My Favorite Twist

The story that I found most entertaining was “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty. The author used irony in order to make this story suspenseful and shocking. In the story it states, “Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face” (O’Flaherty 4). In this quote, the author is using situational irony. The author completely twists the ending and it’s not what people expect to happen in the end. O’Flaherty also used suspense in order to make this story entertaining. Throughout the beginning of the story, the author uses the character who is the Sniper, as a way to create suspense. In the story it says, “He paused for a moment,  considering whether he should risk a smoke. It was dangerous. The flash might be seen in the darkness, and there were enemies watching. He decided to take the risk” (O’Flaherty 1 ). The author uses this quote to make the reader be in suspense and wonder what will happen next to the sniper once he lights his cigarette. He uses words like dangerous, risk, and darkness in order to leave the reader in suspense. Another technique the author uses is symbolism. In the story it states, “His face was the face of a student, thin and ascetic, but his eyes had the cold gleam of the fanatic. They were deep and thoughtful, the eyes of a man who is used to looking at death” (O’Flaherty 1). The authors is using the sniper as a symbol of what war does to people. That war can get people to become accustomed to death. The author describes the sniper as being a “student”, so we know even young men like the sniper have become used to death. All these techniques tie into the author creating a successful and entertaining story.

 

Curse the War

June twilight faded into night,

darkness, dim light, approaching dawn,

waging civil war.

Sniper lay watching,

beside him, his rifle,

face of a student.

Eyes were deep and thoughful,

eyes of a man who is used to death.

Flash, a bullet whizzed over his head,

blood oozing, overcome with pain.

He must kill that enemy.

Sniper smiled, lifted his revolver

steady aim, took a deep breath,

fired.

Smoked cleared, cry of joy,

enemy dying with a dull thud,

the sniper looked at his enemy falling,

lust of battle died in him.

Remorse, revolted,

cursing the war,

curiosity to the identity whom he killed.

He peered, darted,

face beside the corpse,

turned over the body and looked

into his brothers face.

 

 

Grudges

Yes, I do know someone who holds a grudge against someone else. They are holding a grudge because of what someone in their family said about them. I do believe there are situations where it makes sense that someone would hold a grudge. If someone hurts you in someone way or bretrays you, that seems like a time where someone would hold a grudge against that person. I believe grudges don’t solve anything so they should be avoided. Grudges shouldn’t last a long time either. You shouldn’t hold onto hate for too long.

New Year, New You?

Overall, 2016 was a successful year for me, but I do have a few regrets about the decisions I’ve made during 2016. One thing I regret is, not re-reading my work a lot in English. For example, when I’m wrote an essay, I wrote my thoughts pretty fast, so errors were made. I don’t enjoy re-reading my essays so I tend to just not do it. Another regret is, that for a lot of my classes, if I didn’t enjoy the topic we were learning, I would tend to slack off. Although I would still work hard, I wouldn’t give it 110%.

 

My “Plan-of-Attack” will be to push myself to re-read my essays multiple times. There could be words I would want to change, or topics I need to explain better. Re-reading my work will really benefit me in the long run. Another “Plan-of -Attack” for me is, to give my all in all of  my classes. I have to push myself to be better than I was last semester. By giving my full attention for every class, and giving 110% in every class, it will help me be successful in 2017.

Fences Intro

I disagree with statement 4. Life is all about experiences and what you make of them. Although parents feel they should protect their child from the real world, it is not a good idea to. Parents are not always going to be there to protect their child. So the sooner the child knows about bad experiences the better off the child is. I believe that not letting your child pursue their dreams because of your experiences is very unfair to your child. 
I disagree with statement 5. Stealing is unacceptable no matter the circumstances. Instead of stealing to provide for your family, people should get a job. Find noble ways to provide for their family. Stealing can potentially get you in a perdicatment which might take you away from your family. Although it seems since your stealing for a good cause, it still doesn’t make it okay.
I agree with statement 2. The people who surround you is what makes life worth living. Without having a good family and friends life isn’t fulfilled. So having a good job can be nice but it isn’t what makes life worth living. 

Unit 1 Essay Reflection

When I wrote this essay I was somewhat confident with the way it turned out. I earned an A on this essay, and I initially gave myself a high B before I handed in the essay. There are some aspects I did strong on and other aspects that need to work on. The first step I took in writing this essay was, finding and explaining my eveidence from the book that supported my argument. Ms. O’C gave me an essay checklist, a thesis organizer, and a explaining evidence sheet. These resources were helpful and I took advantage of them. One problem I encountered was trying to explain what I thought but without being too wordy. I forcused more on quantity and not quality. I did use other people’s examples to help me but I still couldn’t make my wording stronger. Also, I should have used more resources when I finished writing my essay. I could have asked others to read it. That might have made the essay stronger. When I finished the essay I thought I did well but I believe I could have done better. I should have payed more attention to introducing the quote instead of just focusing on explaining it.

In this essay a had specific weaknesses and specific strengths. For example one of my weaknesses in this essay was not introducing the evidence well enough. I didn’t sound sophisticated and I needed to improve the content when introducing a quote. I need to put more relevant details before I say my quote. Also, when it comes to analyzing my evidence I need to go into more depth. One last weakness I had was not using strong words that weren’t boring. Some of my strengths were, picking strong evidence to support my thesis, having a solid topic sentence, and putting my quotes in MLA format. When picking my evidence I really thought about if it supported what I was trying to prove in the essay. I feel like my evidence was the strongest part of my essay. I put a lot of thought into my evidence, soI’m happy I did well on that part of the essay. Also, my topic sentences in my essay were strong. I wrote them in a sophisticated manner and they related to the idea I was about to present. Another strength I has was putting my quote in MLA format. That is another aspect of my essay I made sure to get right. I checked that all my quotes were done right before I submitted my essay. Although it seems like a very small achievement, it still is very important when citing quotes. It was a skill that we worked on during this unit so it’s important to get it right.

It is always important to set goals for yourself, so for this next essay I will set a few goals for myself. My first goal will be to focus more on introducing my quote. I need to understand that introducing the quote is just as important as explain it. If the reader doesn’t understand what is going on, there is no way they will understand the quote at all. So that’s one goal I will make sure to focus on. Another goal I’ll focus on achieving is, putting more depth into my evidence analysis. I should focus more on quality instead of quantity. Sometimes I try to make my paragraphs longer by repeating ideas I already said. So I should focus on making paragraph shorter but with good content. Those are goals I’ll focus on.

ABC Analysis

Danny feels powerless when his cousin Chin-Kee visits him and embarrasses him at school. Danny goes to the gymnasium in order to be alone and get away from Chin-Kee. In panel 1 on page 125, the author draws Danny sitting on the gym floor. The author makes the mats behind Danny bigger than him. In this scene, the author shows us that Danny feels small. When the author does this in order to show us that Danny feels helpless because of the situation he is in. Instead of using dialogue the author uses perspective. When the author does this we as readers understand more throughly how Danny is feeling in the scene. Also, we understand that Danny is feeling alone. In panel one the artist uses very dull colors in the scene. The reader now understands the mood of the scene now. When the author does this it makes the reader feels how Danny feels. When we see dull and sorrowful colors it makes us feel those feelings. In panel 1 it also uses shading in the scene. In the panel it shows shadows all around Danny as he sits alone in the gym. The shading reveals that Danny is alone and feels lonesome. What the author is doing is enhancing the feeling of loneliness in the scene. It shows that the gym is empty, that Danny’s the only one in the room. When the author does this it reveals an internal conflict in Danny’s life. His internal conflict is that he feels helpless and alone in the scene. Danny feels powerless and alone during this time in his life. 

Symbolism in Literature

 

Both authors of “Through the Tunnel”  by Doris Lessing  and “On the Bridge” by Todd Strasser  have used symoblisom in their stories in order to represent an idea that goes along with their story. In the story “Through the Tunnel” the author tells us about a boy who is determined to get though a tunnel once he sees boys older than him go down to tunnel. This detail shows that Jerry wants to be like the older kids. He wants to grow up. The detail is showing us that the tunnel symbolizes Jerrys path to becoming a man. Going through that tunnel would mean he has grown up and has stopped having to have the safety of the calm beach all the time. Going through that tunnel symbolizes not having to rely on his mother anymore.  The author uses the tunnel to help show the reader a bigger idea in their story. In the story “On the Bridge” Seth, the protagonist, tries his best to be like Adam who is cool and popular person in the story. In a scene in the story Seth and Adam are on a bridge, and Adam throws a cigarette bud onto a car. The owner of the car gets out to find who threw the bud onto the car. Adam points to Seth and Seth gets beat up on the bridge. This shows that the bridge is a big symbol in the story since this important scene happens on the bridge. The bridge is the symbol of growing up and finding out who you are. Since after Seth leaves he grows up and finds out who he is. He decides to stop trying to be like Adam. The authors use the bridge is order to help the readers understand the idea that is in his story.

Blog #3

In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, there is a charter named Lennie Smalls who is mentally disabled. In the novel he travels with a man named George who is a clever and smart man unlike Lennie. Lennie would be considered a monster because of the fact that he is mentally disabled and does actions that normal people wouldn’t do. Through the course of the first chapters Steinbeck’s tell us how Lennie enjoys petting mice. But since Lennie is so large and strong he often kills the mice. This action can be seen as monstrous. Another example of Lennie being monstrous is, during the last few chapters he kills a puppy and also snaps the neck of a wife of a rancher who works with them on the ranch. These actions can also be seen as monstrous. Lennie is unfairly labeled as a monster. Although is does destructive things he never does it out of meanness or evilness like George states in the novel. Since Lennie is mentally disabled he doesn’t know right from wrong that well. He does do horrible acts but it’s not his fault. He can’t control what he does. So people shouldn’t label him as monstrous because of it.

OMAM Meaningful Quote

 Steinbeck shows the reader that women were treated unfairly during the 1930s. George and Lennie arrive at the ranch and are still getting use to living there and starting to get to know the people on the ranch. George is in the bunkhouse with Whit and Whit talks to George about Curley’s new wife while they play cards. Whit describes Curley’s wife as being promiscuous: “Why, Curley’s new wife.” “Yeah, I seen her.” “Well, ain’t she a looloo?” “I ain’t seen that much of her,” said George. Whit laid down his cards impressively. “Well, stick around an’ keep your eyes open. You’ll see plenty. She ain’t concealin’ nothing. I never seen nobody like her. She got the eye goin’ all the time on everybody” (Steinbeck 51). This shows us that the men on the ranch see women as being objects and not actual people. Steinbeck never gives Curley’s wife a name in the novel. The men on the ranch always refer to her as Curley’s wife and never by her real name. When Steinbeck does this, the reader is able to understand that the men on the ranch do not see Curley’s wife as a real person but as Curley’s property. Steinbeck also made the character describe Curley’s wife as being promiscuous and indecent when in the novel he never writes about Curley’s wife ever doing anything with any of the ranchers. The men on the ranch see Curley’s wife as being promiscuous solely because of the fact she is a woman that looks for attention because she’s lonesome.  Steinbeck uses Curley’s wife as a symbol of an outcast. Curley’s wife is very much an oucast on the ranch full of men. In result of being an outcast she is treated inequitable. Women were treated as outcasts during the 1930s especially in places where men were more present.