Friday, March 9, 2012

Charachter discription- Steven (improved)

Author’s note: I am writing a character description piece and in the first paragraph I will describe the character and in the second I will describe his/her role in the story. Then I will talk about the effect they have on the plot.


Steven created his movies with passion and kindness as he strode on screen with his brownish skin tone and his short curly hair not moving an inch. He walked up to the camera and stopped then he walked away and came back at a different angle with his brown eyes fixed forward. Then he backed up and walked forward again. Each time he re-approached the camera he walked at a different angle. Eventually his mother came into the room and told him to come down for dinner. "Okay Mom I'll be down in a minute," He replied kindly.


In the book Steven is very important because he is the main character. He is accused of a crime he didn't commit and he needs to be chosen innocent or else he could spend the rest of his life in jail. And that is the last thing he would ever want to do. Also in the story there are 2-3 people who say he was helping in the crime but he wasn't even there that day. They want to blame it on him. Without Steve the book would be about the other criminals trying to get out of going to jail even though they committed a murder. And even though they would try their hardest they would still be guilty and go to jail for life.


If Steven was proven guilty he would go to jail and get beaten by the other prisoners and Mr. Evans and Mr. King would be free and who's to say they won't commit anymore murders. They might think: Oh we got out of going to jail so why don't we try to rob that other gas station down the road we could always get out of jail again. They would become a bar of soap, always slipping away.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Riding the Bus V.S. Driving


One day you wake up, you go down stairs, have breakfast , and go out to the bus stop. You stand there for a few minutes until you think to yourself that maybe you missed the bus. You start up your driveway when you turn around to see the bus drive by your stop. "No! Wait!" you shout but the driver can't hear you. You go into your house and tell a family member you missed the bus. In a few short moments your out the door, in the car, and on your way. When you arrive at school  you start to think about how different taking the bus and riding in a car are. Riding a bus and being driven to school are very different in some ways, but in others they are very much the same.

Riding in a car and taking the bus are two very different things indeed. Like how when you take the bus at times it might feel as if you are sitting next to a speaker. Other times the bus could be a quiet bedroom on a cold night with only the noise of a ticking clock. But either way the noise level is usually not how you want it. I used to have a very kind bus driver that didn't really care what we did as long as we didn't hurt each other or talk too loud. But a very crucial benefit is that you have your friends to talk to and you can have a great time.

I really like to have someone to talk to on certain days of the week. In a car you can listen to music on the radio and you can control the volume so the noise it just how you want it to be. The only problem would be if you had a younger or older sibling that wouldn't stop making noise. Then at that point I would probably try to get them to stop or if it doesn't work I would probably just turn up the music or the radio.

Some things that could be the same though would be if you car pooled with some friends then you could talk to them on the way to school or do something else with them besides stare out the window and occasionally talk to the person driving you. I guess I would still prefer  riding the bus because I like talking to my friends in the morning. So driving to school and riding the bus are different and the same, I guess it depends on how you look at it. But in the end I see that they are very different.

Character Analisis - Steven

Author’s note: I am writing a character description piece and in the first paragraph I will describe the character and in the second I will describe his/her role in the story.


In Monster by Walter Dean Myers Steven was convicted of a murder he didn’t commit. Steven is African American, has dark brown, short, and curly hair. He has brown eyes and is very kind. In the book he is mostly scared by what is happening and wishes he could be home.


In the book Steven is very important because he is the main character. He is accused of a crime he didn't commit and he needs to be chosen innocent or else he could spend the rest of his life in jail. Also in the story there are 2-3 people who say he was helping in the crime but he wasn't even there that day. They want to blame it on him. Without Steve the book would be about the other criminals trying to get out of going to jail even though they committed a murder. And even though they would try their hardest they would still be guilty and go to jail for life.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Creative Writing: Letter to Jonas


Author’s note: This creative writing piece is a letter from Asher to Jonas from the book The Giver by Lois Lowery. In this piece I am focusing on character development.

Dear Jonas,

Lately I've noticed you have been acting weird. Like a few weeks ago you told me to stop playing a game because it wasn’t right and that it references something scary. I don't have any idea why you said this but still, ever since you were chosen to be the Receiver you’ve been acting up. You even told me to look at a tree and then you put your hand on my back and said to look really hard but there was nothing there but the tree. I thought you were crazy.
Then a few weeks later, you vanished all together! What happened was you went home and then the next day you were gone and there was a note on your bed or at least that’s what your family unit said, but other than that no one knew where you went. I heard a few search planes fly nearby so I wonder if they were looking for you. They probably weren’t though because they would have found you by now. I remember when you were normal and you weren’t so weird around everyone. It is like a dream. It’s there but it doesn’t seem to be real anymore.
            I wish I had the real Jonas back. The one I grew up with… the one I participated in activities with… my friend. If you ever come back I’ll never forget it but until that happens I’ll still be here in the community, waiting.

Sincerely,
      Asher

Formal essay on Theme:The Giver

Author’s Note: I am writing a response to the book The Giver. I am also writing about the theme of The Giver and the reasons why it is the certain theme, like what it would be if the theme was different and comparing The Giver to another book with the same theme. I also made a few changes to this piece for my meeting.

In The Giver, by Lois Lowry there are many themes like adventure and family but I think one of the major themes in this book is the search for truth. There are many reasons this books’ theme is a search for truth. One of the reasons I think the book is the search for truth is, throughout the whole book Jonas learns more and more about the community and how controlled everyone is.

One of the other reasons the book shows his theme is because of the character development through the story. In the beginning Jonas is very normal and knows very little about the government he lives under except that they are given a job when they become a “12” and that if you do something wrong you will be “released”, (or in other words, killed). Then towards the end of the book he felt emotions and saw colors and had an entirely new view on the government and how it operates.

The more he learned, the more he hated the government. The government was shielding the citizens from emotion and color and the memories that everyone has the right to know about. He wanted to learn more and more about what was hidden from him when he was younger. The receiver has a great responsibility among the community. He or she has to hold all of the memories of the people of the past, all blissful memories and all torturous ones. If all of the memories were given to the people they would go insane and the community would fall into chaos and there are many other books that share the same theme.

Like The Giver, The Lightning Thief by Rick Roridan also shows a theme of search for truth because in The Lightning Thief Percy is framed for stealing Zeus’s master bolt and he has to get the bolt back and find out who took the bolt to prove his innocence. Then if The Lightning Thief was a different  theme it would have to be family because he never met his dad and throughout the book he is trying to find the bolt and save his mom from Hades and also in the book on the journey his friends were like his family. Without his friends the only family he would have in the book would be his mom and his dad who he never met.

In conclusion the search for truth is a major theme of The Giver and it has many reasons that back it up. If I had to choose a different theme for the book it would be family because as Jonas learns more and more about the government he finds that his true family is Gabe and the Giver and not some family unit that the government had assigned him to.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Responce to "After we eat we'll make a plan."


Author's Note: I am writing a response to the quote "After we eat we will make a plan."

In the book Jonas had just watched a baby die but he couldn't do anything about it. He doesn't want to go home and see his family so he stayed with the giver. They ate and then they made a plan to escape the community. I think that this quote is very important and it marks the start of the end of the book.

When Jonas watched the baby die he felt very sad and scared and he didn't want to go home because his dad was the one who released the baby. He couldn't stand to see his dad after what he did. They sat and ate and the giver said "After we eat we'll make a plan." At this point Jonas and the giver decided to escape the community.

I believe that without this quote the giver and Jonas would both just ignore the fact that their community is messed up but it would always haunt them every day of their lives. If this happens then the book wouldn't be as interesting towards the end and then people wouldn't be motivated to read the next book. Also Jonas would have never heard music before he blacked out on the sled. This quote is probably one of the most important quotes in the book.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

The Giver: Setting speech

In my book The Giver the setting is the community that Jonas, Fiona, and Asher live in. In the community there are many different things that separate it from the real world. If you where a twin in the community then of the two twins the one that weighed less would be killed. In the community no one could see color or feel emotion because of how the government acted. The only one who could see color was the receiver of knowledge.

In the story the plot is greatly affected by the setting because without the setting the plot wouldn’t make sense. The reason for this is because if the setting was the school then you can see how it would be weird.

Then if Jonas weren’t the receiver then we would have a completely different view on the story. They would have different friends with different assigned jobs and many other things.