Point of View Assignment

In my book Number the Stars it was told from the point of view of a narrator. It was told like an outside person was seeing it and telling it how they saw it. The point of view from the narrator was unique because it included Annemarie's thoughts. The point of view  was almost from a narrator and Annemarie.The story tells what Annemarie sees and does.Since shes a child the events are a big deal or scary for her. For example, when Annemarie ran into the British soldiers it was scary and a big deal, but through Kirsti’s eyes (the toddler) the British were silly and Kirsti just didn’t want to waste her time with them because she didn’t know how dangerous they were.

If the story was told in the point of view of Annemarie’s best friend, Ellen, things would have been much different. Ellen was much more scared around the British. The whole situation would have been different because Ellen was Jewish, so she was the one the British were looking for. The story would be different because it would be more about how scared she was and what happened when she had to hide and how the trip was to Sweden. She also wouldn’t talk about Annemarie’s sister or the things that happened at Annemarie’s house.

The Fight within Pi

 Authors Note-I wrote this on what was real in "Life of Pi" and what was just Pi's imagination. I knew what I wanted to say but it was hard putting it into words.

In the book Life of Pi, what was symbolism and what was real? Throughout the book, Pi is on the boat with Richard Parker, fighting to survive. But was Richard Parker really there? This story about survival makes you wonder what really happened and which story was true. Through all the symbolism and Pi’s long journey, you realize that maybe Pi wasn’t fighting against Richard Parker; maybe he was fighting against himself.

During the whole book, Pi tells the story through animals. But when no one believes him, he tells the same story, but with people. So which story was true? Surprisingly, the story including the people was true. For most readers, they would have preferred the animal version compared to the gory human version. As humans, we don’t want to hear about people killing each other and cannibalism, but when animals do it, it is perfectly fine.

This book is filled with symbolism. In fact, if you look deep enough you can see that the Tiger and blind man are just symbols of Pi’s conscience. The tiger represents Pi’s most animalistic instincts. In the beginning Pi is afraid of that side of his conscience, of dying, until he overtakes it and soon the Tiger represents survival. In the book it says “It was Richard Parker who calmed me down” and “he pushed me to go on living”. This means that he urged him to survive and to never give up.

Not only was the tiger a symbol but the blind man was too. He said the blind man was “to [Pi’s] right, to [his] left, close by, and far away.”This symbolizes that his conscience was all around him. The blind man was the part of Pi that wanted to give up. Pi said the blind man “Landed upon [him] heavily,[they] fell half onto the tarpaulin, half onto the middle bench. He reached for [Pi’s] throat”. The blind man was trying to kill Pi which symbolized his bad conscience was taking over and Pi was giving up. When Richard Parker came in and killed the blind man it represented the two consciences fighting. Richard Parker finally won showing Pi to stay strong.

In the end, the animals were just symbols for people. They showed what Pi wished had happened. The blind man and Richard Parker were symbols for Pi’s conscience and after reading the book you saw that the symbolism represented Pi fighting against himself. Survival was a big part of the book but if you look deep enough you can see that everything was just a symbol for something else.

Animals vs. Humans .....Life of Pi

Authors Note- we had to respond about a quote that Yann Martel wrote."the idea of a religious boy in a lifeboat with a wild animal struck me as a perfect metaphor for the human condition. Humans aspire to really high things, right, like religion, justice, democracy. At the same time, we're rooted in our human, animal condition. And so, all of those brought together in a lifeboat struck me as being... as a perfect metaphor."

When he said this he meant that a lot of humans have the qualities of animals. Whether it’s at work, at school, or in a life boat people like Pi have to figure out how to get along or work with these people. In the same way humans are animals. Humans have things like government, religion, communities, and countries  that set us apart from every other animal. But in the end we are all animals.

Are you proud of America??

America is a country of promise. It is a country of dreams, freedom, equality, and support.  To me America is a country that is easy to be proud of.  Not only does a government “for the people and by the people” keep our country fair and equal but it gives us rights and lets us pick who controls our country. America gives us lots of rights and freedom to speak and believe what we want. Even though our country is quite young it helps every other country with war, money, and natural disasters. Because I live in America I can go to school, hang out with friends, and be a kid in a safe environment. Even though I’m proud of my country, it doesn’t mean I’m proud of all the people in it or all the decisions it makes. There definitely should be some people that should be in jail that aren’t. Even though there are those occasional criminals our country is definitely safer than every other country.  I don’t agree with all the decisions our president, leaders, and government have made but you got to remember they are human and everyone makes mistakes. Sure our country has some cons, but what country doesn’t? Our country lets kids live their dreams and live safely.  I am definitely proud of the USA.

Writing a Good Hook

Authors Note: This is my hook in short story form. It had to include an Old man named Leroy, kids in a wagon, and kids in the backround lauging,and Old man Leroy bathing in the sink.

"Rubber Ducky you’re the one, you make bath time so much fun." Old man Leroy chuckled to himself. "Why would anyone take a bath in the tub when they have a perfectly good kitchen sink. I swear people these days."Old man Leroy had been bathing in the sink since he was a little bean sprout. He grabbed his towel, and slipped into his yellow Speedo. He started the sink up and looked outside. Little Johnny from across the street had brought out his little red wagon. He had his helmet on and was pushing the wagon to the top of the hill. Before Old Man Leroy knew what was happening little Johnny had jumped in the wagon and sped down the hill. Old man Leroy ran out of his house and saw little Johnny crying on the ground. "Hahahahahahahah." the neighborhood boys were pointing and laughing.  Why were they laughing at a crying boy? Old man Leroy thought to himself. He turned around and noticed they were pointing at him. He looked down and realized , he was still wearing his speedo!!! Old man Leroy chuckled to himself. At least he was wearing something!!

Authors Note- I first started out with the idea of three friends at a sleepover then went from there. I'm not sure what the dad was doing so if you guys have any ideas please leave them. AND THIS IS NOT BASED ON MY REAL LIFE------FARIHA!!!!

"Ummmmm truth or dare?" I ask my friend.

"Dare," Tori says almost automatically. My friend Jennie and I had already come up with six dares and we were having a hard time coming up with more for Tori. It was 1:00 AM and my parents thought we were asleep but we were up the whole time playing truth or dare.

"I dare you to go outside and tepee the principals yard!" I tell my friend. She looked at me like I was crazy."No, that's way to hard!"

"C'mon, you picked dare. You have to do it." I said to her.

"But………"

" We will go outside with you." My other friend promises.

"Fine. But if I get in trouble you guys have to take the blame with me." she says with a smile. I thought about this. Getting in trouble for something I didn't do always made me mad. But I guess I did come up with the dare…….." Fine, deal." We changed into all black, and I laughed as my friend streaked black face paint across her face. " Wow, you sure take a dare seriously." Jennie says. We laugh then grab rolls of toilet paper. "Guys, we have to be quiet or my parents will hear us." I tell them.

"How about we go out the basement door so they wont hear us." Tori suggests. I decided it's a good idea and we made our way to the basement door.

Outside, it is pitch black and you could only see the luminous  street light, lights. We open the sliding door and the fresh air flows into our faces. I had never been outside at 2 am and it seemed like we were in a different world. The houses were pitch black and the streets were empty. There was no traffic sound and no one was in sight. The world seemed frozen and empty like we were the only ones experiencing it

. We stepped outside with our million roles of toilet paper, and made our way down the street to our principals house. It was always weird to me that my principal lived down the street. I mean she could see everything going on at our house and it was weird thinking my principal had a personal life. But I guess her house is now useful for something. We arrived at the house then handed her the first role of toilet paper. She took it then whispered "Guys do it with me it seems fun and if you are going to get in trouble anyway don't you just want to try it?" I guess she was right. What was the point of watching her have all the fun, I mean how many times do you get to toilet paper your principals house?

 I grabbed a roll and joined in on the fun. We threw the toilet paper in the trees, on her porch, and on her mailbox. It looked like we were pro's at it. Suddenly a light turned on in the house. We ran behind a tree across the street and decided we were going to make a run for it. We made our way crawling on the ground to the next tree. We finally were far away enough to stand up and walk. "That was so fun!!" Jennie exclaimed. And I always thought she was the boring one…boy was I wrong.  "Yeah I just hope we don't get caught!"Tori says.

" Agreed, imagine how mad my parents would be." I say.

"True, but first we have to worry about getting back inside without getting caught." Tori says.

"We can just go back through the basement door again."

 We were almost at my house and we were starting to get cold. I was glad to see all the lights were off. We walked to the basement door and tugged on the handle."Oh my god we are locked out." Jennie tells us.

"No it can't be."I said. I tugged and tugged on the handle but it wouldn’t budge. "This is really bad." I checked my phone and found out it was 2:00 am. We still had at least 5 hours until my parents wake up. "They can't find us outside we have to get inside." I tell my friends.  We walked around my house hoping a window was open or something……..Nothing. We sat down and thought about what we were gonna do.

Suddenly a car, driving really slow, came into view. "Wait isn't that your car?" Tori asked me.  I took a closer look and realized it was. What is my dad doing driving at 2:00? "Weird I wonder what's going on." I say. We walked to around the house so we could slip inside when he opened the garage door. The garage door opened and we went inside. My friends slipped downstairs so my dad wouldn't see us. I stayed by the basement door and cracked it open. My dad walked inside and threw the keys on the table. He sat down at the table and closed his eyes. I had no idea where he had been and I kind of didn’t want to know. I knew my dad, and I knew he wouldn't make any bad decisions but I was still worried. I walked downstairs and knew sleep would help me think better.

Tell Me Everything but Promise Me One Thing,

Authors Note: This poem seems depressing at times, but I just thought about writing a poem with that first line, then everything just flowed. In my poems I wanted to do a better job at rhyming so it always makes perfect sense.
 
Tell me that everything will be okay
Tell me that our tears will go away
Tell me that the sun will shine brighter then ever
Tell me that we will be together forever
Tell me that you will never leave my side
They told us everything would be OK, they lied.
Tell me that our dreams have stayed the same
Tell me that we will stop this crazy game
Tell me we will get back on track
Tell me we will never go back
Tell me what I want to hear,
even if I know it's a lie.
Tell me everything.......
But promise me that things WILL get better.