Response to "Ribbons"

“Ribbons” is a short story about the bond between family. The ribbons in the story symbolize a huge thing. The love between them and the understanding of each other. Dancing was the daughters passion, but every time the grandma saw them, it brought back memories of her past. Of how the pain in her feet from when she was younger never went away.

All she wants is for her granddaughter to never feel the same pain she did. Stacy didn’t understand that at first and thought that “Paw-Paw” was just mean and cruel. But that all changed once she learned the truth behind her bedraggled feet. So those ribbons of hatred for grandma turned into ribbons of love.

Courageous

I have been told i'm extremely courageous by the people I have saved. I have traveled across the country too many times to count bringing new people with me every time. The discrimination against our people is so unfair. the way they make us work all day everyday no matter the weather is unbearable. I am making it my mission to save all of these people i can and take them to safety up north. 

My nickname is Moses I started by saving my family from slavery and other slaves decided to come with. eventually I just kept going back down south and saving people. I even helped some into Canada to get away from the horrible times here. I have never lost a person on my way to rescuing 300 slaves.

I even helped to fight the south in the Civil War I was a cook and a nurse to help our soldiers in battle. Then I became a scout and spy. I was the first woman to lead an armed military expedition. On my mission I rescued 700 slaves. I then retired to my house in New York until i died at age 97.

Author’s Note- I wrote this piece to show my understanding of text analysis.

Throughout the whole book, Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins incorporates a lot of symbolism. Although you may not realize it, there’s some in every story you read. The Hunger Games is a fight to see who can survive. There are 12 districts and two people are chosen at random from each district: a boy and a girl. The whole point of the game is to obviously survive, and to get the most fans. The more fans, the more things they send to you; therefore, you survive longer. All of the symbols that Suzanne Collins uses in this book really help create an image for the reader and help them imagine what it’d be like to actually participate in the Hunger Games.

A symbol that really stuck out for me was the mocking jay pin that Katniss wore going into the Hunger Games. Each person going into the Hunger Games is allowed to bring one thing in with them. Out of everything that you could bring, Katniss decided to bring a mocking jay pin. For Katniss, that pin symbolizes protection and feeling safe. She wears it right next to her heart so she feels safe and thinks of her family waiting at home for her.

Besides feeling safe and protection, dependence on others is also a big symbol in this book. Although, the Hunger Games may seem like you’re on your own, all of the contestants still rely on the viewers to help them survive.  In order to fight of f sicknesses and to overcome hunger, Katniss and Peeta must put on a show for the viewers in order for them to send Katniss and Peeta supplies to survive. This symbol is not only used in the book, but is also mirrored in society. People need people. Although we try to be independent, the truth is we all depend on others  to help us. We can’t function on our own.

Another book that has the same theme of depending on others is the Harry Potter series . Throughout, the series  Harry is trying to fight off the dark wizard, Lord Voldemort, who is trying to become immortal and conquer the wizard world. In order for Harry to succeed at defeating Voldemort, he depends on his friends: Ron Weasly and Hermione Granger. While writing this book, J. K. Rowling used a lot of symbolism. One example is, the deathly hallows. A  possessor of all 3 , comes to terms with death; which is where they get the name, The Master of Death. This symbolizes power over death.

Although the Hunger Games aren’t all about flying and dark magic, Harry Potter and Hunger Games have a lot in common when it comes to themes and symbolism. Just like these examples above, there is much more symbolism in these books and in many others. Though other books have symbolism, Suzanne Collins by far writes an outstanding story that gives you the adventure of being part of the Hunger Games all by using symbolism.

A tough choice

Knowing you have to save the world is a ridiculously scary thing. In the book The Last Olympian Percy Jackson must do so. Leaving that responsibility to a 16 year old Half Blood with dyslexia and ADHD can really get in your head. You could do some incredibly stupid things or just hide from it. Throughout the story he realizes that he must do what has to be done.

He grows up faster than he should but sometimes it’s what is expected. He doesn’t always think things through like escape routes or good battle strategies he just walks right into traps sometimes. One of his good friends had died fighting the enemy because Percy forgot how they were going to escape Percy was lucky he left with his life. When he gets back to camp he can’t explain what happened really. “Charlie died because of my stupidity I will avenge his death.” That was all he could manage it shook him But somehow he got a great amount of determination because of this.

The determination led him to believe they could win the war. So they started running small raids on the enemy to slow them down. Some went well and which was a huge boost of confidence which means so much on the battlefield. On the other hand, when fellow Half Bloods would die it would mix his emotions and cloud his judgment because he wasn’t sure if he was doing the right thing. Battle strategies were not a huge strength of his he was just a great warrior. He felt it was the right thing to do because there wasn’t much else they could do.

Although sometimes doing what’s right isn’t always the best thing to do. The raids were practically doing nothing because of the size of the enemy army, while they were losing Half Bloods it was hurting him and affecting him in a bad way on the battle field he wasn’t as tough or smart. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take” Percy said.

All in all, growing up too fast can be a bad experience. Some of the decisions create too much pressure to put on Percy. But setbacks and sadness can push him to be very courageous and brave on the battlefield and throughout his life.

Wyatt's View

I have stolen 

your majestic

walrus that

was in it's cage

which you

were saving

as a

pet animal

forgive me,

or don't

I love

my new walrus



dakotat-languagearts.blogspot.com

Luck of The Devil

A 15 year old spy is a pretty crazy thought but Alex Rider in the book Snake Head is and is very good. He is posing as a refugee trying to be smuggled into Australia by the most dangerous gang in the world the Snake Heads. He is working undercover to try and figure out how they do it so the Australian secret service can stop it and arrest some gang members. But along the way he runs into a lot of trouble. I predict that he will be caught and killed by the leader of the Snake Head even though his godfather always said he had “The luck of the devil.”

My main is reason is that I think someone has been spying on him and reporting it to Major Yu. So he already knows what he looks like and who he is so Alex won’t have the element of surprise. That is his biggest weapon not being fully grown yet people never see it coming. Also Major Yu has been the leader of the gang for 15 years so he is very good at his job. Alex just turned 15 last month. He doesn’t have the experience which is a huge factor with this job. So he is at a disadvantage from the start.

Also A huge reason is he usually has gadgets this time he has nothing to help him. He is empty handed and is out matched it seems. In the past gadgets have always been huge they helped him with everything you can think of to give him an edge. He needs that edge more than ever now but I think he is in a bad situation they know he is a spy and what he is capable of.

All in all, you never want to see the main character die but I think it adds an interesting twist. It’s almost as if you can see this coming because he has to do it all by himself and they know exactly who he is. Luck can’t always win. In the end skill will prevail.

Life Is Not Fair

Authors Note: I choose to predict the ending of the book I am currently reading.

When a boy can throw 80 miles per hour at age 12 that raises a lot of questions. Especially for Michael Arroyo who plays for a baseball team hoping to make it to the Little League World Series. His older brother is the only one who takes of him because his father died but no that’s his and his brother secret because Carlos is not old enough to take care of Michael he is only 17. Whenever people ask they say he is visiting his sick brother in Florida. Throughout the story I predict that people will start asking too many questions of his age because of his athletic ability. This will translate to the league commissioner finding out and him and his brother getting sent to foster homes.

My main reason is because people have tried to fake their age in the little league world series before to try and win. So people will get nosy and eventually find out his father dead because they can’t beat Michael’s team. A boy named Justin on another team already thinks Michael is older than he says. Then the league would want to talk to Michael’s dad and see a birth certificate. 

Another huge reason is because even though Carlos works two jobs he can’t pay the mortgage on their house. Which leads to debt collectors calling wanting to talk to Michaels dad. I think that they might show up and notice his father is not there and call child and family services because it is illegal not to report a crime. The odds are just not in their favor.

All in all, even though he wants to play in the Little League World Series more than anything in the world he will most likely be sent to a foster home. Sometimes bad things happen to good people but other times good things happen to bad people. Life can throw you many surprises.