Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy”. This rule was created because when you stand on two legs your mimicking the humans. One night Boxer caught Squealer and Napoleon walking on two legs! Another time they were drinking alcohol, and sleeping in beds. Boxer never spoke up about these occurrences because he was terrified of Napoleon. Napoleon handled the animals by killing them -- another rule that was broken.

By breaking these rules they slowly exactly what they did not want to become. They were exact images of the humans. The animals were lied to, and believed these propagandas, but even when they found out they kept silent, and went along with these lies. The pigs original intent was to treat everyone equal, but the power was to much for them. No matter how hard they tried they couldn’t help being corrupted by power.

Tom Sawyer Summative Essay

     As a child your imagination takes you to extraordinary places. Those times when you would play pirate by digging for the buried treasure in the sand box in the summer heat. This thought that when this treasure is found all your cares in the world will disappear, and happiness will flood inside of you. For you think that just one moment all your problems will be solved by your delight. The truth to the matter is that no matter how much money this treasure has to offer, it will never buy your happiness.
    
     Money ... money is all many of these characters can seem to think about. Around midnight lurking in the graveyard Tom, and Huck heard other voices directly next to them. Peeking out from behind a bush, Tom recognized the familiar faces, Injun Joe and Muff Potter. As they saw this terrible tragedy committed before their very eyes, Injun Joe had stabbed Dr. Robinson, and then convinced the innocent Potter that he had killed the doctor while drunk. All of this happened because of money. These men were going to rob the grave until something took a turn for the worst. Today money means everything; it gets the best of some, and makes people like Injun Joe do things they wouldn’t normally do otherwise.
    
     This thought of money got to Tom and Huck’s head too, as they headed of down the river to Jackson’s island. There they had decided to become pirates by searching this island for hidden treasure. Intrigued by the thought that when they found this treasure all their problems would be solved. That there would be no more talk of how to ever pay for things, and not only will this money cure there issues, they will become heroic characters. Ones who others look up to for risking there lives to find such a marvelous prize. A treasure that no one has ever been able to find before, but these two young men could. and when they are the richest men they will become famous. It’s just this: Money plays such an important role in the world that we would do such events for it. We have risked our lives for publicity. These kinds of things are crazy and unrealistic, but we do them anyway.
    
     This treasure that was found in the deep corners of the cave, and Tom had inveigled Injun Joe as to where to find it, Tom and Huck became heroes as they had wished. But was had was not wanted as they lived this actual experience. This treasure beheld more money than anyone had ever seen at once, $12,000. Happiness was not found with this treasure, and Tom and Huck both came to realize that the life they had was great. The careless life they lived in innocence was the key to happiness and they must to except this fact.

Role models in life

     Guidance through our early years of life is essential. We all need someone to look up to as a role model. Whether it’s an older sibling, friend, or parent, somebody becomes a mentor for you. They will guide us through life. As we learn from their mistakes, and become our own person, we find your own dislikes and likes. When we become older we discover these things we had convinced our selves of must be sorted from the actual truth.

     Follow that person you look up to in life, but don’t do what is wrong just because they do. Tom makes this mistake in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He learns things from Huckleberry Finn. He makes decisions based off of what he has learned from Huck. When a child looks up to you for guidance you need to be careful what you do around them. In the story when Huck was smoking his pipe, Tom got curious and decide to try it. He is hurting himself, and does not know it is bad, because of the things he is normally around. To him this is a natural environment, and nothing more.

     Things aren’t always this serious as they were with Tom, for me. My role model was my sister, Taylor. When I was younger I tried to be like her in every single way. Whether it was things like what food I liked, or what I was afraid of. My sister didn’t like jelly, so she would eat just peanut butter sandwiches. Since she didn’t like it, neither did I. I had convinced myself that I actually didn’t like jelly. I never ate jelly again until 6th grade when my dad told me that I would like it, and I did. I had discovered that what I had thought when I younger was just because I wanted to be like Taylor. There were many things I had thought I disliked, but truthfully I had liked them, or never even tried them. I was discovering my own likes, and dislikes.
Looking up to someone when were younger is an experience that teaches us we shouldn’t be someone were not. We all need to grow up at some point, and become our own person. Learn from those around you and discover the Truth.

Tom sawyer: sub-themes

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Essay

This perplexed situation is a rough one. Your head is filled with this confusion, and fear of what will become of you. Everyone goes through it as they make this journey. It’s that time when you feel that everything in the world is against you. You want to run away, but it’s your life and your roots will always be apart of you, no matter how far you go. This part of life is a struggle as, you, the innocent seed grows into an experienced tree, but it always is for everyone, and we must have the courage to continue on.


Courage is shown in Francie on Christmas, when she stands up against the tree with Neely’s help. The symbolism in this passage is tremendous, when the tree is hurled at her and Neely, and they don’t back down. If she is this tree herself, then this tree being hurled at her is the bully. It is as if she is standing up against the evil forces in the world. Every day she becomes a little less innocent, because of these things in her life.

Francie always worried about the life ahead as an innocent child. She fears the future, because she doesn’t know what will become if her. Take the time outside of the bread store for instance. When she saw the old man she became frightened, because the thought of growing old and not being needed any longer is scary to her. She starred for a long time at the old mans toes, peeking out of his holed shoes. Feet are a symbol and they represent your past. Basically she was wondering about his past, and how he got to where he is today.

Even though this time in Francie’s life is hard as it was for anyone she doesn’t let it get her down. She becomes more experienced and knowledgeable from these events in her life every day. These event may be knowledgeable but they are the ones we have the least control over, but courage is important to get through this time and we must never forget it.

A tree Grows in Brooklyn response 2- responsibility

You sit on the couch watching your favorite TV show when your mother comes in to ask you to take the garbage out. Instead of taking out the revolting trash you sit back down on the couch and continue to watch TV and hope that your mother will do your chore instead. What you should have done was take the trash out and then come back to your show. You can not depend on others to do your work through life because one day you will be on your own, and by learning at an early age you become very mature.

During the time this book was written the responsibility kids were given were much grater then what is given to today’s children. In the book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn the duties Francie is given teaches her maturity. She must run to the store to by food for the family, and her brother, Neely, and her must look for scraps of metal to sell for pennies. Francie does not depend on her family, her family depends on her for many things. Her responsibilities in this book are much greater than her younger brother's. When they take the scraps of metal to the junk yard she is the one whose cheek gets pinched in order to get the extra penny. Also when her mother decides that Nelly and Francie are to old to share a room Neely is the one who gets his own room while Francie and her mother, Katie, get to share a room. When Johnny died Katie had to buy new black clothes for the kids. Neely gets a nice black suit while Francie gets black shoes and is forced to where her green winter jacket. When her family was in need of money she would have been the one who had to drop out of school to get her working papers not Neely.

Francie is given all these responsibilities, and is the one making all the compromises, yet in return she is not receiving anything. She does not struggle with this or complain, because she understands that she must do this for her family. Francie comes to understand, that you must do what you are asked, and not depend on others.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Response- regret

Who in their life hasn't done something they later wished they could take back? Maybe you said something you wish you hadn't, but you know once it’s been said there is nothing you can do to change it. Once something has been done for others to see we can only do minor things to reduce the regret and live in sorrow.

In the novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Francie and those around her face regret throughout the book. Francie's mother, Katie Nolan, regrets how her love for her son, Neely, is much stronger than her love for Francie. Katie loves her daughter out of pity, and regrets that she can't feel the same love she feels for Francie as she does for Neely. Francie was the best writer in her class, but Katie never took the time to read anything Francie wrote. Eventually Katie apologizes that she never read any of Francie's compositions. Johnny, Katie's husband, is very repentant because he is addicted to alcohol and uses the money from his tips for alcohol and not to support his family. The owner of the saloon that Johnny works at, Mr. McGarrity is remorseful because Mr. McGarrity does not love his own wife and children. Mr. McGarrity hopes that someday his wife, Mae, will come to him and say that their children are not his. Whenever Johnny talks to Mr. McGarrity about Johnny's children, Mr. McGarrity pretends that the achievements of Johnny's children are actually things Mr. McGarrity's own children have done. After Johnny dies, Mr. McGarrity hires Johnny's children, Neely and Francie, to talk to him.

Being regretful is not something we want to feel, but should when you know that what you have done is not right. Regret is a part of life, and something we must all live with. When you apologize it can help make the person you hurt, and yourself, feel better, but can never change the things you have done.

Veterans Response

      Veterans are important to the world. These brave men and women fight for the freedom of our country. Everyday you can honor veterans, but especially on days that are dedicated to them you should show your support by putting your American flag out. Memorial Day and Labor Day are the only national holidays dedicated for our soldiers and veterans of our nation.


     Having only two days detected to the honor and remembrance of our veterans is not enough for what they do for our country. There should be a veterans honor month. Veterans honor month would be similar to black history month. This month is detected to the heroes of our country. It would also be to remember those who died for our country. Every day in that month people will have their flags hung outside on their flagpole or door. If one of your family members is away from home serving your country you can tie a yellow ribbon around a tree outside your house to signify there solidarity with soldiers in battle.

     On the third Tuesday of that month everyone in town would gather for a big parade. All veterans and soldiers who lived in town would be part of the parade. When they marched by everyone would stand quietly with their hand on top of their heart, hats off their head, and sing the national anthem as the American flag is held high in the air.

     So the next time you see someone in uniform go up to them and thank them for their service. Thank them for protecting us from war in our country, and for keeping our world safe and civilized. We need a veterans honor month so they know that we appreciate their services to our country.

"All summers in a Day" response

     You sit on the swing at recess with no one to talk to, no one to play with. A girl, Sally, across the grass playing soccer comes over to you, and invites you to play with them. You deny her offer, and continue to sit on the swing, moping, and gently swaying on the lonely swing set. You keep yourself separate from other children. By denying Sally's offer, you’re isolating yourself from the world. The isolation Margot made was during tag. You can't exclude yourself from the world or others around us, or we will loose hope in ourselves.

      When Margot excluded herself from the game tag she pushed herself even further away from others. She put herself in a corner to be alone. Margot also didn't speak up for herself. In the story when she knew she was right about the sun coming out. She sat in silence while the other children made fun of her poem. She ignored them and continued to let her self be invisible. Even though she knows the sun is going to come out. “Those who believe are rewarded with the Truth”, and that’s what Margot needs the Truth. You need to stand up for yourself and for what you believe in.

      This Tragic short story shows us just that. We must stand up for ourselves to keep from death of our dreams. To keep them from being crushed for then we loose faith and hopelessness will come upon you with only yourself left to blame. Sometimes even standing up may not be enough, you need to let yourself be taken in by others around us. Let them accept you.

English Classroom

You sit in hard chairs attached by metal bars to cold, hard, brown desks, as the English teacher drones on about the subject we talked about yesterday. Tuning out everything around you, while doodling on the notebook in front of you, dozing off, dreaming about the pb+j  sandwich you have for lunch, you struggle to make it through the day. Until the person in front of you coughs, and it’s back to reality, homework. The way the English room is designed should be a place where the environment is a free thinking, and a place where kids like learning in.


To start I would get rid of this horrible linoleum flooring, and replace it with shag carpet. Not dull white, or gray carpet, but electric blue carpet. This color will give the room a more creative vibe. Because there is carpet, it will be much more comfortable to sit on the floor. Especially since it is shag carpet too.

After changing the floor, the next thing to take care of would have to be furnishings. The room would be divided so you can actually travel to different places as you write. By having one corner be a study with a sunken floor, fire place a couch, and surrounded in twenty foot high book shelves. Another area would be a beach. There you could walk barefoot across the sand to the little one- foot pond filled with water, or sit in beach chairs and lay on towels on top of the sand. On the side of the room one of the areas would look like your in the woods. A place with a campfire to roast marshmallows, and wood logs for benches around the fire.

Other areas of the room will be just for comfort and fun. With beanbags and chairs that hang form the ceiling to do this. One of the fun things in the room is the trampolines. You can flip of the trampolines into the foam pit, or climb up the rock wall and dive into the pool of purple foam cubes. On top of the roof it would be an open grassy area where you can sit outside and enjoy the fresh air. There would also be a veggie garden would also be on the roof as well. The quietest place in the room is the coffee shop. It’s one of the best places to read and write stories. The last place in the room is an important research area. Laptops and a gigantic Mac computer for presentations would be included in the room.

In addition to the carpeted floors, the walls would have furry carpet on them as well. This carpet on the wall will be yellow. Yellow is a happy color so it has a good affect on your mood. Carpeted walls make the room unique, and gives the room a different look than normal.

All of these things will help improve the way you think of writing, and gives you a place to enjoy it. A place where when someone says English you think good thoughts. Not desk and cement walls. That exciting, creative place, you love writing in. That is an environment you want to learn in.