STEINBECK

Dear John Steinbeck
Yes indeed, it has been a very long time. But I still remember your sloppy stories you have written in my class. I am sure that you have absorbed a great deal of my secret formula for writing short stories, and used them efficiently and wisely in your career. I do agree, with you that short stories are fairly difficult to start, because I even have the same troubles with that today. I congratulate of your winning of the Nobel Prize. I see that you have remembered what I told you. Your acceptance speech was marvelous, and very well written. I see a lot of what I have taught you, and I am glad you still use it in your Nobel winning speech. I wish you good luck in the rest of your career of writing and wish you will visit me sometime

Best wishes,

Edith Meredith

Immitation

The sound of the Jet Engines blast into the atmosphere, the sound of wind hurls backwards, and the big plane lifts off into the steamy air, above the clouds, and toward the sun. As the plane ascends, its image becomes smaller and smaller from the man kind view, after many minutes, it soon becomes a small unnoticeable note among all the other planes flying in the sky. For many, minutes, the flight was quite, as the plan soared above the clouds and towards its designated altitude.

The quite, and peace, was soon disturbed by the little ones, ones we call babies. The little ones soon conquered the audio atmosphere in the small, compact area of the aircraft. Their maddening screams, and yells, started to kill almost everybody aboard. Big fluffy earphones were put into action, heavy, long lasting books were starting to be read, and video devices were used.

The big bird machine flew longer; the first serving of food arrived. The smell of the unique airplane food started to fill the squishy atmosphere, and many voices started to light up. Even though, the food was not the best, it was enough to satisfy everybody, including the little ones, who soon dosed asleep. Thumbs started to get sucked, and soon, it was peaceful as ever, except the sound of many thumb sucking noises.

As the first movie came on, the people, started to take notice, maneuvering their eyes, from their miniature screens and focusing them upon the big screen. Many “Whaos, and Haha’s, and Ahh’s, were soon heard. The airplane environment soon became a fun place of entertainment.

When the movie ended, people started snoozing. Everybody’s mind went from their wonderland state, into a state, of peace, and muteness. The only sound available was the sound of the massive jet engines, blowing through the sky, and penetrating the clouds.

Suddenly, the plane makes its final decent, under the clouds, and on the runway.

Travels with Charly the Doggy

Charley, in the eyes of John is a very obedient, calm dog. In other words, he can be described as a house dog. A dog that is not very violent or aggressive. Why? Probably because of the fact that he has pretty much stayed inside a house, and never went anywhere far in his entire life. The furthest place he went until the park was probably just around the corner of town. As a result, he reacts very aggressively when encountering the bear. The bear was probably a symbol of freedom, and wilderness. I think it was that moment when Charley discovered himself of somebody more than just a house dog, a dog that likes to explore and tournament. So, when he saw the bear, he went mad about it. After his encounter with the bear, Charley was probably pretty upset with Steinbeck. Charley’s reactions of not eating or interacting with John showed him his anger towards Steinbeck. Apart from his anger, Charley is most likely looking forward to another wilderness experience to expand his newly found hobby. But John, on the other hand, would most likely disagree because of what happened with the bear. His views on Charley probably will start to change from then on.

Terrible Terrible Dust Storm Picture Description

Picture 1
This picture is of a man and woman, holding hands, probably a couple that is suffering through the dust storm, a terrible storm of dust that destroyed a lot of farm crops, which lead to all sorts of problems. The couple’s facial expressions are very dark and sad. It seems like they lost a lot of things and are trying to rebuild their future. Behind them is a loose looking tent, which is probably their temporary home. Apart from the tent, there is also a crummy looking towel that is drying on the cloth line. This picture helps add on the essay by giving the reader an idea of how the people are trying to rebuild, and live after the storm though the couple has been through a lot of hardships, their facial expressions still show a little bit of faith for things to get better.

Picture 2
In this picture, there is a big old car, some old rags, a metal bowl, a family of three small kids, their father, and a man, another car, and an old tent in the background. The family of four seems to be very sad and gloomy, crowding around their car, probably the only valuable item left of their family. Beside their car, there are some buckets, and a looks like a cloth line attached to the car. The family looks like they are eating some kind of plain food of some sort. The man in the background has a very worrying facial expression. He probably lost a lot of his stuff in the dust storm as well and only has a car left. This picture adds on to the essay by giving the reader an idea of how a family is trying to survive after the terrible event. The picture also shows the reader, that no matter what happens, a family will still be together.

Picture 3
This seems to be one of the only pictures of somebody who is actually showing some sort of happy facial expression. This man in the picture is holding an axe, wearing a hat, and has a whole bunch of wood in front of him. I this man is whether chopping up wood for his family needs or just making some money for food and other needs. He has a little smile on his face; probably because he knows what he is doing will be good for his family and can help them get through the hardships. In the background, there is another man, who is just standing there staring at the lumberjack. In the far background, there are a couple messy rows of white tents. I think those are the tents families has set up for themselves as a temporary shelter. I think this picture represents hope and destiny. The tents represent a start of hope for each family, and the man and the wood represents a new destiny. Even though what he is doing is a little thing, but it is still an act of a new destiny for his family.

The Turtleeeeeeeeeeeee

The story “The Turtle” is a chapter from the famous book Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck. In the short chapter, Steinbeck describes the hardships a turtle had to go through in a short period of time. He wrote about how it stumbled across the busy and dangerous road, and how it crawled through the tall rough grass. The comparison Steinbeck tries to make here is using the turtle as something to symbolize how people went from place to place to find work during the great depression. Throughout the whole entire chapter, there were many concrete and strong descriptions of the turtle, as well as the atmosphere around the turtle. The one I enjoyed the most was introduction to the second paragraph. The introduction to the second paragraph was very solid and unique. It talked about the area the turtle started in. Steinbeck used many yet so simple words to make a fairly interesting and portraying picture. In conclusion, I like Steinbeck’s literature pieces and would like to read more.

The Big Terrible Flood

Flood is a terrible natural disaster that not only kills and destroys, but also makes a big ugly mess. The story “The Flood” is a short writing piece from The Grapes of Wrath, writing by John Steinbeck, that describes the disaster in a very real and sad way. Steinbeck, like many of his other works, starts out by giving a concrete description of the surroundings. We can tell this is happening by the first sentence “Over the high coast mountains and over the valleys the gray cloud marched in from the ocean (Steinbeck 1)”. This first sentence is telling us about the coming of the flood. I like the structure because I get to know straight off hand what is happening in the story. After the descriptions of the incoming weather, Steinbeck introduces the humans in the story which can establish the tone of the writing piece: a very sad and depressing tone. Steinbeck described the action of the people as “They Splashed along, carrying the children, carrying the very old, in their arms. And if a barn stood on high ground, it was filled with people shivering and hopeless (Steinbeck 2)”. This line is a very heartbreaking and moving line. It is also a line that can immediately introduce the tone to the reader. Steinbeck talks about how sad and poignant the victim’s situation is, which easily sets the tone of depression and sadness. Last of all, Steinbeck is a bit simple to Langston Hughes in the sense that they both like to use simple words and phrases to establish a good description of the big picture. For example in the beginning, Steinbeck creates very vivid images, using pretty simple words and phrases but in niche positions. He wrote “The rain began with gusty showers, pauses and downpours; and then gradually it settled to a single tempo, small drops and a steady beat, rain that was gray to see through, rain that cut midday light to evening (Steinbeck 2). This line consists of fairly simple words, yet creates a very bright picture of the atmosphere of the incoming flood. In conclusion, the writing piece “The Flood” is a sad and very descriptive piece of work that outlines how hard it was at that period of time in history.

Bretyral

Betray is something that we all have probably experienced so far in our lives. It is not a easy thing to deal with, but it makes us mentally stronger. I think that it really depends on what kind of person you are to forgive somebody who has betrayed you. But i don't think that betrayal is something that is ok to do. However, for me, some kinds of betrayal can be forgivable. Friendship Betrayal is kind of hard to forgive because friendships is like the most stable kind of "ship". When it is sunk or betrayaled, it will be the hardest because a lot of stuff is shared in a friendship. If a friend betrayed me or told a secret, i probably wont forgive them if they do not show a proper explanation or apology. If my wife would cheat on me, with sexual relations with other guys, i would not forgive her. I would just go find somebody else, afterall there are more women in the world :P.

Piggy's Chivary Code

Piggy, in Lord of the flies was somebody who followed his Chivary Code. He was loyal, honest, couragous but wasnt really honored. He was very loyal to Ralph's clan even though alot of the other members left. Even though he was always crtisized, Piggy wasnt afraid to express his thoughts and share them with everybody. Despite all this, he wasnt very honored by the other people on the island. The others just thought he was a fat kid and didnt give him much respect. Piggy was also very pure, he never lied to Ralph and the others. I think that Piggy is the person in "Lord of the Flies" whom best follows his code of chivary.

Sir Lancelot Compare Contrast

There have been many different versions of Sir Lancelot written by lots of different people. In each story, he is expressed as a different person with diverse personality traits. For example, in the two stories we read about him, one story represented him as a strong and fearless man who was a loyal and true friend, while the other story showed him as an emotional and guy. In Sir Lancelot Du Lake, he was a really courageous and brave man. He never once feared death, and was always faithful. He didn’t even fall for the 3 attractive women whom were going after him, even if it meant death for him. This clearly shows that he always keeps his chivalry code by his side no matter what. In the other story, From King Arthur to the Knights at the Round Table, by John Steinbeck, Sir Lancelot was expressed as more of an ordinary guy. He liked Queen Qwynever, Arthur’s wife, so he did what he wanted to do when he was alone with her. This shows that Sir Lancelot is more of a usual guy. After doing it, he ran away crying because he felt that he broke his chivalry code, and was not loyal to his friend, King Arthur. I thought that both stories were a very interesting way of portraying Sir Lancelot. I enjoyed the first story better because of the humorous and out of the ordinary events that happened, but the second story was more realistic.

GOVERMENTS

In modern times, the government is usually decided by the people, which is so called democracy. In Antigone, which portrait the ancient times, democracy was not commonly used in the government system. Usually, there was just one king who ruled over everything. In this case, it was King Creon. King Creon was a dictator and the whole country listens to him only. For example, when Haemon attempted to persuade Creon to let Antigone live, Creon always disagreed because he though that his way was always the best. To help persuade his father, Haemon even used the people’s ideas about the situation. Because Creon was a dictator, he didn’t take any advice the commoners gave him, and made his bad choice of sending Antigone to the tomb. I think Creon, was quite dumb to make that choice. If he wasn’t so proud of his decisions and listened to others, not so much trouble would have been caused. I mean, when the whole country unites together and says one thing, then it should be the correct thing to do. I think If Creon listened to the commoners a bit, then the situation would have been a lot better. Look at today, all of the world’s strongest and most powerful countries are run in a democratic government. There are no dictator run countries that are even close to being listed as one of the most powerful or strongest or richest country in the world. But, democracy at Creon’s time was not common, and plus the fact of him being proud, he wouldn’t listen to the commoners.

SUICIDOOOOOOOO

Suicide is a very easy and short way to solve a problem. It is also a very lazy and pathetic way. In Antigone, many of the characters commits suicide, of which include Antigone, Haemon and Eurydice. They killed themselves all for different reasons but they all had a thought which was that they thought had no way out of their current situation. Antigone hanged herself because she thought that she would die sooner or later. Haemon ended his life because his love was gone and he thought he would never get another person like Antigone. Lastly, Eurydice stabbed herself because she lost of son. This was all as Haemon predicted “Antigone’s death will lead to another”. At the end, Creon didn’t kill himself, but suffers from great depression and anger towards himself for his foolish actions. This is really similar in Romeo and Juliet, after Romeo. After Romeo learns of Juliet’s death, he quickly kills himself. After learning the death of Haemon following Antigone’s I was not really surprised because of the similarity to “Romeo and Juliet”. But I was surprised when learning that Creon didn’t kill himself after hearing the tragedy of his wife and son. Instead he just said a sad line: “by my stubbornness, oh my son, so young, to die so young, and all because of me.” I thought he would have just stabbed himself right away. This kind of portraits what is going on nowadays. Most of the people who commit suicide are people who are too lazy to solve their problem. For example, when somebody is stuck with a problem, such as losing their job, they might suicide because they think they cannot get another job. If they have faith in finding another job, they might just get it. Or, if school is too tough, they get lazy to pull through, and end their life thinking that they get to run away from the problem. However, suicide does solve the problem and take the person away, but it ends their life, a life they have not yet fulfilled living. A great example from the play is Antigone. If she would have just waited for a small period of time, she would have heard that Creon will release her and everything would be fine. Antigone didn’t have faith in the situation anymore so she just hanged herself. I think suicide is a very comatose way to get out of a sticky situation. But if you just put a little more time and effort, the situation might just get better.

Memorizing the Lines

The lines I choose were the first 15 lines of the lecture that Antony gives to the citizens to persuade them of Caesar’s goodness. The lines are very important because is the opening of a very important and It is also a speech to sway the citizens that Brutus is a bad bad man. I choose to memorize for many reasons. One reason was because I was quite familiar with the first line “Friends, Romans Countrymen” from studying the play a few years ago. Another reason was because I liked the language used in the line. The opening of the speech grabs your attention right away.

Compare Contrast Movie and Book

The movie and script of Julius Caesar were both good way to understand the material. The script gave a very solid and detailed description of everything that happened. Such as every single line, and every single action that happened. The movie on the other hand, didnt give so much detail such as having the characters say every single word, but it gave a much more visual and better illustration of what happened there. For example, when reading how Caesar was killed it was just like "etu Brutus" and then Caesar falls. Whereas in the movie, it was acted out and dramatic voices and actions were added. For me, i enjoy both the script and the play, because both materials had their strong points. It was good to read the script, and get a general a of the content, then watching the play to understand. If there was nocript and just watched the movie, I think i would have alot of trouble knowing what the story is about.

The Kite Runner

The kite runner is a very emotional and sad book by Khaled Hosseini, a Afganstianian-American writer. The book's setting is set in the Kabul, the capital of Afganstian, then to American, then back to Kabul, then ends in America with a happy ending. The book talks about two boys who grew up equally but is drawn apart by their social status. The beginning of the was story ok, there were good descriptions, but then the story suddenly turned sad, when Amir, the main character watched his friend Hassan get raped and didnt do anything about it. Even worse, Amir wanted to escape the situation by getting Hassan and his father fired from the house as their servants. About a few decades later, Amir who is now in America picks up a call from an old business partner of his father, saying he needs to come to Pakastain. Amir, who gets persuaded hops on the plane over. There he discovers the truth about his life. At the end, he ends up taking Hassan's son to America with him because Hassan and his wife got shot. I think this is a really good book, and I would recommend it to anybody who wants to read a good story. (I finished it in one day).

Shaksphere

Shakesphere is a very interesting person, who wrote alot of plays. Personally, i have only read Romeo and Juliet which thought was really funny and cheesy. The love lines he asigns are pretty hilarious and attention grabbing especially with all the cheesyness in it. I kind of like shakesphere even though the language is kind of difficult to understand. Julius Caesar, on the other hand is more serious and has alot more meanings and thoughts to it. But generally, the things i like about Shakesphere's humorous offences and jokes he has in his plays.