Prefaces

Victor Hugo’s Preface:

            So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees of damnation pronounced by society, artificially creating hells amid the civilization of earth, and adding the element of human fate to divine destiny; so long as the three great problems of the century—the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling children through lack of light—are unsolved; so long as social asphyxia is possible in any part of the world; --in other words, and with a still wider significance, so long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth, books of the nature of Les Miserables cannot fail to be of use.  

Reflection:
       If you read Les Miserables, it will help you understand about the human trafficking, starvation, and poverty and it tells you how to help the people in need. It makes you feel like you’re in the hard situation and get a better perspective on things. As long as all those problems are still in the world, Les Miserables will tell you how to solve them.

My Preface: 
       So Long as there shall exist, the troubled students continue to bully defenseless children, creating hell in the halls and in class, increasing the miserable mood of myself and others; so long as bullying stays within the schools—the degradation of religion, the degradation of homosexuality, the degradation of mentally handicapped—are ignored; so long as bullies take out their anger on others; so long as bullies who hate never accept love, students who understand and want to help like I, can never fail.

classical bookproject

1.      Provide a famous artwork (or draw one) that would fit in a certain part of the book.  Explain in one well-developed paragraph why this piece of art would fit in your selected place.  Use one or more literary terms in your explanation.

My classical book is Black boy by Richard Wright. I drew a picture of a four year old Richard Wright accidently lighting his house on fire. He and his little brother are supposed to stay quiet because their grandma is very sick and their mother doesn’t want them to disrupt her. Richard is getting bored so he starts to play with fire in the fireplace. He swats a piece of coal at the curtains and they burst into flames. Richard runs and hides under the house so he doesn’t get beaten by his mom. His father finds him curled up in a ball crying his eyes out. Everyone gets out safe, except for Richard. His mom beats him so badly he loses conscience and falls ill. I picked this scene of the book because it shows the life Richard lived and the childhood he grew up with. The mood to me would be unbelievable. I didn’t realize how bad parents were to their kids back then even if what the kid did was an accident. Burning the house down is pretty bad though I can understand why Richards mom beat him but till he unconscious.

Dense Question

Text:   Throughout ‘The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind’ William can’t go to school, his aunt gets sick, his dog dies, and his windmill is injuring him. How does William keep hope with himself?

            Even with the little information he has, William knows that if he doesn’t finish the windmill he won’t have any electricity. He likes communicating with his friends and family through phones that require electricity to charge and work. He likes to have running water to drink. He doesn’t go to school and the library is the only thing he has for him to learn. Besides working out in the fields he works on the windmill so he looks forward to it every day until it’s perfect.

Other Lit: Did Equality find what he was looking for at the end of Anthem or did he find something he wasn’t expecting?

            Both. Equality ran away to find who he was. He found not only himself but he found another; Liberty. He wasn’t expecting to find love when he was looking for himself.  

Reader: Describe a time when you thought your life was bad, then it got worse and you thought it can only get better - and it did.

            Three years ago, my favorite aunt past away from breast cancer. I was devastated and for several weeks the whole family was in tears. After we got over my aunt, my mom found out her best friend got breast cancer. The cancer didn’t take her as quickly as my aunt did but when my mom’s friend past away it was the same week as my sister’s wedding. The wedding took my mom’s mind off of her friend so it wasn’t as bad as my aunts passing. This was when my life was bad, then it got worst, and it actually got better.      

Anthem Research Paper

5. How does our society treat independent thinkers, daring innovators and successful entrepreneurs (like Equality)? Are they applauded or criticized? Write an essay on this topic, offering specific case studies to support your argument.

In our today’s society we are judgers. We think anyone who is different than others are bad. People with the big ideas go tell others about what they thought of that could help our generation get smarter. Independent thinkers and daring innovators are made fun of with what they bring in to show the people their invention and sometimes don’t even get a chance to tell them what it is. Either because the invention looks dumb or the inventor isn’t the type of person people look for in coming up with the plans. Later down the road that invention or idea could be millions and millions of dollars and no one would ever know because they got rejected. First off, they either get ignored or not taken seriously. Once the invention happens and it has a positive effect on things then the inventor will get respect or paid. So overall they are first criticized then later on once their invention works or idea comes to affect then they get applauded.

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Creative Writing Anthem

1.      Anthem illustrates the importance of thinking and judging independently and of acting according to our rational principles—even when “our brothers” oppose us. In light of the fact that smoking, drugs, shoplifting and gang violence often involve peer pressure, write a letter to a teen magazine explaining Anthem’s benefits for teenage readers. (Send your letter to a national teen magazine or your local paper—it might get published!)

Anthem’s benefit for teenagers is to be your own person. Peer pressure is a huge part in a teenager’s life from middle school throughout high school. People pressure you into doing drugs or start smoking because they say something like “Oh it’s what all the cool kids do nowadays” or “If you don’t do it you’re not cool enough to be my friend.” Kids need say no and be their own individual; not be like anyone else. It’s boring to do the same things as others and be like everyone else.  As to giving into peer pressure like smoking or shoplifting just to be cool is like being everyone else. Anthem teaches the readers to be a ‘WE’ but to be an ‘I’. Equality 7-2521 doesn’t want to be like everybody else and he does something about it. He starts to rebel against the society because he knows there is more to him than a street sweeper, so he does things that excite him. smoking, Drugs, shoplifting, and gang violence limits a person to their present life and future.

Anthem Question

#33. Where do the infants stay? Where do the children stay? What are their lives like? What was Ayn Rand saying through this?

            The “Home of the Infants” is where all boys, including Equality 7-2521, lived "with a hundred beds and nothing else in it". It was a sort of early childhood brainwashing station. Equality 7-2521's only transgression here is that he was a curious child. One should not stand out from the other kids.

            His real transgression didn’t really begin until age five. When you reach the age of five years old, they are sent to the Home Of Students, where there are ten wards, for the ten years of learning. Men must learn till they reach their fifteenth year. Then they go to work. For Equality 7-2521 he fought with other boys and was considered too tall and too smart.  

            Their lives are very organized and planned out. Everybody has to be like everybody and if they’re different then they are looked down upon. For Equality 7-2521 you would think he has it all because he is young, beautiful, tall, strong, fearless and brilliant; but he is considered different for all of those things therefore no one likes him or wants anything to do with him. Ayn Rand is saying it is okay to be different and nobody can be perfect. It’s hard to make everyone the same so just stay yourself.

AP Writing Prompt

1. Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or a parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid plot summary.

Title: Plainsong

Author: Kent Haruf

In my book, Plainsong, every morning Victoria Roubideaux wakes up puking sick. Her mother only thinks she has been drinking the night before, until it clicks in her brain and realizes Victoria has been puking every morning. Victoria’s mother kicks her out when she concluded on her being pregnant and Victoria has to go stay with a friend. A high school girl is knocked up and kicked out.

“Victoria, what’s the matter with you?”(8) “Nothing, Mama go back to bed” (8). At first Victoria’s mother thinks she has only been drinking. “Don’t lie to me. You’ve been drinking, haven’t you?”(9) Obviously that isn’t the case. “You know what I think, little miss… I think you got a baby in you and it’s making you puking sick” (9). “Mama, don’t” (10). Victoria didn’t know what to do; her eyes began to fill up with tears. “You can just leave this house” (10). Victoria got ready for school after that argument and came back that night around seven after her shift at the café.