Blog Post- Independent Reading Assignment



The book I read for my Independent Reading assignment was “A Child Called It” By Dave Pelzer. This book is an awesome book and as a result of this the book review was a cool project to complete.

 


My Book Review

 

By: Lexus Forman

 

This book “A Child Called It”, written by Dave Pelzer is spectacular. This book is an autobiography about a child with a very unstable and abusive home. This little helpless boy was brutally abused by his mother, Catherine Roerva. His child abuse case was one of the most severe cases in California history. “A Child Called It” was mentioned in hard rock band Buckcherry’s songs “Rescue Me” and “A Child Called It”. These songs were on the album “Black Butterfly”. I have to believe that I am not the only person who enjoyed this book because this book was on New York’s bestsellers list for 6 years straight; that’s really remarkable.

This autobiography is about a man, Dave Pelzer who was abused as a child by his alcoholic mother. His mother had something against him. She didn’t treat her four other sons anything like she treated Dave. She tortured Dave. She did things to Dave like stuff his face into his brother’s soiled diaper and tried to make eat the feces, or force ammonia down Dave’s throat. Dave has come to a lot of near death experiences from his mother. The crazy thing is, that is mother wasn’t always an evil woman. She was actually a very caring and nurturing mother before she became an alcoholic mother.

             The characters in this memoir are Dave, Dave’s mother Catherine Roerva, Dave’s father Stephan Joseph Pelzer, and Dave’s brothers Stan, Ron, Russell, and Kevin. In this book the main conflict is between Dave and his mother, Catherine Rovera. However, there are minor conflicts in the book with Dave’s father and Dave. Dave’s father feels that he is too tired and stressed out to help Dave with the abuse problem because he is a firefighter and works almost a 24-hour shift everyday. I would have to say that Dave is a very strong and genuine person, and that is why Dave is my favorite character. Dave made it through that bumpy road in his life, and made it to be a very successful person despite the tragedy he went through as a child. Also, even though Dave’s mother is so evil and cruel, Dave doesn’t hate her. He actually loves her to death and cares deeply for her.

This book is a powerful memoir that really makes you think. It made me think of all the times I said “I hate my mother!” or “She gets on my nerves!” Dave would have probably killed for a mother like mine. I just believe that this book teaches people how to be grateful for the good things that you have in your life even though you might think that they are not the best because other people are going through so much more and would die for something that you have.

This book is a great book. It is an awesome book. I don’t think that this book needs any changes or has any weaknesses. This book kept me entertained from beginning to end. The drama never stopped and this might sound a little weird, but this book kept me yearning for more. This book to me was like a drug and I can’t wait to read the one that follows this book, “The Lost Boy”.

This book was not relatable at all. I couldn’t relate to any of the characters. Well maybe just one thing, however it is a minor thing. I can relate to Dave with his dad situation. Dave never sees his dad because he works a 24-hour shift and Dave’s dad knows what it is going on in the house, but to a certain extent he doesn’t know how serious it is. My dad doesn’t live with me and I barely see my dad. I can be going through hell right now (even though I am not) and he wouldn’t know a thing because he doesn’t see me at all. Dave’s dad could have saved him from his mother. He wasn’t scared of Dave’s mother; he fought fires for a living!

I would recommend this book to the world! This book is just a stellar example of a memoir. This is a remarkable book to read if you do not love you life so much right now. I wouldn’t recommend this book to the younger audience because the things in this book are too severe for a 10-year-old to be walking around reading. However, this book would be great for teens to read. I say this because being a teen; I know that we take our lives for granted almost every single day, wishing we had the glamour and all the money. We never say I am so blessed and thankful for this in our lives and this book will make you stop and ponder on that.

Blog Post- 4 Journal Entries


I have had multiple journal entries to complete over the past few months in English class. I have chosen my favorite to show case. I enjoy getting my feelings out on a piece of paper and that’s what journals allow me to do.



-A Hero

A hero is a person that I can look up to. A person that I can count on to make good decisions and have respect for their selves. I’m not saying a hero can’t make mistakes because in the movie “The Incredibles”, Mr. Incredible made a mistake that almost ruined his whole hero career. However, a hero doesn’t always have to be fictional, it can be someone right in your own home like your mother, father, or even your dog. A hero like this is never going to be perfect because they are only human. I really appreciate when a person or better yet, a hero can be real and acknowledge their mistakes and learn from them. That shows real character and gratitude.-----


-¿Secrets?

Hmm… If I got away with a really good trick would I tell? That’s a good question. However, no I wouldn’t! I would keep my big mouth shut! I’m not saying it wouldn’t be hard because who wouldn’t want someone to know what you did. You know that feeling when you feel like you have to tell someone so you write it down, or in my case yell it into my pillow. That might sound weird but it works, you should definitely try it. You can’t trust some people these days because when you tell someone something, and you say “promise you won’t tell a soul” knowing god darn well there going to tell Sarah, Annie, and everyone’s grand mom. Therefore it’s good to keep you’re secrets to yourself.

 

 -All Alone

There have been plenty of times when I felt like I was alone and had no one to turn to. However, recently I had an occurrence with that. This was in the beginning of 9th grade, when we all got our assignments for first quarter. It seemed as if they were never going to stop piling on. I was not used to benchmarks, nor not having test. Also, at my middle school I really didn’t have to try, the work was just really easy. All I had to do was show up in class and listen. The work was really easy and I completed a test like a pro.

I just wasn’t used to the work. The work was very complicated and came all in one bulk. It seemed as though this school was trying to set me up for failure instead of doing their best to help me. When report cards came, I could almost die. I got a C on my report card. C’s looked like the most ugliest letter at the time. I hadn’t gotten a C on my report since the fourth grade. In fourth grade, I made a promise to myself that I would never get another on my report card ever in my life. I felt like I had let myself down. All my peers around me had great report card and I felt alone. I almost wanted to crawl in a cardboard box.

 

-Am I Perfect?

            How do people expect you to be perfect, knowing that they aren’t perfect their selves? I believe that’s how high a lot of the adults I know expectations of me are. I have always been a “goodie two shoes” and now that I am a teenager, things are bound to change. You know how people always say act your age, not your shoe size. Well that’s what I believe I am doing. I am maturing with my age. However, I believe with maturing, comes with making mistakes; with making mistakes, you have to be mature enough to learn from them.

One thing I hate to do is disappoint people. I especially hate to disappoint the people I love the most, like my mom, dad, and close relatives. Their oppions is what matters the most and impacts my behavior. I know for a fact I don’t act the way I do at home in public and that is not something I am proud of. I think that if my family knew how I acted outside of my home sometimes, they would have a cow. Therefore, I try my hardest not to act like a teenager, and act like a mature teenager that I know my family would be proud of.

 

Blog Post- Myth Project

My myth project was a project we had to complete based on the novel “The Odyssey”. I had to tell the myth of a Greek God or Goddess and this project got to show off my creative side just a tad bit.
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Me Magazine

In the beginning of the year, Ms.Dunn assigned us the project of creating a "Me Magazine”. The magazine contains articles, pictures, and facts about your life. In my magazine, I put three articles that are written on my inspiration for music, passion for the Twilight Saga , and Christmas that my family attends each year. A reason for creating this project was so we could reflect on our work at the end of the year. After reviewing my magizine in May, I seen how much I improve on my academic life. 
Me Mag for Portfolio

Quarter 1 BM

Isabela Aznar

English

 

 

In my essay I try to explain the process in which Macbeth begins to go insane. The majority of the quotes I use are his and his wife’s. I explain each quote, and then talk about what is happening in each act underneath.

 

 

 

 

In Act 1 scene 4 line 149-155 Macbeth says “give me your favor. My dull brain wrought with things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains are registered where every day I turn the leaf to read them. Let us toward the king. Think upon what hath chanced, and at more time, our interim having weighed it, let us speak our free hearts to each other.” He is basically stating that he wants to help his kind friends if they ever need it,  and that he wants to be able to speak with them freely, with them doing so in return. He is declaring his loyalty to the king and these men, and acting as though they are his main priorities.

 

 

In Act 1 scene 5 line 64-68 Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth “Look like th’ innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t. He that’s coming must be provided for; and you shall put this night’s great business into my dispatch, which shall to all our nights and days to come give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.” Lady Macbeth is hinting to Macbeth that he should kill Duncan. She’s pushing forward with this idea that his death will bring them power and happiness, and that what more could they ask for than an opportunity for leadership.

 

 

In Act 1 scene 7  line 12-16, and line 25-28 Macbeth says “He’s here in double trust: first, as I am his kinsman and his subject, strong against the deed; then, as his host, who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself…I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself and falls on the’ other-“ Macbeth is debating weather or not he should kill Duncan. He feels as though the deed is malicious and two faced, but at the same time he is being driven by his great ambition to get what he (thinks he) deserves. He ends his speech on a self-ambitious note, but is interrupted. To  me it seems like he is slowly leaning towards doing the deed.

 

In Act 2 scene 2, 47-53 Lady Macbeth says “Why worth thane, do you undend your noble strength to think so brainsickly of things. Go get some water and wash this filthy witness from your hand. Why did you bring these daggers from the place? They must lie there: go carry them and smear the sleepy grooms with blood.”

Lady Macbeth is a little annoyed with Macbeth’s lack of confidence. He’s acting weird, and not doing things according to plan. This worries lady Macbeth, and she tells Macbeth to go back and do things right, he is too scared though because he doesn’t want to have any part in what he’s done…he is too traumatized.

 

 

In Act 2 scene 2  line 61-66 Lady Macbeth says: “Whence is that knocking? How is’t that with me when every noise appalls me? What hands are here? Ha! They pluck out mine eyes. Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red.” In this scene, Macbeth begins to say weird things. Lady Macbeth is confused, and he is acting completely freaked out. Macbeth begins to say things that don’t make sense, and begins to show fear and remorse for his actions. He has just heard a knock, and begins to talk about how he’s spooked, and he is talking about how no amount of water could ever clean the blood off of his hands. The deed he did was forever, and he cannot take it back.

 

 

 

In Act 2 scene 3 line 89-94 Macbeth says “Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had lived a blessed time; for from this instant there’s nothing serious in mortality: All is but toys. Renown and grace is dead, the wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees is left this vault to brag of.” Macbeth is covering himself. He is pretending that he is upset and distressed by the murder of Duncan. He wonders who it could be, and why anyone would do such a thing to their worthy wonderful king but in reality, he is just pretending and hiding behind his own words, for Macbeth is the killer.

 

 

In act 3 scene 2 line 7-10 Lady Macbeth says “Nought’s had, all’s spent, Where our desire is got without content: Tis safer to be that which we destroy than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy” Lady Macbeth feels like they’ve done enough harm. In this quote she is saying that which they desired didn’t make them feel any happier. She is also implying that she would rather pretend nothing ever happened than to keep trying to find meaningless happiness, and she hopes Macbeth calms down back into the man he used to be. She is implying that Macbeth’s mind is starting to change.

 

In act 3 scene 4 line Macbeth says to the first murdered “Thou art the best o’ the cut-throats: yet he’s good that did the like for Fleance: if thou didst it, Thou art the nonpareil” What Macbeth is doing here is he is bringing his trickery and bribery to a new level. He is trying to make the murderer feel good about himself for doing his dirty deeds, when in reality the only person he is fooling is himself. Lady Macbeth’s worries about Macbeth only become realer and realer.

 

 

 

In act 4 scene 1 Macbeth says “how now, you secret, black, and midnight hags! What is’t you do” Macbeth is beginning to loose his mind to the point where he resorts to talking to the witches who brought him his prophecies and problems in the past. Macbeth later continues on to yell at the witches because he doesn’t want them to keep ruining his life.

 

In act 5 scene 3 line 3-9 Macbeth says “Bring me no more reports; let them fly all: Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane, I cannot taint with fear. What’s the boy Malcolm? Was he not born of woman? The spirits that know all mortal consequences have pronounced me thus: ‘fear not, Macbeth; no man that’s born of woman Shall e’er have power upon thee’. Then fly, false thanes, And mingle with the English epicures: The mind I sway by and then the heart I bear shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear.  In this quote he is starting to panic because there is chance of someone else taking his spot on the throne. Macbeth is shaken, and has forgotten completely who he was. Macbeth is officially insane.

 

 

 

 

My Benchmark+reflection

My Project

My reflection:
This project was a challenging project, It sounded easy at first, but then when I went out to take pictures I had trouble trying to find good ones that represent Globalization. I struggled to take pictures, and put it off for a while, working on the pictures I already had. The part of this project I did enjoy was the little bits of research here and there that I had to do. for example I never knew that solar panels were made by a french men. I was surprised as to how hard it was to find evidence of globalization, its everywhere, but at the same time it is hiding. I took a picture of the solar trash compactor on a hunch, before I even did the research. I'm curious as to what else is a hidden sign of globalization, and what other cities have a lot of globalization evidence. I'm guessing New York has the most, but I'm not sure.

4Th Quarter Benchmark Portfolio.

​This blog is mainly about my growth as a 9th grade student over the year. I feel like this portfolio shows how much I have matured. This will show my fellow readers that I have struggled , but i have tried to do my work. 

My stregnths in english are that when i put my mind to do the work and i try , that i succed , but my weaknesses are that i do not try and i do not push myself like i should, which ruined my grades most of the time. I want to work on trying harder and working more and not doing everything late.

My expirences while make this portfolio where okay. I did not try a lot nor did i act like i cared about doing work , which i would consider an issue of mine. I barely tried to resolve them, but from what i could do , i tried. I wasn't as proud of going back on my work because i can honestly say i did not try this year. Years before i came to high school i was always an A student, but just recently i didnt seem to care. 

The piece of work that i am proud of the most has to be my Me Mag. I have to say this because that potrayed who i was at that moment in time and it helps me see how i have changed. I loved doing that project the most.

VIGNETTE

                                                                                     Zaria Fortson-Linton

 

Wake Me Up When September Comes Again

 

I hate the feeling were you’re losing someone who once use to be so close to you. It’s as if you feel so alone and tend to blame yourself for what happened. You ponder on the fact that you might have been the reason why, like you changed, when all in all it’s not just your fault.

My previous best friend and I met in September. It’s funny how we became friends actually. I had food and he asked for some and we shared it together. Our love for good food brought us together I guess. We connected on a similar level. Realizing that we can understand each either made us befriend each other even more. We later found out that we had all the same classes and advisory. We were soon to be inseparable, which I was very excited about.

One point in time, a lot of our friends thought we were in a relationship. Such rumors like this I think made our friendship go bad. Honestly, these rumors and thoughts made me think of him in that manner. The true feelings I had for him soon came to the light, but for him it was a whole different story. His smile was something that once meaned nothing to me, actually brightened my day. His eyes, which I never noticed soon, became something I loved to gaze into. I was smitten by his charm, his looks, his everything. I felt like I was in love.

When I told him how I felt about that topic, he didn’t respond to it. It was as if he didn’t want to here it. I felt ignored, and soon that became the case.  I began to notice that he became closer with other people. He would never answer my text or IM messages. We stopped talking as best friends for about two months. We would only talk to each other when we were placed next to each other. The conversations changed from being non-stop all day everyday, to innocent hellos and goodbyes. Then I was told that he and my other friend (who is also in our advisory) had a “thing” going on, which not only angered me because of how I felt about him, but also because no matter what he would always come to me with important information like this. I was hurt and crushed. Words could not describe how upset and forgotten I felt.  I didn’t want anything else to do with him.

Ever since this has happened, my attempts to try and gain our friendship back have died down. Yes, I miss how close we once were but I was tired of being the only one trying to rebuild our friendship when he didn’t want to help.

Also, this made me wish that I held back the feelings I had about him. The trust I had for him.  The love that I had for him. I wish we could have had a new start. Like September would come back, to bring back that one memory we will always cherish, remember and miss.

 


ODYESS COMPARE AND CONTRAST


 

Thesis Benchmark

 

Macbeth and the Odyssey are both remarkable stories.  In these stories they both revolve around peoples actions and changes. The main female characters go by the names of Lady Macbeth and Penelope. These women are both sent on emotional rollercoaster and eventually change from the beginning to end of these books. Even though Lady Macbeth and Penelope both change in the story, they both change opposite from each other.

 

In Macbeth and The Odyssey both the leading ladies, Lady Macbeth and Penelope, are married to strong men. Odysseus whom was married to Penelope was king of Ithaca, thus making him powerful. Lady Macbeth’s powerful mate was Macbeth who was a thane of Cawdor.  The ladies also change attitude wise and during that change, they were both strong at some point. In the beginning of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth was tricky and confident. She knew what she wanted and she wasn’t going to let anyone stand in her way, including the King.  Towards the end however, she became so crazy and paranoid due to her and Macbeth killing the king. Lady Macbeth felt remorse and guilt, but as for Penelope, she started out as being weak and timid. She became this way due to the suitors taking over her house. She didn’t act as brave as she should have when she was in the process of trying to get them to leave. Towards the end of the story, she became more powerful. She proved this when Odysseus disguised himself as a beggar and claimed to have known Odysseus. When Penelope found that out, she persistently asked him how did he know him, what does he look like, etc.

 

Although they both change, Lady Macbeth’s change was opposite to Penelope’s. In the Odyssey, Penelope goes from being quiet to fearless. She was quiet and scared from when the suitors took over her house. She didn’t act as brave as she should have when kicking them out. Penelope near the end of the story became brave when asking Odysseus (who was then in disguise) how he knew her mate. As for Lady Macbeth, she goes from being strong in the beginning to becoming crazy towards the end. She was strong in start when she knew she wanted to kill the King. She knew what she wanted and even pushed the then un sure Macbeth to go through it. But towards the end, she became swarmed with guilt and it soon sent her insane.

 These women have changed due to the paths in which they choose to fight for what they wanted. Their husbands careers is also the main cause for why the changed. Ultimately, all that matters is that they have changed from the start and ending of each book and that they were both dramatic.



ME MAG

 Screen shot 2011-06-02 at 1.42.52 PM

 This is my me mag. This magazine showcased many things about myself that my peers did not know. We made these in September which help us get to know one another.



Independent Reading Project



My Book Report

Zaria Fortson-Linton

 

Introduction:

The name of this book is called “I Like Him, He Likes Her” by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. I found out that this book is part of a series titled “Alice Alone; Simply Alice; Patiently Alice. It follows the love life of a young girl named Alice who is struggling with school , love, and life in general.

 

This story is based on the life of a girl named Alice McKinley, who is a freshman, but so far her first year in high school isn’t going well. Her boyfriend of a year named Patrick breaks up with her for the new girl Penny, her father is getting married to her old middle school teacher and high school work is so much pressure on her. The main conflict in the story is her verses her feelings. Mainly because she’s learning how to deal with her personal feelings. Her learning how to grow up makes her my favorite character in this story. I think that readers will learn not only being single can be a bad thing turned into a good thing, but also life can be hard for young teenagers. What I mean by this is that most people make being single & not having a bond with someone may be bad at first , but then there are times in which being single can be a good thing. I also think that life is hard for young teenagers because us just starting high school isn’t easy. We have to adjust to new changes , getting older, meeting people , new school work and becoming a young adult. It’s very stressful.

 

I can relate to the main character Alice. I say this because I have been in this same predicament where the “love of my life” has left me for “something better” and I’m just left there alone. . . sad, not knowing what to do.

 

This book is a first person narrative which I love. The strengths of this book are it’s very easy to relate to and very understandable from Alice’s point of view. It is also very entertaining. The weaknesses of this book is that it seems to take to long to get to the point. Like it may take 2 chapters to understand what is going on. In order to understand where the main conflict will come from you’ll have to read into the story through the first 3 chapters.

 

I honestly would recommend this to young readers. I say this because it is very relatable and it is very entertaining.



JOURNAL ENTRIES

The first time i was judge was when i went to the mall with my mom. We went to a high priced store and the lady told us that this wasn't "our type" of clothing. That they do not sell Baby Phat clothing which is mostly worn by african americans. We felt angry because it was really rude.

If i were to have a fresh start on my past i would change the way my first year of high school started. I am not liked because of the choices i made in the beginning of the year. A bunch of 11th graders were calling me names, so i made a video and called them all out and they hated me ever since.

It really isn't that much important for me to fit it , only because i like standing out, i like being my own person and i like being different. Im proud to say i do not fit in and i always try to encourage others to do the same.

I think people write to express themselves. To have a place to be free. ALso to show others who they are. To have a way to reveal to the world who they are. It is an expressive and safe way to be themselves.

I feel as though an adult is someone who will take responsibility on what they are right or wrong about. Someone who will help others be mature and are mature themselves.  

My mother expects me to do good in school and to make sure im always on task. She knows that school is important and she feels as though school must be my number one priority. 

 

  

My Profilo Q4 Benchmark

Journals

Dairy Entry #2

    Guns, money, gangs, sex, power. Is that what everyone wants out of life? That’s not what i want. I want to get get married become a lawyer, raise a family. My husband and I will be able to take care of our family.
    Everyone wants tattoo’s or per icings. I want them too, but not for the same reasons. Why does everyone have the same tattoos? Same cloths? Same hair styles?  Most girls have weave, fake nails, fake body. My question is, why can’t you be yourself.

Journal Entry 12/17

    I’ve always wanted to be the girl that always a had a hot boyfriend that was everything. I always wanted to feel loved and held tightly. But that never happen. I had plenty of boyfriends, but none really fit my “list”. I always wanted a boyfriend, that was just like the husband of a Tyler Perry movie.    
    I got the reputation of being a boyfriend stealer at school. Thats not true. If your boyfriend loves you he wouldn’t leave you. Thats not all, I get along better with guys. I don’t really like girls.

March 16,2011

    Who am I? That is a question everyone wants to know. I can say I am Danielle, but will that answer their question.
    I live in what people call the Mix Suburbs. I live on Penn Campus family section. My father works for Penn part time, while my mother attended Grad and medical school. When people ask where I live i say Univ.. City. I am the only Black person within 3 blocks of my house.
    My neighbors think of black people in a different point of view. Some think all blacks are bad, but when we moved in their views changed. Since i’ve been exposed to these types of things , i believe it makes me a stronger person. I feel like i can achieve anything .

December 2, 2010

    Personally I do not care about fitting in. Cliques are mainly for people that don’t do their own thing. I have tried to fit in many times, but it never felt right. I tried a group, but it was for rich people. My family is middle class. The clic i wanted to join, wear all types of stuff, when I only wore Gap clothing. My parents were very disappointed in what I decided.
    I learned that fitting in is not important. As long as your you. If all you have anything  that you really need to do, just be you. Not what people want you to be. Just do your own thing.




The Odyssey Compare/Contrast Essay

    Penelope was born to Prince Icarius and Periboea. Periboea had to hide her daughter at birth, because she had given birth to a Girl, instead of a boy which her husband prefer. Once Icarius discover he had a daughter, he threw the baby into sea to drown. In her adult hood she was asked for hand in marriage. Odysseus her husband was to battle in the Trojan war since he was king. The Trojan War took 10 years, plus 10 more years to get home. For the past 20 years Penelope  stayed faithful to her absent husband. Not knowing if her husband was dead or alive. Penelope decide to make a deal with the suitors if they allowed her to weave a shroud for her father-in-law, she would consider marriage. Secretly she would unravel her work nightly. Three long years went by and no one notice her secret. Until Penelope servant revealed her secret. After a while, it was time for Penelope to announce who she was going to marry. Penelope decided, who ever can shoot an arrow through a row of 12 ax heads she would marry that one suitor. Penelope’s husband  has been out of her life for 20 Years. Could he be dead, missing, or worse taken by the gods.  This myth to me, is like any other T.V show. Many people could  be going through the same thing, as Penelope went through. What she did, many people would have never done. Rich, nice, caring suitors throwing themselves at you. Who wouldn’t take that? 
    Why did Penelope wait so long, to try to attempt to remarry a suitor. There were 140 suitors more or less. Why couldn’t she just marry one. Is there something that Penelope felt,  did she feel  that Odysseus was still alive. What made her pretend to take three years to create a shroud? There are so many question that I want to ask Penelope. Why did she do what she did. She Probably thought she never see Odysseus ever again, only in her dreams she’d think he come back. If thats so, then Penelope dreams came true.

Bibliography
Myth Encyclopedia
http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Pa-Pr/Penelope.html
Spark Notes
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/odyssey/section1.rhtml










Independent Reading Review



Read My Lips, Teri Brown.
Read My Lips, is not a bestseller or has won any awards. Its is also a great book. It deserves an award. It honestly such a great book. Lastly this book was published by a wonderful publisher, Simon Pulse.
    Read My Lips,  is a book about a teen girl named Serena. Serena just moved out from a small town into a suburbs area. Sarena family wanted to be closer to family, so they moved over 1, 000 miles closer to family. Sarena wanted what every other teen wanted, to fit in well to a new school. There was only one problem, Sarena was deaf. She wasn’t completely deaf, but she could also read lips. She made friends with the wrong crowd. Sarena had been invited to eat lunch with the most popular girls in the school, by a girl name Rachel. There are many girls in the group, Rachel, Sonya, Patrice, Kelly, and Kayla. Sarena can read the lips of other people to figure out what they say. Many people say Sarena has an-eye for Gossip. Sonya realized what Sarena’s talent can do to the clique. That’s when the conflict begins. Many students don’t expect a deaf girl to be in the most popular group. Its take other girls years to get into this “clique”, but only took Sarena a couple weeks. Once people start to find out that Sarena is the roots of all the gossip, drama is born. By the end of the book Sarena feels like the whole school, including her so called “friends” turned against her. My favorite charter was Miller. Miller ends up being Sarena’s Boyfriend. Miller was also called a school rebel. He is the type of guy that will do whatever he can do in his power, but he's also the type of guy that stays out of drama. Teri Brown reaches out to all types of people, mainly teens. In my personal view, I learn from other mistakes. This book was a learning lesson for me. I’m not saying I can read lips. But it teaches teens to not spread everything.

    The way Teri Brown wrote the book, I can’t relate to. The story was meant from one teen’s stand point of life. There are many more. I don’t go to a suburban school, or hang with the wrong crowd. I have my own crowd, which is me. I am me. Serena was also her. We do have similaties, such as finding ourselves through many wrong roads.

    This book had many strengths. I’m the type of person to learn from other’s mistakes. Serena taught me  who is a real friend and who isn’t. Teri Brown showed teens from wrong to right in a creative way. In a way people would be interested. Such as safe sex, true friends, drugs, and also behavior at school. One weakness that I noticed was how the girls treat themselves, and other around them. How they weren’t respectful to themselves.



    I would recommend this book to girl groups. Groups that are created for teen girls , just to sit and talk. It could also treat them a lesson like it did to me. M ay other people learn from other mistakes. This book can also help prevent things that happen in movies. Such as the movie Mean Girls. Many things happen in that movie that also happen in other schools. If girls would read this book and not only take it in, but believe it, a lot can be changed.

    Memior Vignette

    I was never always who I wanted to be. I was scared to show who I really was. Scared someone would judge me, or disrespect me.  I thought I had to be like everyone else. Scared to tell people things, like I model or play a lot of sports.   
    Now I can do or say anything, without fear holding me back. “Now starting this week, there will be High Schools coming from all over Philadelphia. I hope you all are excited to see different High schools.”  This is what my Middle school consular said to me. I can promise you I wanted to smack the life back into her. I wasn’t trying to go to a new school and start over. I was just trying to figure out who I was. Finding me. During this whole process of picking the 5 schools. I thought I was going to die. Shadowing was the worst. All the other schools expect for one, were not where I wanted to be. Most of the students didn’t look serious, and they were so “perfect”. SLA. That’s the school where I found myself. I could see myself attending the school. I was floating on a cloud when I shadowed.
    Months through the wait of an acceptance letter. I was still so attached to SLA that I had disconnected myself from Penn Alexander, the school I was attending at the time. I wasn’t well liked. I was myself and no one else. People didn’t really understand that. Why be like everyone else. It makes no sense. Everyone was mad to be themselves; your “creator” Created you as yourself not anyone else. That really upset me.
    Next came shadowing. I asked, begged, bribed so I wouldn’t have to go. But that didn’t happen. I was nervous. I had butterflies all in my stomach. SHOOT! I WAS SCARED! I went to the office with my mom, feeling like a pre-schooler on their first day of school. “Why did I apply to a school that had shadowing?” I asked my mother. As usual she ignored me, she does that when she thinks I said something stupid. “Danielle Little, you’re here to shadow correct?” Asked some lady from behind a counter. I know she can’t be the Sectary, they don’t wear jeans. Next thing I knew, this girl also named Danielle says I am her “Shadow”. Shadow…So I follow the person around like a shadow, this school gets weirder. The hallways were huge! SO MANY KIDS! SO TALL! Holy Crap, there was a hand coming my way. Next thing that hits me are people calling me shadow. Let me get one thing right into your head. My name is not shadow. My mother didn’t name me shadow. It’s Danielle. Not shadow.
    “Danielle how was it,” My mother asked.
    “It was a great school. Very nice. Different school, people, and teachers. But I think I will blend in well. “  I replied excitedly.  I talked non-stop the whole way home. I felt connected, like I was going back tomorrow. I actually woke up thinking I was going back to SLA. I couldn’t wait. Couldn’t wait till get accepted, to finally fit in, have a new start.  
    Oh shit! Im about to poop my pants, I was so scared! There were so many kids; TALL, short, black, white, orange and tanned. Saying hello once again. For me, this was my first hello actually attending this school. I saw a girl that looked like me…She looked like me from behind. She had locs, tall, dark skinned. She was very pretty. Later I learned her name after 35 weeks. Her name was Ayo-ola. I remember a girl named Morgan Taylor. Morgan and I grew up together. It was so nice to see her again I felt like I could make it through. I could be myself. Not be ashamed of who I was. Who Danielle Little is. I was especially happy that I have a close friend that also had locs.
One month In this can feel like I’ve been here for 4 years. I made great friends. You can tell that Mr. Lehmann picked certain kids for a reason. Everyone in this school are not like anyone else. There is something that makes them different. No one follows anyone. Everyone is who they are.  I feel that everyone knows me for who I really am. They don’t know the fake Danielle, they know the real one. The crazy, hyper, odd, nicest, caring Danielle Little there is.
    Along with people knowing who I really am, I met some really great people. New Best Friends, People that understand me. But there is this one person that stood out to me. Lets call him “Blue Eyeshadow”. Blue Eyeshadow is 3 years older than me, but he is different. He is not the type that just wants that one thing. We talk everyday, we find someway.
    Through Facebook, Ichat, Texting, or even in person. He is just amazing. Met no one like him Many people are like, Okay? Its just another guy. Well If you could see through my eyes you could also say, I can see her marrying him. Well all know guys aren’t into Married. I'm telling you I started looking at engagement rings, wedding dresses, bridesmaids. I’m a whole flight of steps ahead of the world. You ever read a book, and you wanted to know what happen so you asked your friends that read it. That's love you always want to know how it ends, and you get your friends to help you through it.

Overall, I love high school. Especially since i met “Blue Eyeshadow”. He made it all better. He helped me though a lot of stuff. Everything. One point in time i gave him the silence treatment for about 1 month. Christmas day, I swear was the magical day, where the happiness started. We text for 29 hrs. straight, while I was on a train to Chicago. Sigh, those were the days. I have some of our chats that really mean a lot save in a special folder for you.  You got me going crazy. You taught me how to love, how to handle no bullshit, how to be real, you open my eyes to the world.
     Two, SLA defined me. I am very happy i applied, got accepted, and chose yo be at SLA. I had a huge hole in my heart, ready to be filled. Now, ever since September 7, 2010 its been filled. I found myself.

Quarter 1 Benchmark: Macbeth Character Analysis

For our Quarter one benchmark, Red stream did a character analysis on either Lady Macbeth or Macbeth from the book Macbeth written by Shakespeare. Our mission for this benchmark was to create a piece that demonstrates one character's development and growth through out the play Macbeth. We did this by using quotes from the play to illustrate the transformation of Macbeth or Lady Macbeth. We also had to include a Thesis statement that was proven to be correct by looking at the quotes through out our benchmark. Finally, we made a concluding paragraph which is a summary.

Thesis statement: In beginning, Lady Macbeth is fraught with greed and wanted wealth and power, but towards the end, she starts feeling the guilt and regrets all of the deaths she and her husband caused.

 

In Act 1 scene 5, Macbeth sends Lady Macbeth a letter that explains to her that three witches hailed him as Thane of Cawdor and that he will be king. She doesn’t think Macbeth has the strength and great will and that he would just wait for the day to come instead of making his move now. So she is impatient and waiting for him to come home so she can convince him to do everything he can to get those roles as king and Thane of Cawdor. “Hie thee hither, that I may pour in spirits in thine ear and chastise with the valor of my tongue all that impedes thee from the golden round….” –Lady Macbeth 1.5.24-27. What she means here is she is talking to herself and trying to rush Macbeth to get home so she can encourage him to accomplish the roles that the witches predicted for him in his future. She wants to make a move now rather than just wait for the moment to come. This reveals that she is impatient and wants things to happen when she wants it, how she want it, and as soon as possible. However, she does not know if Macbeth will go along with her plans for him to become Thane of Cawdor and the King.

 

During Act 1 scene 7: Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth about her plan to gain the role of being the king. Macbeth is skeptical about her idea, he thinks the plan will fail and they will get caught or someone will put the puzzle together and get suspicious. “But screw your courage to the sticking place and we’ll not fail.” –Lady Macbeth 1.7.61-62. What she means by this is, basically if you believe then you can achieve; don’t think you can’t do something you didn’t try.  She is trying to convince Macbeth to join her in her plan, but Macbeth doesn’t think it will go as planned and work how she expects it to. Macbeth is still debating in his head weather or not he should go along with the plan and thinks it may fail.

 

Act 2 scene 2: Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have invited the Thanes and King Duncan over for dinner. Lady Macbeth has convinced Macbeth in killing King Duncan. The first part of her plan was to get the guards, which was guarding King Duncan’s bedroom, drunk and poisons their drinks so it will seem as if they are dead. Now that the guards are drunk and everyone is asleep, they can make their move. Aside Lady Macbeth says to herself  “That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold.” –Lady Macbeth 2.2.1. What she means by this is now that the guards are drunk she has gotten bolder and has faith that her plan to kill Duncan will work for sure. What this says about her character is that she is very selfish and only thinks about herself. She also would do anything to get her goals accomplished. However, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth still have to cover each other up so they will not get caught, and how much longer is it until everyone finds out what they have done.

 

Act 2 scene 3: Macduff is the first of the other Thanes to find out that Duncan is dead. He wakes up everyone in the castle and delivers the news that King Duncan is dead. Lady Macbeth exclaims, “What in our house?” When she finds out about Duncan. Lady Macbeth is trying to act as if she has the same impression as everyone else does, which is why she says this. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth doesn’t want anyone to get suspicious and think they killed him so they have to act as if they would if they didn’t kill him. At this point, Lady Macbeth doesn’t regret killing the king, and she is still focused on the wealth. Will she feel that she has accomplished something or did she just become insane?

 

Act 3 scene 2: Macbeth is now the king so Lady Macbeth has finally gotten what she wanted. Unfortunately, Macbeth is keeping a secret from her and she is scared of what he did because she doesn’t know what it is. Lady Macbeth says to herself “Tis safer to be that which we destroy than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.” –line 83. What she means when she says this is she would rather be the person that gets killed than is the killer with nervousness.  Lady Macbeth isn’t happy with the outcome of killing Duncan and becoming queen. She is beginning to show regret. Will she remain sane and return back to normal?

 

Act 3 scene 4: Macbeth hired two murderers to kill Banquo because he didn’t want Banquo to start getting suspicious about the murder of King Duncan. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth invited all of the Thanes over for dinner. Suddenly Macbeth starts to see Banquo’s ghost and he is talking to him. Macbeth seems crazy because nobody else can see Banquo but Macbeth. “Sit, worthy friends. My lord is often thus, and hath been from his youth.” –Lady Macbeth 3.4.54-55. What she means is sit back down Macbeth has had these problems since he was a child. When Lady Macbeth says this, she is trying to cover up for Macbeth. I think that she is starting to think that Macbeth is becoming insane.

 

Act 3 scene 4: They are at dinner and Macbeth is still talking to Banquo’s ghost that only he sees. So Lady Macbeth is trying to cover up Macbeth so he won’t seem so insane. “What, quite unmanned in folly.” –Lady Macbeth 3.4.75. What she means when she says this is to snap back to reality. Also that he is at a dinner with his friends so he can’t act so suspicious about their killings. However, with Macbeth talking to this spirit, hopefully he won’t say anything to reveal their murdering of King Duncan or Banquo.

 

Act 5 scene1: The Gentlewoman is talking to the doctor about Lady Macbeth’s strange sleepwalking at night. They are inside of her bathroom and talking about her. Then she walks into the bathroom and starts to talk. The gentlewoman tells the doctor that she is sleeping but it seems as if she isn’t. “A great perturbation in nature, to receive at once the benefit of sleep and do the effects of watching” –Doctor 5.1.9-10 What the doctor mean when he says this is, it isn’t normal to be sleep and able to do things you do when you’re awake.  However, the Doctor and the gentlewoman have learned a lot about Lady Macbeth because of her sleepwalking incident.

 

Act 5 scene 1: Lady Macbeth is sleeping walking and she is in the bathroom and thinks that she is washing her hands. She realizes that the blood isn’t coming off of her hands and there is nothing to make it come off; it is permanently on her hands. She doesn’t know that the doctor and the gentlewoman are listening to her in the bathroom. “Here’s the smell of the blood still” –Lady Macbeth 5.1.50. When Lady Macbeth says this, she is saying that the blood she is seeing in her sleep on her hands isn’t coming off. Lady Macbeth is really feeling the guilt for what Macbeth did which was killing Banquo also I believe because of the killing of King Duncan. She is sleeping walking and she is revealing everything to the doctor and the gentlewoman without even knowing. She is trying to wash the guilt away by washing the blood off her hands in her sleep, but it just won’t go away. However, now that the doctor and the gentlewoman know about Banquo’s killing they may go and tell someone.

 

Act 5 scene 2: Lady Macbeth has just gone back to bed and the doctor is about to leave. He tells the gentlewoman to remove any or everything that Lady Macbeth may use to hurt herself. He thinks that Lady Macbeth’s sleep walking is unnatural. “My mind she has mated, and amazed my sight.” –Doctor 5.2.77. What the doctor means is, that the he has comments of his own that he doesn’t say to the gentlewoman. The doctor has saw what Lady Macbeth was doing while she sleep walks and he has heard what she was saying. As a result, of this the doctor and the gentlewoman have realized how crazy Lady Macbeth is.

 

Lady Macbeth is a very confusing character in the story Macbeth. In the beginning, she is very fierce and only care about what she wants. Once she starts to get what she wants, she does not appreciate it and starts regretting the things she has done to get what she wants. The quotes in this report supports the thesis statement made by, stating what Lady Macbeth says. This also supports how she evolved in her attitude and the way she thinks about herself throughout the story. Shakespeare’s message to us about life and how we live it to me is, to there are no cheat codes, short cuts, or easy pathways to life. I got this message by knowing that Lady Macbeth wanted to be on top badly, she took all types of short cuts. Some of which were killing people, seducing people, and tricking people in her own little way. In the end, she regretted everything she ever did and she killed herself unfortunately. She drove her self to the max and could not handle the pain and suffering she was going through.

Q4 BM-Reflection

Reflection on the year-

As a 9th grade student, this portfolio says much about myself and expresses how my growth comes along as the time passes by. Throughout the year, there has been miraculous growth in the way that my pieces are written as well as their presentation. Coming into the 9th grade, it was difficult to even write a couple sentences that were well structured and were without the word “I” or used dead words such as “good” and “bad”.

When seeing my later pieces compared from the ones previously in the year, readers will be able to tell that my vocabulary has flourished to a great extent. It seems that the quality of my pieces have gotten greater and the challenges have followed. Knowing that in the beginning of the school year, in myself there was a scarce amount of hope when it came to my writing. As the months went on there is much strength that has been developed on my part.

Some strength that has been developed is my usage of vocabulary and the fact that it has become easier to form well-written paragraphs. Although, with these strengths have come many weaknesses. Struggling with not only time management and procrastination, but making sure that all the key elements for all the assignments is touched when it comes to analysis.

Stating analysis is certainly a skill that is important to be able to gain, and surely it is one thing that should be worked on in order for myself to be successful in my writing. In making this portfolio a main struggle was my “Macbeth” piece, since there were many dead words presented in my piece. As well as the fact that dead words were used I stumbled upon finding that there could have been more explanation throughout my writing.

Practicing my writing solved the issues that have been encountered and as the time went on it was easier to flow with what was incorrect because it took time to be accustomed to. For those reasons when looking back at the work from earlier in the year, there was such a change in the way things would have been said. For those reason my most proud piece was my “Me Magazine” because it reminded myself that as a person I will never loose sight of who I really am. 

Q2 Benchmark: Memoir Vignette

Our memoir Vignette was a basic story about an event that happened to us in our lives. ​We had to summarize it and not tell our whole life story, this was more of a show not tell project. We had to show our audience or the reader through our words so we used stylistic devices. We also had to outline the stylistic devices we used. Which made readers Want to read on and not want to stop reading. 

“No not the Nets!!”

By Tyanna Pleasant

  Tyanna, one great definition for a scaredy cat (opener). That was not always a perfect word to describe me. Ever since Amusement parks and I was introduced to each other, it just was not the same for me. The day my family and I went to this amusement park was the same day that I was convinced never to try an attraction that looks way too scary, way too challenging, or way too high off the ground  (repetition for effect) (Magic 3). Well I am going to tell you my story.

Two years ago on a lovely, bright, fun filled Saturday (Magic 3) in the summertime, my beautiful family and I decided to pay Sesame Place a visit. Unfortunately, while in the car I was very upset because from the name of the park, I can already tell that I was not gong to have any fun or any type of excitement or thrill there. I really did not want to be there, sitting in the small KIA Spectrum with my aunt, cousin, brother, sister, and my mom. My aunt said that the park is going to be really exiting and I was going to enjoy myself, but the more she talked about it the more I didn’t want to be there. We enjoyed ourselves and shared memories with each other in the car and while we walked around the park until, my eyes got stuck on an attraction that goes by the name of Nets ‘n’ Climbs. It stared back and gave me that you cannot stand a chance against me look so, in my opinion it challenged me to a duel (personification); since were at Sesame Place, I had the thought that nothing there was on my level of challenging. Therefore, I accepted the challenge, of course. The challenge was to climb from the beginning of the net to the end, which sounded like something easy, quick, and fun (magic 3) to do. I was very confident in myself. You should have saw me I showed off, strutted up those tall, long, spiral stairs (Magic 3) to the top where the nets began. When I reached the top of the stairs, I was surprised, so surprised that I could not even speak to describe what was going on inside my head. I was even more surprised (rep 4 effect) that I could barely feel my legs while they shivered in my pants moving fast like a running car’s motor. (simile) I was extremely surprised that I could feel my heart beating inside of my rib cage. The net was three stories high with about 200 feet of suspended net tunnels; it looked life threatening. As soon as I saw the monstrous (adjective) net, I backed down. Nope not me, I was not going to do it, I was not going to climb that net, nope not me, and I defiantly did not want to look at it even longer. So I dashed all the way back down the tall, long, spiral (magic 3) stairs back to the bottom where it all started. Unfortunately, my sister who stood at the bottom of the attraction in her shorts and tank top was burning up from the heat from standing in the sun, was watching me the entire time.  She ran up to me as soon as she saw me at the bottom of the stairs fast like a desperate cheetah running after its dinner (simile) she laughed at me non-stop making it hard for her self to catch her breath and talk. After laughing, she finally asked me ”What happened. (Dialogue)” I said “My dear sister, never judge a book by its coverShe said” Why what happened? You are okay right?” I said, “Yea I’m alright. Just do not judge anything or someone by its appearance until you actually try it or meet that person well enough so you can judge them or its performance. Judge them or it by their personality and not their looks please because looks are deceiving. That’s coming from the experience I just had.” (Dialogue).

While I walked away with my sister, I felt like the Nets ‘n’ Climbs had eyes, and they were staring me down (Personification) like an owl hunting for a mouse in the night. (Simile) I was willing to beat something that I knew nothing about which turned out to be something I did not expected it to be like. That day I also learned to never judge a book by its cover. Just because we are at Sesame Place, which is based on the show Sesame Street, which is a children’s show on PBS kids, does not mean that it is a place where older children cannot go to enjoy themselves, but older kids shouldn’t underestimate the capability of certain attractions and rides there. Unfortunately, that day I was convinced never to try an attraction that looks way too scary, way too challenging, or way to high of the ground (Repetition for effect).

Q4 Benchmark Portfolio: Roberto Abazoski

Reflective Cover Letter:
I feel my portfolio says that as a 9th grader, my writing level has grown better, and I can improve my past work. When you see my work, I try to get the reader to understand that the way I write is to attempt to write as clearly as possible to get my message across in answering the objective.
            
I consider my strengths in English are understanding what the project is asking for, and completing it. My weakness is the way I form sentences can confuse the reader on what I’m trying to get across. I still want to work on forming sentences better and also, stop making short sentences.
            
My experiences in making this portfolio were that I finally got to see how I used to write and watch as I progress through the year. I even forgot about some projects and I would think to myself, “Where did the time go?” The issues I encountered were that my quotes didn’t match my thesis in the quarter 1 benchmark, and some of my journals weren’t done so I had to finish them. I resolved these by changing my thesis so I wouldn’t have to find all new quotes, and I extended my journals revising them, too. I also, would confuse myself with what I’m trying to say so I rewrote those parts.
            
The piece I am most proud of is my Macbeth Creative comic book. I spent a lot of thought and care into crafting this on Comic Life. I would go to YouTube and watch each individual scene that had the quotes I chose in them, then I took a screenshot of the moment when the character would say it and add it to the comic to show the emotion given off when a character would say the selected quote.

Quarter 1 BM: In this quarter we read the book Macbeth, Our benchmark was to choose either Macbeth or Lady Macbeth, and then use quotes from the story that they or someone else said about them. We had to create a thesis to state how they changed, then use the quotes to show how they transitioned throughout the station.

Thesis Statement

Macbeth’s personality changes throughout the story, he is afraid of using violence for power, but then turns into an impulsive and violent person to withhold his power as king.

Analysis:

In Act 1, Scene 3 of Macbeth, Macbeth got news from Angus and Ross that Macbeth has been promoted to Thane of Cawdor. Since the Wëird Sisters predicted that Macbeth will be king, he is wondering how he will become it. Aside, Macbeth says to himself, “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir.” (Act 1, Scene 3, Lines 143-144). This reveals that Macbeth doesn’t know whether to take matters into his own hands or not. Also, Macbeth says it aside because he doesn’t want anyone to know what the Wëird Sisters predicted.

            In Act 1, Scene 7, Lady Macbeth tried to convince Macbeth to kill King Duncan tonight, and he is talking to himself alone on how to do it, but is still unsure if he wants to. Macbeth is talking to himself again, “If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well it were done quickly. If th’ assassination could trammel up the consequence, and catch with his surcease success, that but this blow might be the be-all and the end-all – here, but this here upon this bank and shoal of time, we’d jump the life to come.”(Act 1, Scene 7, lines 1-7) This reveals that he is strategizing how he is going to kill Duncan. Also, he is having regrets because he wants to be loyal instead of a traitor just like the previous Thane of Cawdor was. He is talking aside because he doesn’t want anyone else hearing the plot he has to kill King Duncan.

            In Act 2, Scene 1, King Duncan is asleep, the guards are drunk, and Macbeth is going to kill Duncan. Then, Macbeth is hallucinating and sees a dagger, but can’t grab it. He leaves it alone, pulls out his dagger and then goes to kill Duncan. Macbeth says, “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight? Or art thou but a dagger of the mind.” This reveals that Macbeth is scared, but he wants to kill Duncan so he can become king and have more power.

            In Act 2, scene 2 of Macbeth,  Macbeth just killed King Duncan, and now he is hearing voices saying that he won’t sleep again because he killed an innocent person while they were sleeping. After Macbeth did the deed, he wasn’t thinking straight and was scared. Macbeth says, “Methought I heard a voice cry “Sleep no more!” Macbeth does murder sleep” – the innocent sleep.” This reveals that Macbeth is feeling guilty that he killed someone while they were sleeping. Macbeth is also conscious that he did something wrong, and is punishing himself mentally.

            In Act 3, scene 2 in Macbeth, Macbeth knows that Banquo has a suspicion towards him for the death of King Duncan. So Macbeth is going to hire murderers to kill Banquo. While Macbeth is talking to the murderers he says, “I’ll call upon you straight. Abide within. It is concluded. Banquo, thy soul’s flight, if it find heaven, must find it out tonight.” (Act 3, Scene 2, Lines 140-143) This reveals that Macbeth would go to the extent of killing his best friends to get power. Also, it reveals that Macbeth will somehow get what he wants when he wants it. This is different than killing Duncan because now he doesn’t want the blood of his own friend on his hands so he gets murderers to eliminate Banquo. This way he can eliminate another possible threat trying to take away his power as king.

            In Act 3, scene 4 in Macbeth, Lady Macbeth asked Macbeth if he was a man. He answered that he was a confident one that even horrifies the devil. Macbeth says,” Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that which might appall the devil.”(Act 3, Scene 4, Lines 60-61) This reveals that Macbeth knows that he is a courageous and scary person. It also means that he controls how he acts, he wasn’t controlled by something else. Macbeth changed on purpose so he wouldn’t feel the guilt when he murders someone.

            In act 4, scene 1 in Macbeth, Macbeth was just visited by the 3 apparitions, the witches’ masters. The first apparition said to fear Macduff. After his encounter with the apparitions Lennox told him that Macduff has fled to England. Now Macbeth is hiring murderers again to murder Macduff’s wife, kids, and everyone else in his castle. Macbeth says,” The castle of Macduff I will surprise, seize upon Fife, give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword his wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line.”(Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 172-174) This reveals that Macbeth is now killing people in an impulse without thinking because he believes the witches and he wants to make sure he covers all the bases. It even reveals that Macbeth is even more bloodthirsty.

             In act 4, scene 3 in Macbeth, Malcolm is ready to kill Macbeth once and for all with an army backing him up. Malcolm says,” Come, we go to the king. Our power is ready; our lack is nothing but our leave. Macbeth is ripe for shaking, and the pow’rs above.” (Act 4, Scene 3, Lines 236 – 238) This reveals that Malcolm has had enough of Macbeth murdering everybody. Also, Malcolm wants Macbeth to taste his own medicine.

            In act 5, scene 1 in Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking and couldn’t believe how Macbeth could be so evil and bloodthirsty because of all the people he killed. Lady Macbeth says, “Yet who would have thought the old man to have so much blood in him?” (Act 5, Scene 1, Lines 37-40). This reveals that Lady Macbeth regrets making Macbeth kill Duncan in the first place because it is somewhat her fault that all these innocent people are being killed.

            In act 5, scene 8 in Macbeth, Macbeth is in the middle of a fight with Macduff. Macbeth would rather fight ‘til the end than surrender to Malcolm, and watch him become king. Macbeth says, “I will not yield to kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet.”(Act 5, Scene 8, Lines 27-30) This reveals that Macbeth doesn’t want to die, but knows that he will because he noticed that everything happened just like the 3 apparitions said he would die, Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane, fighting someone that wasn’t born from a woman, and to beware Macduff.

Conclusion:

            Macbeth should be thought as a loyal person, but people in his life influenced him for the bad now he stayed like that. These quotes supported the thesis because from the first quotes to the tenth, it is obvious that his personality has changed. The first quote says that he is wondering if fate will have him king without him not doing anything, but then in the second quote Lady Macbeth convinces him that he has to kill Duncan to be king. The quotes after the second show how his character doesn’t change back, but only gets worse and becomes bloodthirsty and greedy. Macbeth killed innocent people just to stay in power. Then, Macbeth killed Macduff’s wife and children because he was bloodthirsty. Shakespeare’s message about life could be that people would go to extreme measures to get what they want even if it means losing the important things in life.

Quarter 2 BM:For this quarter’s benchmark, we had to write a memoir vignette. A memoir vignette is capturing a slice of a moment in your life and writing it as vividly as possible. This story has to be connected to the author strongly. 

“The First Time I Was Called A Hero”

            I’ve always dreamt of being a hero for a girl just like in movies. (Opener) What happened last summer was similar to that. It all happened in the suburbs of Allentown, Pennsylvania, where most of my cousins lived. I am the oldest in my generation, so I play with little kids when I visit them. Their names are Nick, Samir, Reshat, and Adrian and they are all boys.

            We all were at Samir’s house playing video games on his Xbox 360. It was really exciting because we were playing around and having fun since we didn’t see each other for weeks. 1:00 in the afternoon came, and we started getting bored. None of us had an idea of what game to play next. We turned it off and just went outside. I noticed my aunt walking into her house. It had been a while since I saw her. Zooming across the grass and my cousins following me, I conversed with her and caught up with new things happening in our lives. We then continued what we were doing. Adrian saw the soccer goals in his humungous backyard and he came up with the idea to play one on four, me on my own team to keep it fair. Reshat was about to get his soccer ball, and that’s when it all started.

            Everyone stopped moving and I just heard “LOOK!” (Dialogue)I looked in their direction to see a huge, tall, black, and husky Pit bull going at about forty miles per hour! It crossed the road and then aggravated Reshat. Possessively he asked “Why is it peeing on my tree?!?” (Dialogue) My uncle saw the dog too and called all of us to get inside. He went inside, too. Samir listened, but not Nick, Reshat, and Adrian. Reshat encouraged Nick and Adrian to chase the dog for no reason. I still find it confusing how my aunt was still there and she was yelling at the three kids to come back and leave the dog alone. Her voice was weak as she was. I noticed that they didn’t listen, and then I yelled so they would hear. At this point, I think they don’t care about what anyone tells them to do. The dog went in the backyard, and out of my sight. My cousins went in that direction racing across the dark green grass. I had no intention of chasing them; I think they were in the middle of a sugar rush … I’m not sure. As I witnessed them trying to chase the dog they got out of my sight. Seconds later, I saw the dog just appear out of thin air chasing them back trying to attack the four boys. My cousins racing their hearts out even more. I blanked out, and had no clue what to do. I could only hear the screaming and my aunt shouting for help. HELP!! HELP!! RUFF RUFF GRRRRR AAAAHHHH!!!! HELP!! HELP!! (Rep for Effect, Dialogue) So many things happened at the same time so soon.

            Reshat and Nick managed to get inside, but Adrian is cornered in-between the two air conditioners mounted to the side of Reshat’s house. Desperately he cried, “ROBERTO HELP ME!” (Dialogue). I had to do something! At that point I risked my life to possibly save his. Never in my life have I ever seen that look of vigilance on anyone’s face until this very moment. Somehow a little voice in my head told me to keep the dog in one place and calm it down temporarily. I held the dog back by its body right above its back legs, just enough to calm the vicious animal from clawing. I told Adrian to run away, but that didn’t do anything. It just made the situation worse. The dog turned its body and took a quick claw at my face then chased after Adrian like he was ball that his owner threw to play “fetch” with. (Simile) He got so scared, and trembled on the grass with fear and surrender. The dog became even more vicious. He started attempting to bite, and I still heard my aunt in the background trying to get help. It finally hit me; the dog had a collar on so I grabbed the dog by its collar. It was perfect. I was able to keep him in one place until my uncle came outside seconds later. He told me to slowly let it go. I started walking in the middle of the street to catch attention and started asking whose dog this was. It all happened so fast. Dogs are not always affectionate as they show up on TV to be and can be very defensive and violent. Also, they shouldn’t be messed with. (Realization) As I asked all the nearby neighbors in sight, I kept hearing the same answer, “Sorry that’s not my dog.” “I don’t know whose dog that is”. (Dialogue) At that point I felt hopeless. I thought if I let the dog go, it would attack me too. Luckily, a neighbor who is a dog owner offered me a leash to tie to the collar on the dog’s neck. My uncle ran towards me and helped tie the vicious beast to a tree nearby.

The neighbors called 911 and it was finally over! I heard Adrian was badly scratched on his face and body. As my whole family came outside, they noticed the situation and finally got the cops and the ambulance to come. The cops were writing out their report while the ambulance truck took Adrian away. Turns out he had several scratches on his face and body and they took him to the ER to make sure he didn’t have any infections or diseases. I had to be there for the police report to make up one of my biggest lies ever to the cops to make it look like it was the dog’s fault when it was clearly my cousin’s for chasing the dog in the first place. They actually bought it because I never lied that good in my whole life. The cops were able to get the owners, but I don’t understand how they didn’t get in any trouble from the damage the dog did to Adrian and not keeping the dog supervised letting it run free. I went inside my other uncle’s house to get the horrible dog smell away and wash my face. I didn’t know what to tell him so I gathered my emotions and told him about what happened in the calmest way I could. He immediately got up and bolted to Nick. (Nick is his son and he wanted to talk to him) Suddenly, my whole family came outside. My family is unusually large in quantity by the way so it was a huge crowd. They all kept asking, “What happened?!?” (Dialogue) It got annoying after awhile because I kept on repeating the story and answering their questions. This changed the whole day for me and everybody else. Out of all of the family members, my aunt was the most thankful because she knew if I wasn’t there, she couldn’t have done anything.  The rest of the day was too long. I also reeked of the dog’s smell that I couldn’t get rid of no matter how hard I tried. I took a shower and changed my clothes but I still smelled that distinct odor. I’m glad Adrian is okay though, he only had minor scratches and the dog didn’t have rabies. This experience was extremely adrenaline pumping and terrifying, but I still wouldn’t mind doing it again. As long as I’m saving a girl. (Closer)


Quarter 3 BM:
In this benchmark, I chose to compare the portrayals of Cyclopes in artwork vs the portrayals of Cyclopes described in the book The Odyssey. I downloaded the artworks from the Internet, and used descriptions from the book, and then compared them.

This quarter, our benchmark is to compare the portrayals of Cyclopes on the Internet vs. how they were described in the book The Odyssey. In Greek mythology, Cyclopes are one-eyed giants. Cyclopes are interpreted and portrayed in so many different ways. You can sight the different ways they are portrayed by searching for images , or reading The Odyssey interpretations of Cyclopes. Although the portrayals of The Cyclops in The Odyssey, and in artwork are similar in appearance, the emotions conveyed in each version are different, which leads to different interpretations of this mythical creature.

In The Odyssey, the Cyclops described itself as fearless and extraordinarily strong. The Cyclops was saying that it is not afraid of the gods’ powers, and that the Cyclopes have more force than Zeus. “ ‘Stranger’, he grumbled back from his brutal heart, ‘you must be a fool, stranger, or come from nowhere, telling me to fear the gods or avoid their wrath! We Cyclops never blink at Zeus or Zeus’ shield of storm and thunder or any blessed god – we’ve got more force by far”. (Book 9, Lines 306-311). The Cyclopes in The Odyssey all use humungous clubs, or as Odysseus described it as huge as his ship. “ Here was the plan that struck my mind as best… the Cyclops’ great club: there it lay by the pens, olivewood, full of sap. He’d lopped it over to brandish once it dried. Looking it over, we judged it big enough to be the mast of a pitch-black ship with her twenty oars, a freighter broad in the beam that plows through miles of sea – so long, so thick it bulked before our eyes.” (Book 9, Lines 356-362) Judging by how massive the Cyclops’ club is, its body is even more monstrous. Also the Cyclopes’ have one eye, it is mentioned in the title of Book 9, “In The One-Eyed Giant’s Cave”. Lastly, in the Odyssey, the Cyclops was always mad when it was talking to Odysseus.

In artwork, the three Cyclopes downloaded from the Internet all are huge, strong, and imposing. In the second interpretation, the Cyclops is holding a large wooden club. In each artwork, each Cyclops has only one eye. Additionally, the emotion in each of their face is either calm and serene or happy. In the second and third artworks, the Cyclopes are interpreted as monsters, while in the first artwork, the Cyclops is portrayed as a man. The artworks are at the end of this document.

In both the artwork and the book, the way the Cyclops was portrayed and interpreted were both similar and different. They were different by their emotions given off, and are similar by their appearance. For example, they are all huge and strong, and all have one eye.  Also, by the similarity with them having a club. Although, they are different by their emotions because in the artworks they appear as calm, serene, and happy. Whereas in the book the emotions the Cyclopes give off to Odysseus are anger and hatred. These examples show that the interpretations are more similar than different.  The only way they are different is by their emotion, the Cyclops in The Odyssey is angry while the Cyclopes in artwork are neutral. What if Cyclopes were actually very different than what people portray them as if they really existed?

 

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Bibliography:

http://images-mediawiki-sites.thefullwiki.org/01/1/4/8/84576213757493718.gif

http://files.turbosquid.com/Preview/2010/12/05__17_06_00/CyclopsPic12.JPG99b50d27-7b38-4cf7-ab4c-a08d57a78ad9Larger.jpg

http://opinionsandexpressions.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/cyclops1.jpg


Creative Piece: 

In this project, we had to come up with a creative idea to present our Q1 Benchmark. I chose to do a comic and named it “How Evil People Are Made”.
Click Here


Independent Reading Project: 

This is the first independent reading book of the school year. I read the book The House Of The Scorpion, and wrote a summary along with my opinion on the book.

This work of art I just finished reading is called The House of The Scorpion, written by Nancy Farmer. Nancy Farmer has written 6 other novels, and several picture books and short stories. For this book in particular, Nancy won 12 awards. They include "National Book Award", the "Newbery Honor" and the "Michael L. Printz Award For Excellence In Young Adult Literature".

            The main characters in the book are Matt, El Patrón, Maria, Celia, Tam Lin, The 3 Keepers, and the Lost Boys. Matt is a clone that has El Patrón’s DNA. El Patrón is the original Matteo Alacrán, and also a powerful drug lord. Maria is the younger daughter of Senator Mendoza. Celia is the chief cook and Matt’s caregiver. Tam Lin is a bodyguard for both El Patrón and Matt. The three keepers are named Raúl, Carlos, and Jorge, they take in Lost Boys and put them to work. The lost boys’ names are Chacho, Fidelito, Ton-Ton, and Flaco, their parents were arrested for crossing the border while they were left behind and took in by the Keepers.

In this story, Matt was born by El Patrón’s DNA being put into the womb of a cow and the cow giving birth to it. Celia has raised him as her own until one day when a couple kids enticed him to come and play outside. The door was locked so he broke the window and got out, only to find out that he cut his foot on shards of glass from the window. Moments later, he is in a big house with maids treating him. Everybody knows who he is and then calls him a monster because he is a clone. Rosa, a housekeeper, then let him sleep. The next day, he was put in a shed with hay all over the floor and fed daily, basically jailed.

After a long time, Celia found him and got him out. El Patrón came and met his clone for the first time. El Patrón punished Rosa by turning her into an eejit, a robot with a chip planted in their brain that only allows the robot to do 1 simple task. El Patrón leaves because he can’t stay in that house. To assure that Matt isn’t going to be harmed, El Patrón lets Matt choose one of his bodyguards, and he picks Tam Lin. Tam Lin watches him and teaches him to ride a horse after school with his own eejit as a teacher. As the story goes on, Matt hears bad things about El Patrón, but doesn’t believe it. It was until he found out that there were other clones of El Patrón and he used their body parts to keep El Patrón alive and live the lives that his brothers and sisters never had. Matt’s only option is to escape, but he knew it wouldn’t lead to freedom.

When the day for Matt to die came, the whole story turned by what Celia has done to Matt and sabotaged El Patrón’s plan. El Patrón dies and Tam Lin helps Matt escape by telling him what to do and where to go. Tam Lin even gave him a chest with books, water, and note. As Matt is escaping, the Border Patrol catches him so he explains to them a story, then they take him to the keepers. It is like an orphanage without getting to be adopted, where keepers look after the “orphans” as they feed them and give them work to do. Matt is friends with the other lost boys. There isn’t any hope for any of them because they can’t escape. This changes when Jorge, one of the keepers, starts to beat Ton-Ton, and the rest of the boys join and fight back against Jorge.

This results to Chacho and Matt being dumped in a hole of dead bodies. Chacho got hurt from the bones crushing him. They finally escape by climbing out of the whole. Then Ton-Ton and Fidelito came to them with the shrimp harvester and escaping with it. After a long ride to San Luis, the boys run into Guapo and Consuela. They offered to drive them to the hospital using the hovercar. At the hospital, the sisters then were treating him. As, Matt and Fidelito were walking to see Chacho, they noticed Ton-Ton mouthing “run” because the Keepers were there trying to take Chacho. The keepers saw Fidelito and Matt and they started gripping them up to bring them back to the plankton factory. Everyone was fighting back until Doña Esperanza came and cleared the whole fight up by getting Ton-Ton to tell the whole story why everyone was fighting.

The keepers were arrested because she knew they were trafficking drugs and used that against them. After all this, Doña Esperanza discusses with Matt about what he should do when he will be the new reigning drug lord. Matt is now back to Opium, where he now has to complete the mission Esperanza gave him.

            The type of conflict in this book is person vs society because the antagonists were all against Matt and the orphans for different reasons. One reason is because they escaped from the orphanage, and the second is because Matt was a clone that escaped his death that was supposed to die and give organs to El Patrón.

            My opinion towards this book is very positive and I enjoyed reading it from cover to cover. This book kept me entertained and has a great plot. This book doesn’t have any weaknesses in my opinion because it was such a great story to read and I could almost feel like I was there watching everything in 3rd person POV. Also, there is nothing in this book that I would change.

            Would I recommend this book to other people? Yes, most definitely I would recommend it. As, I stated in the previous paragraph, it is a great plot and it will keep the reader anxious to find out what happens next.

4 Journal Entries:

These are 4 journal entries that I wrote. Mrs. Dunn gave us a question to answer each day and these are the ones I enjoyed writing about the most.


To me, fitting is somewhat important. This is because life isn’t fun without friends. I don’t do much to fit in because the kind of friends I have, all have different personalities and we get along like we’re family even though we only knew each other for a couple of months.

            I have never done anything as a part of a crowd and felt bad about it after. This is because I never get the chance to do stuff like that. The people I hang out with don’t attempt to or do anything in life they would regret. Although, if I did have a chance to participate in such activities, I would’ve thought twice about it to know what I was getting into.

 

            If I were to have a fresh start in one part of my life, I would start high school over again. I chose this specific option because I don’t want people to look at me as just that quiet guy. I would’ve done everything right. With a fresh start, I would take my high school experience and stay on top of work to relax and socialize without thinking a project is due the next day and I didn’t start it yet. Socially, in that period I could’ve made more friends, knew more people in the school, and actually “have” fun in high school just like everyone says it is.

 

            So winter break just ended and I’m back in school. Just imagine the joy on my face coming back to school when I just spent half of my break doing schoolwork. Yes, the break felt really short. I didn’t get to do all the things I wanted to, but at least I got most of my work done.

            Beside all the cons of my break, there were many pros to it, too. For Christmas, I got a drum set that I wanted since I was a little kid, some clothes, money, and a warm and cozy Snuggie! The rest of the break I spent at my cousin’s house sleeping over. New Years was WAY better though! The whole family got together and had a party. For the first time in a long time, I actually had fun at a family party!

 

            What makes someone a good storyteller is by no matter what the story is, the person can make the story realistic. Personally, I like when someone makes a story funny when its not meant to be funny. A good storyteller can bring the story to life just enough to visualize what the scene would look like to be experiencing it instead of just hearing about it.

Now, with a good storyteller, you need a good story. A good story is when there is meaning to the story. By meaning, I mean to tell a moral, to use to make a joke out of, to tell a good past time, etc. 

creative project

Q3 benchmark: The Odyssey Compare/Contrast Essay

​For our third Benchmark, Ms. Dunn gave us a compare and contrast essay. In this essay, we have to make and essay comparing and contrasting a character or event in The Odyssey to another character in another work of art. We had to use examples from both the odyssey nd the work of art we chose to give examples of how they are alike and how they are different. You could compare and contrast the way they act towards others, their transformation through out the story, their roles in each story, or anything that makes them alike. In order for this essay to be done, we also had to take a visit to the Lit Lab to get our essays reviewed by a senior who is very skilled and have great english tips when writing.


The characters that are being focused on in this benchmark are Eurycleia from
The Odyssey by Homer and Chucha from Before we were Free by Julia Alvarez. They are two nurses that are looked up to by their caretakers. They are trustworthy, loyal, and wise. Chucha and Eurycleia are appreciated but Chucha has her way of not speaking directly, which leaves her family clueless about what she just said.

       Chucha took care of a high middle class family who had to hide from a governmental agency called the SIM. She kept her family motivated to get away from this way of living. She spoke to people leaving hints about the future in a way that her family had to unravel the meaning of what she said. “You will fly free like the butterflies Anita.” (Chapter 3) Chucha is telling Anita that she will escape the treatment of the SIM soon. Anita, the little girl in the story, asked Chucha to promise not to tell anyone about the blood in her sister Lucinda’s bed from her menstrual cycle. Chucha kept her promise and covered up the evidence; She washed the sheets and had all of the blood out of them. Likewise, Eurycleia took care of a wealthy and royal family who was waiting for a family member to return home. She stayed loyal to Odysseus while he went out to sea. Eurycleia promised Odysseus that she would not tell anybody in the house that Odysseus was dressed as the old beggar. “Child… What nonsense you let slip through your teeth! You know me- I am stubborn, never give an inch. I’ll keep still as a solid rock or iron...” (Book 19, lines 555-558). Eurycleia and Chucha families look up to them and trust them with all of their secrets, and they know what is best for their family. They are also adept wise and lived along time so they are very knowledgeable. Both Eurycleia and Chucha are also treated with more respect and courtesy than the other servants are and maids in the house.

       Chucha has her way of speaking in riddles or in a puzzling way where in order to understand her, people will have to unravel what she is saying. When she speaks, most of the time Her family had to really listen to what she is saying in order to understand the point she is trying to get out. Most of the things she says are about what will happen in the future. She knows what to do in every situation, and she helps her family whenever someone gets hurt. She knows exactly how to heal them and how to keep them calm and she has helped every one in Anita’s family generation. Chucha is also very superstitious, she sleeps in a coffin and everything she owns is purple, she has to dye everything purple, and there will never be a time or day where she will not wear purple. “’Wow!’ He says glancing around at Chucha’s purple towel hanging from a peg, her purple mosquito net strung between two nails, her purple dresses draped over a chair. ‘Does everything she wear have to be purple?’ I nod ‘Even her panties and stuff have to be dyed…” (Chapter 3, pg. 34-35) She believes that this will keep any bad spirits away from her and her family. I hope that Chucha will be able to keep the SIM away from her family also.

Eurycleia has been apart of Telemachus’s family for a long time. Eurycleia is the only the nurse in the house; she also is one of the women that were loyal to Odysseus. She is very wise and can tell Telemachus everything he wants to know about his father. She helped care for Odysseus since he was a boy, she knows about all of his scars and how he got them. Eurycleia could identify Odysseus just from one of his scars. “That scar as the old nurse cradled his leg and her hands passed down she felt it, knew it… Joy and torment gripped her heart at once, tears rushed to her eyes- voice choked in her throat… ‘Yes, yes you are Odysseus-oh dear boy I couldn’t know you before till I touched the body of my king’” (Book 19, Lines 528-538)

Chucha and Eurycleia are greatly admired by the people they live with, although Chucha has her way of speaking unclearly sometimes, and leaves her family thinking for a longtime about what she has said. They are very kind ladies who took care of the same family for at least 2 generations. They are treated better than any of the other maids or servants in their homes because of this, they are very trustworthy, honest, and loyal to their care takers. They are very similar but they also have many differences. Chucha took care of a high middle class family who was hiding from the government; and Eurycleia took care of a royal family who mourned for a family member to return home.

 

      

 

Me Magazine

In the beginning of the year, Ms. Dunn gave us a project called the Me Magazine.The Me magazine tells others what makes me at the point in the year as a 15 year-old incoming freshman to SLA.This magazine had to include a front and back cover, and editor's letter to introduce our magazine, and it must have four inside pages covered front and back. We also had to add advertisements that was about something we are interested in. This is great project to start the year off with. This project also helps our class learn about each other, get more comfortable with each other, and see what we may have in common with each other. This was my favorite project out of the whole year and it is a great way to start off our year with.
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Independent reading review

Ms. Dunn gives her ninth graders 2 independant reading reviews throughout the whole year she has us. We get a chance to chose whatever independent reading book we want to read for this assignment. It could be any Genre, by any author but, it must be at least 150 pages long. This independent reading review should give a detailed overview of the book you read so that the person who is reading the review will know what the book is mainly about. This review goes into details if you answer all the questions asked, and elaborate on each question.

Before we were Free

By Julia Alvarez

The book “Before we were Free” by Julia Alvarez won the Pura Belpré award for its writing and the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award in 2004. This book also won the ALA Notable children’s books and ALA best book for young adults in 2003. Julia Alvarez published this novel in 2002.

       “Before we were Free” is about a 12-year-old girl named Anita Torre who lives in the Dominican Republic in 1960. Her family moved to The United States to escape the harsh treatment in the Dominican Republic. Her grandparents went first and they found a house in New York and lived there legally. The rest of her family left, therefore, it was just Anita, her mamá, her papá, Lucinda and her family’s maid Chucha (Chucha is like another family member, she has token care of basically all of her family, she even took care of Anita’s mamá). Soon or later things started getting even worse for Anita and her family that was still in the Dominican Republic. Secret Police called the SIM kept 24 hour watch on their house, their family, they were watching their every move. They searched every house looking for a man named Carlos Garcia and his family. The SIM rudely check people’s homes all the time; they walk in and destroy everything in their way, throwing things around. They will not stop until they find what they are looking for so they keep coming back to each house.

At the end of the story, Anita has to move out of her house because the SIM was after her family. They moved into the Mancini’s house for a few months, they had to be really carful and sneaky there. At the Mancini’s house, they had to hide in their bedroom closet, which was the safest place for Anita and her mother. Meanwhile her papi and her tio tony were fighting for their freedom. A month and a few weeks later, Anita and her mother moved to New York with her grandparents, where they were safe. Everybody in Anita’s family who moved from the Dominican Republic was there. While there, Mr. Washington who moved to Washington, came to visit them in New York and delivered the news that Anita’s father and uncle was dead. Since El Jefe were killed, his son was killing everybody in his way, He tied up everybody who was involved with trying to set people free to a tree and shot them until they were dead. Then he left the Dominican Republic. Now Anita is safe living in New York with her family members that escaped to the United States.

       My favorite character in the story is Chucha. This is her Anita’s clairvoyant nanny from Haiti. She is my favorite character because she is very wise; she is very different from the other characters in the story. She is a very spiritual lady. She wore purple all the time to protect her from the evil spirits; she also sleeps in a coffin, which I found very interesting. She is a fortuneteller, most of the fortunes she tell that are about the future, she use little riddles.

       My favorite character in the story is Chucha. The reason is, the whole family looked up to her, Chucha she took care of as they grew up. I have lots of younger children that look up to me. I used to help at a recreation center and help the staff watch the children and help the children with their needs. Chucha helped the family raise each other and they looked up to her because she was old and wise. They came to her for just about everything from advice to physical changes in their lives. I believe that readers should take from the book that there were harsh times in this world for some people and there still is some harsh moments. Some people didn’t have to go through what Anita had to go through at 12 years old and maybe people even younger than that and they should appreciate the fact that they are free and they don’t have to hide from the government. People should also appreciate that they live in their own houses and not a neighbors closet with a limited amount of things to do.

I could not relate to any of the characters in the story, but I can feel how they were feeling. The person that I really felt the most was Anita. The story was in her perspective and I knew every thought during the whole story. I have felt the way Anita felt when Oscar, her love, moved to the United States. Her heart dropped when she found out and she did not even get a chance to say goodbye to him. I had an experience like that when a person that I like moved to Georgia, it was unexpected and I did not know so I did not get a chance to say goodbye.

I did like the book. It was very interesting and had me wanting to read increasingly. I did not want to stop reading it, which is how interesting it was to me. Reading about something that other people experienced that I know I could not live like that, especially at her age is just amazing. I also would want to know how they handled being in that situation and what they thought about it. Some strengths of this book are, They keep the reader engaged, it explains almost every aspect of her life in the Dominican Republic in 1960, it has sympathy, and it has lots of dialogue so you can get a clue as to what the other characters’ personalities are. I if could change something in this book, it would be the way they explain the background of the story which, they do not. If they did explain the background then they should make it more obvious because I had no clue as to why were they fighting for their freedom, and the restrictions they had because they were not free and who were the SIM because I had no clue what they were either.

       I would recommend this book to other people. This book was very interesting, especially for someone who likes to hear or read about racist or unjust events that happened in the 20th century. “Before we were Free” was told in a young girl’s point of view, so that is what makes it even more interesting. Some people may what to know how it was to live there as a child. So yes, I would most defiantly recommend this book to other people.

Journal entries!

​Throughout our year as ninth graders in Ms.Dunn English class, we have wrote Journals. Our Journals are about many different things and our opinions on them. We could either do a free write and just write what comes to mind or how we were feeling, or we could answer the journal prompt that was written on the board for us to answer. Our Journals would also relate to a story that we are reading as a class. Below are my top four Journals that I really enjoyed writing.

 
How important is it to fit in?

Fitting in is somewhat important to me; the reason why is because if you do not fit in, then you may be the person that get picked on or always by yourself. You might be excluded out of the fun activities everyone else is doing and become desolate. It really depends on the type of crowd you are trying to fit in. If the crowd is insolent, barren, and choose to be doing the wrong things such as vandalism, smoking, selling or doing drugs, drinking under age, or something you know your parents would rebuke then most likely you would not want to be apart of a group of people like that. If it is a conscientious and shrewd crowd such as study group, a girl/boy scout club, music group, or something positive, then you may want to be apart of that crowd they could help you in your future. I have done some things with a crowd that I later felt horrible. When I was in school and my friends were talking about jumping this girl, they did not like because she has a smart mouth and she is conceited. I knew who the girl was, and where she lived at which was right down the street from me. I showed them where the girl lived, and they egged her house. I felt horrible about it because I knew they did not like her but I still showed the group of girls where she lived. I could have prevented it from happening, but I unfortunately did not.


A time when I exceeded expectations (someone else’s or my own)...

A time when someone exceeded my expectations is when my sister Dabreyah told me she was going to get some clothes for my birthday. I only expected her to be cheap and only buy me a shirt. Therefore, when my birthday came, and I looked at her gift box it had a whole outfit plus a small stuffed animal. I really did not think she would or had the ability to do this; she is a big grouch most of the time. She exceeded my expectations by buying me more than what I expected. I felt delighted, loved, and I felt like out of everything she did for me, this was one of the best things.

         I have exceeded someone else’s expectations. A time when I exceeded someone else’s expectations is when I was in 8th grade, last year; I had to do a history project on Somalia. My teacher, Mr. Thomas, expected my call to just make a neat and organized poster board. I really needed this 100 % on this project because I had a high C in his class. Therefore, what I did was add a little extra to my project. I did the neat and organized poster board with a dance to a Somalia song from Somalia. I worked hard trying to perfect every move to the dance. I did so great with this project, that he gave me the 100% I wanted with extra 10% extra credit, that is when I knew I exceeded his expectations.



What are people’s expectations of you? What are your own? Some of the expectations put on me by others are to be mature, responsible, peaceful, hardworking, to know how to do almost any and everything, and to always be blithe. These are not expectations I put on myself though. I live by the expectations I have for myself and not the expectations other people have of me. The expectations I have for myself are to not let little things ruin my day, to set an example for everyone, act my age not my shoe size, and to stay positive.

 

Why write?

The main reasons why I think we write is, because it is a way of communicating, showing your knowledge, and it is an eloquent way of expressing yourself to yourself or others. Writing is a very useful skill in my eyes.

         You can communicate through writing, by writing letters, notes, and it could even help you speak to people who can’t hear. Communicating through writting is a great method of learning and teaching so it could also help expand your knowledge.

         Writing is a way of showing your knowledge. I believe this because you have to write what you learn in school and many other places. Writing also shows that you know how to read and that you know how to speak the language you are writing in. Writing is also a way you could record your knowledge. You cannot always remember everything you say or learn. Therefore, when it comes down to your knowledge writing is a big aspect.

 Writing is an eloquent way you can express yourself to yourself. I believe this because when you write in a journal or diary, you are writing what you think about something or how you are feeling. This is a great way to relieve stress. Writing to yourself could also keep you out of drama by writing down things that you may not like about somebody or something.

 

Memoir Notebook Free write Nov. 29

Being a freshman at SLA for me is very exciting, fun, and I had to learn how to adjust to it. In the beginning of the school year, I knew I was going to make many friends, but I thought they were only going to be freshman. I met many 10th, 11th, and 12th, graders. Well not many 11th and 12th graders but its all right I will meet more as the days go by. I really loved how SLA have colored streams for all of the freshmen obviously I was out in red stream (which is the BEST stream ever with the BEST teachers ever) my connection with red stream is closer than ever. I look at everyone as one of my sisters or brothers. I also met 9th graders outside of red stream through my friend that came from my old school Hamilton. I have no classes at all with them so I really did not like the beginning of the school year too much. However, if they were in the same stream as me then I would not be able to meet more people out of red stream. Now that I have gotten used to this school, the people in it, and the environment in and around the school I am extremely happy that I chose this school and I made really close friends in red stream and around our school that have my back and who will never let me down. I also know that I worked hard this marking period and my report card will show and it will be AWESOME!

 

Journal response to one Freedom Writer OR writes your own FWD Entry. What would yours say?

My favorite diary in the freshman year fall 1994 is on page 11-12 diary #4. This is my favorite because I could relate to it in a way. I would also want to see a fight just for the fun of it. Once I was hit during a fight of insolent children, and I did not do anything but stumble and almost fall. It was unexpected, but it was by accident the person was jumping up and down and was not really paying attention to the people around him. For the rest of the day, I was a little shocked because I never was  hit like that; also, because I can be a little over dramatic in situations like that. So, I could relate to this journal in a way.

 

Q4 English Portfolio Reflection

I think that my portfolio shows how I have progressed as a writer and a student in my freshman year. I think it shows how I have not only improved my writing style and skills, but how my work ethic has improved from a minimal amount of effort on my magazine, to a much more developed and thought through 2nd and 3rd benchmark. In English class, I feel like reading and understanding what I read is something that came very easily to me. Writing, however, is something I have always struggled with. I have a tendency to decide something is "good enough", but in reality, it could be much better. This is something I have improved this year in English, but I still have some work to do in that aspect. While making this portfolio, I saw all my old work, and I was able to see how much I improved this year. Occasionally I would come across something that I thought needed a lot of work, but that wasn't a huge problem, because I could just find each problem easily and correct it. I think my favorite thing that I wrote this year in English was my vignette piece, the 2nd quarter benchmark. I was especially proud of this piece because what I struggled with the most in English is writing about myself. I don't have problems when I'm analyzing something someone else wrote, or writing a short story, but when I write something like a vignette, I spend a lot of time deleting entire sections because I don't like what I've written. In the vignette, not only was I happy with what I had written, but I got a good grade, which is something that I was very proud of because it was a project involving something that I had always struggled with throughout my life as a student.

Q1 Benchmark

We got our 1st benchmark after reading Macbeth. We had to choose a major character from the book, and create a thesis that we felt described that character in the book. We chose 10 quotes from the book, that had to support our thesis. I chose Macbeth, here is my project:

In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a brave and loyal thane; but as the play progresses he becomes an evil tyrant.

            In act 1, scene 2, page 4, a captain enters the room to tell the king the latest news about the war. He said that they had just one a great battle, and that Macbeth killed a rebel leader. He also said that the thane of Cawdor was a traitor, so the king ordered his execution. The captain said, “For brave Macbeth – well he deserves that name…” (Act 1, scene 2, page 4, line 16). What he means is that Macbeth deserves to be called brave. He’s saying that Macbeth is very courageous, and is a hero. At this early part of the play he is described as very valiant. Others in the play also admire him for his bravery and courageousness.

            In act 1, scene 5, page 15, the king is talking to Banquo about Macbeth, during a gathering of all the thanes. The king says to Banquo “… he is full so valiant…” (Act 1, scene 5, page 15, line 54). He is saying that Macbeth is extremely valiant, and when he says full he means he is full of only good, nothing bad. He is talking about how much he values Macbeth, and how fine a thane he is. At this point King Duncan trusts Macbeth with because of how well he has proved himself to the King. He is being called loyal at an early stage in the play. Macbeth knows that he is valued which makes the decision to kill the king much more difficult.

            In act 1, scene 7, page 21, Macbeth is in his first soliloquy, talking about whether or not he should kill King Duncan, and he is very conflicted. He says “First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, strong both against the deed…” (Act 1, scene 7, page 21, lines 13-14). What he means is that he shouldn’t kill the king because he is his kinsman and his subject, which means he shouldn’t kill him. He is trying to come up with reasons for and against killing Duncan. At this early point of the play he is already deciding whether or not to kill King Duncan, which shows how quickly the thought of having power is already corrupting him. He is extremely conflicted with himself, and is having lots of problems.

            In act 3, scene 2, page 47, Macbeth is talking to Lady Macbeth about how they are not going to get caught. He says “…full of scorpions is my mind…” (Act 3, scene 2, page 47, line 37). What he is saying is that his mind is full of conflict. This means his mind is changing. This change signifies his change to an evil tyrant. As the play goes on, his change becomes more apparent.

            In act 4, scene 1, page 63, the witches are making a potion when Macbeth appears and they give him 3 prophecies. The second witch says “…something wicked this way comes.” (Act 4, scene 1, page 63, line 66). The witch is saying that something wicked is coming. This means that the witch sees Macbeth as something wicked. The first time Macbeth came they just said Macbeth was coming, but the second time they said he was wicked, which shows how he has changed in the eyes of the witches. Eventually this change becomes more apparent, when he shows that Killing Duncan was hard for him, but the rest was easier.

            In act 4, scene 1, page 68, he witches finished telling Macbeth the prophecies, and Macbeth finds out Macduff fled to England. He says “The castle of Macduff I will surprise…” (Act 4, scene 1, page 68, line 173). He is saying that he will attack Macduff’s castle. This means that Macbeth is going to kill Macduff’s family, and servants. This shows how he is less loyal and brave and more evil. Others also see he has changed, and see how evil he is.

            In act 4, scene 3, pages 76 – 77, Macduff is talking with Malcolm about how Macbeth took over. Macduff says to Malcolm “Fit to govern? No, not to live!” (Act 4, scene 3, pages 76 – 77, lines 104-105). He is saying that Macbeth isn’t fit govern or live. This means that Macduff sees Macbeth for what he actually is. This shows how Macbeth has become an evil tyrant. Others start to see him in the same way also.

            In act 5, scene 2, page 86, the Thanes and some soldiers are leaving Macbeth because they are joining Malcolm and Macduff. Angus says “…like a giant’s robe upon a dwarfish thief.” (Act 5, scene 2, page 86, lines 21-22). He is saying that Macbeth is a thief, who stole something from someone greater than him. This means that people have found Macbeth out. What he says also shows that Macbeth is an evil tyrant. Macbeth also shows this in the way he acts.

            In act 5, scene 3, page 87, Macbeth is frustrated with all his responsibilities, when a servant walks in. Macbeth says to the servant “The devil damn thee black thou cream-faced loon! Where got’st thou that goose look?” (Act 5, scene 3, page 87, lines 11-12). He is calling the servant a cream-faced loon, and asking why he looks like a goose. This means that a servant walks in ad Macbeth immediately insults him. This shows how Macbeth has become an evil tyrant. Macbeth is also extremely harsh.

            In act 5, scene 5, page 92, Macbeth has just learned that lady Macbeth has died, and a messenger walks saying that the trees are moving, fulfilling one of Macbeth’s prophecies. He says “If thou speak’st false, upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive till famine cling thee.” (Act 5, scene 5, page 92, lines 38-40). He is saying that if the messenger is wrong we will tie him to tree until he dies of hunger. This means that Macbeth will punish someone extraordinarily harshly for something incredibly small. This demonstrates that Macbeth has completed his transformation into an evil tyrant.

            All these quotes show how Macbeth changed throughout the play. He changed from a brave, loyal thane who honored the king and did great deeds in battle, to an evil tyrant, who threatened and abused people. The message Shakespeare could be trying to give us is that all of us have something inside us that will go to any length to get what it wants, no matter how respectable or wicked we truly are. Macbeth shows us this because Macbeth is an honest and loyal thane, who is shown that he could be king. This temptation made him kill many people, just because he wanted to be king.

Quarter 4 benchmark - Journal Entrys

Journals

In English we kept a journal and everyday when we came in we wrote in it and shared. Here are some of the topics we wrote about.

 

Why write?

 People should write because it’s good to put your feelings and thoughts d     own on paper if you normally don’t talk about it. Also it gives you the freedom to write about anything you want, Stretch your imagination. It is an amazing talent if you love writing then do it all the time.

 

A time when I exceeded expectations (someone else’s or my own)....

A time when I exceeded expectations is when my family and friends didn’t think I would sign up for running and be good at it because I am a very lazy person but now I have bin running for 2 years and I most I ever ran was 13 miles and I hope to run a marathon and my friends didn’t think I could do it but I did.

 

 What makes a good story? What kinds of stories do you like?

I like fiction, fantasy and mystery stories because they are very creative. What makes a good story is when it is descriptive and flows it’s not all over the place. Also when they are not to long but not to short. Sometimes people do not want to read a book because its to long so it being right in the middle would would make a reader more interested in the book but that’s not always the case.

 

Response to reading/hearing/saying the “n” word...

When I see the “n” word in stories it makes me not want to read the book. I think the word is wrong and should not be used at all. Also the little kid said it and didn’t no what it meant so maybe he might start using it and it don’t turn out good. Some people say it all the time and it doesn’t matter to them because they way its used now like as a friend to friend saying it makes it okay. No using it at all is not okay doesn’t matter what the situation is.

 

If you really knew me...

If you really knew me you would know that I am not shy at all, I am always talking to someone no matter who or where it is. I always try my best to keep a smile on my face even if I am not happy. If you really knew me you would know that I have bin through so much with family and school. If you really knew me you would know I am the pickiest eater ever!

 

A time when you wish you could drop a part of your identity...

A time when I wanted to drop a part of my identity was in school and with my friends would make fun of my nose because its big. I was called a couple of different names and it hurt but then I started to get used to it and just laugh along.

 

 

Quarter 4 benchmark - Macbeth Creative

For the Macbeth creative we had to take the Q1 benchmark and make a different creative piece that shows the characters change.

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Q2 Benchmark

The second quarter benchmark was to write a vignette about one of our past experiences, and use various writing elements such as magic 3, and symbolism. Here is my project:

I have always been amazed by my travels, seeing things like the Eiffel Tower and the Pantheon. I however, had no idea that something natural could be more spectacular than anything man made. For the past 4 years I went to the Schuychill environmental center to go to summer camp. Every week we would go on a camping trip somewhere in the US. We went to places like the Pine Barrens, Assateague, and Allaire state park[SA1] . These trips were fun, but the places that really stood out to me were the White Mountains and North Carolina.

In North Carolina our camp learned how people got food before they domesticated animals and made farms. I learned how to whittle knives out of wood, I went fishing and I learned about edible plants that you could find in the wild[SA2] . What really stood out to me on this trip was a night hike we went on. We were in a national park so there was hardly any light pollution, and the stars were bright and numerous. A little bit into the hike we saw a spider web[SA3] . When most people think of spider webs, they think of it as creepy and want to destroy it. What they don’t think about are the countless hours the spider put into making this web. First, it makes several lines of web between two objects and then slowly spirals its way in. This spider web I saw was spanned across the entire trail and was perfect in every detail. If you looked closely (which isn’t an easy thing to do considering it was pitch black out) you could see that every little section of the web was tiny, the perfect trap for insects. No one beside the spider could have made anything so perfectly. Compared to something as simple as a spider web, all of man’s achievements are nothing. The Pantheon? Nothing; The Louvre? Nothing;. The Arc de Triomphe? Nothing.[SA4]  I find natural things to be more incredible than something artificial. Nothing made by a person could ever be as intricate as a living creature. We couldn’t make anything as big as a mountain, or as powerful as star. [SA5] Anything we can do is nothing compared to the scale to which nature can do it. Seeing the spider web also made me sad, because sometime in the next few days, someone will come along and destroy it. It wouldn’t really matter whether it was on purpose or by accident. That seemed to me as a perfect metaphor as to what mankind is doing to Earth. We take some natural and unspoiled area and ruin it by either polluting it or building something on it. After marveling at the web for a few minutes we decided to head back to camp. Along the way I looked up, and the stars, coupled with the darkness and the trees gave me a sense of how incredible our world is.[SA6]  We’re the perfect distance from the sun, and an incredibly unlikely series of events occurred to make life possible on the planet. What I felt at that moment is impossible to describe. It made me think and I realized that the world cannot be changed by an individual. We still obliviously cut down forests and build ugly suburbs; we still burn millions of tons of coal a year, and we still don’t change.[SA7] 

            The other trip that stood out to me was when I went up to the White Mountains in New Hampshire. The highlight of that trip was going to be summiting Mt. Washington. The first few days of the trip the other campers and I went rock climbing near Mt. Washington. After a short hike, we got to the rock wall. Rock climbing was a lot of fun, and in my opinion, a lot more fun than watching TV, or playing video games. The next day we started the hike. We had packed the day before with clothes, sheets, and other things we might need on the two day hike[SA8] , and set out early in the morning. At first the hike was steep and rocky, and I thought, “There’s no way I can do this.” But as I got going I got used to it. About three hours into the hike we were about to leave the forest and start actually going up the mountain. When we got above the tree line we turned around and I saw the most incredible view of my life, an extensive forest beneath us and the rest of the White Mountains in the distance. As I kept going up the steep and rocky trail, I kept turning around and each time the view was better than before. After a few more hours of this, we got to the ridge between two mountains, Mt. Washington, and Mt. Monroe. Even though we all wanted to summit that day, we knew it would be late soon, so we followed the original plan and went to the “Lake of the Clouds” hut to spend the night. After an hour’s hike we got to the hut and it was late in the afternoon. We got there tired and happy and found ourselves to be the only kids there. All the people there were experienced hikers and were amazed to see us. That night there was a meteor shower and there wasn’t any light pollution, or even clouds for that matter. Fifteen other people and I just lay down on top of the rocks and watched, not caring for how freezing cold it was, even though it was summer. The next day when we were hiking up the final trail, we were really excited to be almost there. Finally reaching the top, however, was different from what I had expected. First, there was the huge sense of achievement that comes with summiting a mountain, which to me was more gratifying than any thing else that had ever happened to me. But the summit itself was disappointing. It was basically a big parking lot with some buildings. It doesn’t matter where the space is, because human nature makes us build there. Whether it’s the top of a mountain or in a canyon. Nature is most influential when it comes to advancing in technology. The robotic eye is being made to recognize things the same way as the human brain does. Batteries are being revolutionized by a design that nature created. Almost all of our research is devoted to understanding nature. If we keep destroying the areas untouched by humans, we won’t have anything to learn from. Rare plants would be lost that could have been the cure for cancer, or a new way to get fuel. I wasn’t sure what I was hoping for at the summit, but a parking lot wasn’t it. I felt that views like we could see from the summit should be earned, and you shouldn’t be allowed to just drive up. But it didn’t matter, because I was still happy to be there. The way down was as incredible as the way up, but not quite as difficult. When we finally reached the bottom I looked at what I had just done and thought, “There’s no way I just did that.” All in all, it was one of the best experiences of my life.

 

 

Reflective "cover letter"

I feel like my portfolio as a ninth grade English student really shows how much I’ve changed and grown throughout this year. When someone looks at my portfolio, I want them to see an honest, young, girl who changed and grew for the better throughout her year at Science Leadership Academy. I want it to be clear that I care about my work, and I would hope that my thoughts and honesty come through in this portfolio.

            My strengths in English are my vocabulary for one. I love to read, and I have always read at higher reading levels than normal for my age. I have acquired a great vocabulary and this always comes in handy in My English classes. Another thing about me is that I am very descriptive and honest in my writing, and I want to do something with journalism when I get older so I think that writing in general is a skill I have.

            This portfolio was hard for me to make because I was out of school for most of the first and second quarter this school year with mono. The only problems I encountered were having to rewrite large parts of my papers that I’d been able to shorten before, and editing a lot of half written journal entries.

             I think the work that I am most proud of is the work that I did towards the end of this year because that is the work I tried the hardest on. My book reflection on “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” is one of those pieces, and I loved that book as well.

Quarter 4 benchmark - 3rd benchmark

The third Benchmark was for the book The Odyssey, we had to write an essay comparing a character from the Odyssey with a character from another author or movie.

 

Jessica Maiorano

Penelope & Bella Comparison Essay

3rd Quarter English Benchmark

March 11, 2011

 

Most people understand or know the feeling of being depressed or abandoned by someone they love. Two girls, Bella and Penelope know that feeling very well. You can get lonely staying away from someone you are really attached to. Bella from the movie twilight is in love with a vampire named Edward. This made things difficult for her. Penelope from the Odyssey is in love with her husband who has been gone for 20 years. What should these girls do? Even though Bella and Penelope’s reuniting with their men was different, their paths were very similar.

 

Bella and Penelope were both left by their men but the way they got back together was very different. When Odysseus comes back to Ithaca he is not himself.  Odysseus stays disguised as a beggar until the battle between him and the suitors is over. He reveals himself to Penelope but she doesn’t believe him.  Odysseus discusses this with his son Telemachus. “Now because I am filthy wear such grimy rags She spurns me – your mother still can’t bring herself to believe I am her husband” (Page 459, book 23, line 130-133) this shows that Penelope is independent and wants proof herself. Mean while Bella is jumping off a cliff because Edward Is gone thinking it will bring him back. Then she goes after him when he was going to expose himself. That shows that Bella is dependent on Edward. Contrasting, Penelope handled the situation better then Bella.

 

Being abandoned by your husband or boyfriend for a long period of time hurts.

Penelope and Bella both felt the same when they were. Bella went into zombie mode for months while Edward was gone. She didn’t want to go out with her friends anymore, cried. Penelope kept going back to her room and crying. They both were not themselves. Having this feeling will make anyone’s life different or difficult no matter what the situation is just like Bella and Penelope.

 

Both characters were depressed about the situation and found a way to stall. Penelope drops hint to the suitors and saying she misses her husband but went along with everything that was happening. This quote from the book shows that she was just going along with everything  Dangling promises, dropping hints to each but all the while someone else is mind."(Book 2, lines 99-100) The quote from the Odyssey says that she is now feeling alone even though she says that she is going to marry one of the suitors. Also she weaves a web to stall also. Bella hung out with Jake when Edward wasn’t there but tried to find way to get to him, which was her way of dropping hints. They both have someone that wants to replace their loves. Bella has Jake like the same as Penelope she has the suitors that want her. Whether or not they want to be with them they are trying to take them from their men.

 

All and all they have walked similar paths. Even though the paths are the same the ending can be totally different. Penelope is independent and mischievous while Odysseus is away for twenty years.  Her idea of weaving a web kept her from answering to the proposals that were being constantly thrown at her. Waiting for her husband, not doing anything to get him. Penelope gets her love back in the end. For Bella however, seeks Edward out in her hallucinations of him as a way to cope with the Cullens’ departure.  She does reckless things to be with Edward in her hallucinations like cliff diving.  Doing that eventually reunites her to Edward.  These characters from to different books all of the four characters are trying to get their love.