Comparing Fireside Poems

The first poem I read was a poem by James Russell Lowell called War. I assume that this poem was written during the time of the civil war. He mentioned slaves and fighting against different races, "It's a grand gret cemetary Fer the barthrights of our race; They jest want this Californy So's to lug new slave-states in To abuse ye, an' scorn ye, An' to plunder ye like sin." (Lowell) He thought war was stupid and he did not want it going on. He said, "EZ fer war, I call it murder,-- There you hev it plain an' flat; I don't want to go no furder." (Lowell) That sentence is how he starts off the poem. He has really strong feelings about war and lets them show. This is a characteristic of the romanticism period, feelings over intuition. This poem pretty much focused only on the negative side of things and was pretty sad. I think this is a characteristic of the romanticism period. A characteristic of the romanticism period was innocence. Killing and being in war doesn't seem very innocent to me. The second poem I real was by Oliver Wendell Holmes called Departed Days. This poem was also a sad poem. I think it was about old times that Holmes wants back. He goes on to describe how much farther and farther away the past becomes and how he will never get it back, "We strive against the stream, Each moment farther from the shore Where life's young fountains gleam; Each moment fainter wave the fields, And wider rolls the sea; The mist grows dark, -- the sun goes down, -- Day breaks, -- and where are we?" (Holmes) It is really quite depressing. I think this poem shows the romanticism characteristics by using the ocean to explain what was going on. Holmes incorporated the waves of the ocean to prove how hard it would be to get back into the same spot again. Another characteristic of this period is looking in the past for wisdom and distrusting progress. I think this is what the poem is all about. Holmes is yearning for the past and does not want to move forward. This is a perfect example of the romanticism period. These two poems are very alike but very different at the same time. They both were about a sad story. Both of the authors wanted things to return back to "normal" or go back to the way things used to be. Lowell didn't want the war to go on and Holmes just straight up wanted the past back. So I think these poems are very alike. But, they have very different stories and incorporate different characteristics of the romanticism period. Lowell was described as, " are ardent abolitionists, may not have seemed so conservative in the nineteenth century." (Howard) I can see why Howard said this about Lowell. He went against what his country was doing and wasn't afraid to voice his opinion. I think that made him an individual.

Lowell, James Russell. War. The Early Poems Including the Biglow Papers.New York.web.

Holmes, Oliver Wendell. Departed Days. Boston. 1861. Web

Howard, Leon. "James Russell Lowell." A Study of Early Literary Careers. Web.

Journal # 20

I have just finished reading Henry Longfellow's poem Autumn. I think it is a good example of romanticism writing. Romanticism writing talks a lot about nature and that is basically what this poem is about. I really like this poem because autumn is probably my favorite season of the year. Autumn seems to give me a warm feeling and makes me think of all the warm colors that the leaves change to. When I think of autumn I think of apple cider and orange leaves. I think Longfellow may think the same thing as me when he thinks of autumn. Longfellow describes the changes that occur when summer turns to autumn. "THOU comest, Autumn, heralded by the rain" (Longfellow) The way I interpreted the poem was that Longfellow was describing what the farmers do when autumn comes. I could be way off but that is what I thought of. I think he was saying that the farmers have to gather their crops. Longfellow really described autumn and it made me feel like I was in that season. I liked how he used the word gold in this poem because when I think of autumn I think of those warms colors. Examples of this would be, "Upon thy bridge of gold; thy royal hand" (Longfellow) and "Thine almoner, the wind, scatters the golden leaves!" (Longfellow) He made the color seem like a feeling rather than just a color. But, he did describe the leaves as fading into the warm colors like red, gold, and orange. "Thy shield is the red harvest moon" (Longfellow) I think this quote also makes the color a feeling as well. Everyone knows the moon is not red but it gives you a certain feeling. It's like a personification. I like that about the romanticism period. The writers are very creative, more so than the other two styles we have already studied. They use more figurative language. It makes Longfellow seem more like a real person. He uses feeling over reasoning. The poem causes you to feel a certain way rather than think a certain way and I like that.

The Chambered Nautilus

When I first read The Chambered Nautilus it made me think of a hermit crab. I guess I'm kind of weird but every time I reread this poem I just thought of this little animal. I thought of a crab out growing his shell and having to move out and find a bigger and better shell to live in. "Year after year beheld the silent toil" (Holmes) This is saying that someone is working hard quietly. I think this is saying that the crab year after year grows bigger and has to work to find a new shell to live in. The crab silently looks around for a new shell and doesn't disturb anyone while it is doing it, I think that is what Holmes means by the silent toil. "Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul," (Holmes) This I think is talking about the new shell the hermit crab gets to live in. It thinks of the shell as a mansion and gets rid of his old home. " Let each new temple, nobler than the last," (Holmes) is saying that each new shell the crab moves into will be bigger and better than the last one it had lived in. "He left the past year’s dwelling for the new," (Holmes) obviously this is saying it is moving out of it's old house into something new. I don't know if this was actually what Holmes was going for when he wrote this poem. I thought the title, The Chambered Nautilus, even relates to the way I viewed the poem. A hermit crab is an animal that lives near the ocean and everything in the poem relates to how I viewed the poem. Call me crazy but this poem is about a crab I just know that is what Holmes was thinking of, obviously! "The poet then turns to the animal's natural history, which he apparently likens to that of a snail or other less spectacular animal because he focuses on its years of silent toil devoted to building its lustrous spiraling coil." (Huff) According to this literary criticism Huff believes that this too is about an animal. This poem of course has a lot of romanticism characteristics. Holmes is discussing an animal the whole time which is apart of nature. He also used detail to describe what the animal in this poem was doing and was giving reasons why the the animal was doing what it was doing. "The moral is to keep growing spiritually (the soul's building of ever more stately mansions, line 29), leaving the "low-vaulted past" (line 31) for ever loftier temples until finally free from the outgrown shell (the physical body after death) by "life's unresting sea" (line 35)." (Huff) This is the poetic meaning of the poem rather than taking it literally. So if you view the poem this way it means basically to keep growing spiritually or forget about past set backs. This is also an example of the romanticism period. During this period they believed in using feeling over reasoning.

Holmes, Oliver Wendell. "The chambered Nautilus"1858. Web.

Huff, Randall. "'The Chambered Nautilus'." The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007.Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Washington Irving

I would just like to say right off the bat that in both "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Devil and Tom Walker" the main character has an awful wife. That just seems a bit curious to me. Possibly this could relate to his real life? Hmm... Anyways the main character of " The Devil and Tom Walker" is of course Tom Walker. Some other important characters are the devil and Tom Walker's wife. Tom Walker does show the characteristics of romanticism. He uses his feelings over his intuition. I mean obviously it is not a smart idea to sell your soul to the devil but Tom did it anyways. But, Tom wanted to be rich so bad and wanted to stop struggling so he thought that it was a smart idea to become rich to help himself out. He was just thinking of his own feelings and wasn't really thinking of the smart thing to do. "There was one condition which need not be mentioned, being generally understood in all cases where the devil grants favours; but there were others about which, though of less importance, he was inflexibly obstinate. He insisted that the money found through his means should be employed in his service." (Irving) This is discussing the devil's bargain with Tom and it sounds a little sketchy to me. I would use my reasoning and think that, that was a bad idea. Both stories, Rip Van Winkle and The Devil and Tom Walker are very descriptive. They describe many things but mostly nature. The romanticism period is known for being descriptive and discussing nature. "In fact, he declared it was of no use to work on his farm; it was the most pestilent little piece of ground in the whole country; everything about it went wrong, and would go wrong, in spite of him. His fences were continually falling to pieces; his cow would either go astray or get among the cabbages; weeds were sure to grow quicker in his fields than anywhere else; the rain always made a point of setting in just as he had some outdoor work to do; so that though his patrimonial estate had dwindled away under his management, acre by acre, until there was little more left than a mere patch of Indian corn and potatoes, yet it was the worst-conditioned farm in the neighborhood." (Irving) This is an extremely descriptive paragraph about nature. It is a big part of the romanticism period.

Lombardi, Esther. "'The Devil and Tom Walker' Short Story." Books & Literature Classics. About.com. Web. 05 Dec. 2011. .

Matthews, Washington Irving. "4. Rip Van Winkle By Washington Irving. Matthews, Brander. 1907. The Short-Story." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Bartleby. Web. 05 Dec. 2011. .

Thanatopsis

I think this poem was kind of hard to understand. I didn't really like the figures of speech he used because I found them so hard to understand. I had to analyze each line to understand the meaning of the poem. I think this poem can be taken in many different directions after you analyze it because I think people may find different meaning in it since it is hard to understand. After I analyzed it I thought it is about dying and it is about how everyone has to go through death. So even though you die by yourself you are not really alone because everyone that has lived before has already died. "In the full strength of years, matron and maid, The speechless babe, and the gray-headed man— Shall one by one be gathered to thy side By those, who in their turn shall follow them." (Bryant) I think that the bit of the poem proves the point that people are not alone when their time comes to die because it will happen to everyone. Also I think it says once you are dead and barried you become a part of nature and nature is beautiful. Therefore, you add to the beauty of the earth and will always be apart of it. We are from nature and will return to nature when we die. In nature we see life and death each day. We see plants die and leaves fall and the trees are bare. We witness death each day and we don't even pay attention to it. But, nature proves that death is natural and happens to everything. I think since we are all on the earth living in the nature that we, all people, are apart of the nature and at the end of our lives we are put into the ground and stay in the earth forever. In the literary critism I read Ruland said that Cullen focuses on a more happy side of death than a dark and depressing sense of death. I completely agree with this statement. Cullen seems like he believes death isn't something people should dread but it is something that is nature. It is a big cycle. You are put on the earth and live with the nature then you are dead and buried and become a part of the nature around you. I think this is a peaceful way of looking at death. It says that when you are gone you are not completely gone but that you will live forever in the beauty of the nature around others that are still living. In Ruland's critism he says this is a different way of thinking about death for the time period. In the eighteenth centry Europe had the graveyard poets. These poets wrote about death, but in a different way. These poets focused on the pain in death and the longing for immorality. This is totally different than Cullen's view. It's safe to say I like Cullen's attitude better.

Bryant, William Cullen. Thanatopsis. Boston: Bibliophile Society, 1927.

Ruland, Richard, and Malcolm Bradbury. From Puritanism to Postmodernism: A History of American Literature. New York: Penguin, 1991.

Journal # 19

I think when you are in nature you can see life and death happening all around you especially depending on the different seasons of the year. In the spring the flowers bud and plants begin to sprout. The beauty of nature is being born in the summer. Then in the fall the leaves die and fall of the trees and the trees become bare and the nature dies. I think this is a big sign to all that living and dying is what happens to everything and we see it take place everyday whether we realize it or not. In nature we just see the plants live and die and I don't think many people incorporate it into their own life. Most people focus on the living portion of life, of course because some fear death. But, it is just a part of the circle of life and we witness it every day. As in the spiritual aspect of life and death I think it varies from person to person. Everyone may believe in something different. Some may think they will go to heaven or hell others may think death is the end of everything and our life on earth is it. Some people may believe they die and get reincarnated into another life and they get to live and be apart of nature again. I think when people are living each person is apart of nature because every person can influence they world. They can pollute the earth or plant a tree. I think the whole thing just depends on beliefs and what kind of person you want to be. To sum up this post I believe that people can learn a lot about life and death by the nature around us. It seems like a weird thing to say but I believe that it is true. Watching nature you see the beginning of new life, the middle stages of it, and finally the death. You can plant a tree or cut them down. Just know that if you decide to cut down the tree that you are destroying a part of nature and killing a piece of it.

Fireside Poets

I read the Fireside poem "She Came and Went" by James Russel Lowell. This poem was about how he was in love with this girl but now she is no longer there. Everything he noticed in the world reminded him of this girl that he loved. I think the girl may have died and he believed she was still found in the beauty in nature. She was living in everything he saw. Whenever he looked at tree, pond. or orchard it reminded him of his love. I think this is the definition of the Romanticism period. Writers of this period really appreciated nature. His poem said, "As a twig trembles, which a bird lights on to sing, then leaves unbent, so is my memory thrilled and stirred; - I know she came and went." (Lowell) Out of the Puritan and rationalism writing styles this writing style by far is my favorite of the two. It is the most creative type of writing and shows the most emotion. The puritan writing style was very dry and did not show hardly any emotion. I mean, you could tell if somebody was upset or happy but they did not go into detail about it. I appreciate how the romanticism period writers showed emotion. It helps you bond more with the writer and you can relate better to the story being told. It makes you feel for them and understand how they are feeling. Everyone has lost somebody important to them in their life. Maybe it was not because of death but probably you lost a close friend through a fight and that is exactly what this poem was about. People probably have felt exactly like this and he put it into words. Since the author is describing how he feels so in depth it helps me understand and feel for him. The rationalism writers did use some detail but in a different way than Lowell did. The rationalism writers just used detail to convince others to feel the same way they do. Technically, Lowell did the same thing but not intentially. He was saying how he felt which causes you to feel the same way. Rationalism writers just try to make you think the same way that they do. Such as in Patrick Henry's Speech to the Second Virginia Convention. "Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we posses, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us." (Henry 118.) He used facts to convince people to feel for him while Lowell just used emotion. So far I like the Romanticism period more than the rationalism period to. Lowell seems like more of a real person than Henry did just because he opened up more with the readers of his poem. But then again the rationalism writers seem like more of a real person the the puritan writers. I think through each style the writers become more creative with their writing and start adding more figures of speech.

Lowell, James Russel. "She Came and Went." 1844.

Henry, Patrick. "Speech to the Second Virginia Convention" Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 116-118. Print.

Journal # 18

Autumn is one of my favorite seasons of the year. The leaves begin to turn bright colors. The orange, red, and yellow leaves fill the branches. They begin to fall and the streets are covered with dried up leaves. I can feel them crunch underneath my shoes. I can hear the cracking noise as people walk over the leaves. The chilly air blows over my skin and gives my goosebumps. It is the perfect temperature outside and I just have to wear a light jacket. It's cool outside so I never get to warm and sweat. The air feels crisp and smells like the dried up leaves. People have bon fires and you can smell the burning logs. I love to sit around the warm fire and watch the flames rise into the sky. I can always feel like warmth on my feet and legs while the top of my body is still chilly. I melt marshmallows over the fire and then put it on a graham crackers and make delicious smores. In my family we put crispy cream donuts over the fire and melt the icing and get the donuts nice and warm before we eat them. Oh my gosh it is so good! I love the food you get to cook over the fire. It tastes so good to me. In the autumn my family always takes trips to the Apple Barn in Chatham. It is pretty much the best place on the entire earth. As soon as your step out of the car you can smell all the home made food cooking inside the tiny little store. Outside of the shops pumpkins and squash lay on the ground waiting for people to buy them. Inside the shop there are shelves filled with apples and home made jams. There is home made kettle corn, pies, and fudge. I always buy an apple slushie and a piece of peanut butter fudge. It is not officially autumn until I go to the Apple Barn.

Journal # 17

Last summer I went on a cruise and we stopped in the Bahamas and spent a day on the beach. I believe this is a time I really did bond with nature. I loved the hot sun coming down on my skin and warming my whole body. The sound of the waves crashing onto the beach is so relaxing and the feeling of the warm sand on my feet is a one of the feeling. Later on in the day I went into the ocean on a jet ski. The water was a perfect light blue color and you could see far into the water, it was so clear. So on the jet ski I looked down and saw a whole bunch all of different kinds of fish. There were fishes of different colors swimming beneath me. It was like nothing I've ever seen before. I could see the dolphins jumping in the distance. It was the first time I had ever seen dolphins or tropical fish. My feet hung on the side of the jet ski into the warm water and I just looked around at the scene. It was one of the most peaceful moments in my life. After I finished riding around I went back to the beach and laid in the sand. I ran the hot sand through my fingers and put my toes in the cool water that splashed up onto the sand. The seagulls flew over head and a man was walking around with a parrot on his shoulder so people could pay to take a picture with the cool bird. Some sea weed collected where the water met the sand. The sun was beaming down on me and I knew I was totally getting sunburned so I put sunscreen on about every twenty minutes. I was dreading getting back inside on the ship and seeing my skin being burnt and red. Later on I luckily found that I was not burnt at all.

Journal # 16

To communicate with my Franklin Virtue project partners I would most likely use email, facebook, or twitter. But, based on the skype we did with the Farmington students, I don't think twitter is very popular there. So I would have to stick with facebook or email. I wouldn't really want to give my phone number out to someone I never met before because that could turn out badly. Not to be rude but what if the people are creepy and text me all the time? I mean nobody wants that. So email and facebook is good because once the project is done I won't have to talk to them anymore. Unless they were like totally awesome then I would definitely keep in chat with them. I think this skill is going to be very important for the future. When you have a job your boss or managers may not be in the same building as you all the time so you have to think or ways to communicate with people. You also need to know ways of how to get a hold of costumers or people who need your services, based on what I want to do when I grow up. You have to be able to make it easy for other people to get a hold of you or else they could just find someone else and you could lose money. I think it is also very important for me when I get into college. I will need ways to communicate with my professors or even with school councilors to help me out when I get there. I could also be doing a project like this when I am in college with people studying the same thing as me and now I will already have experience for that. Even if I am doing a project with someone that goes to my same college this would come in handy. College campuses can be so big and there are a lot of people so it is important to get a hold of the right person.

Journal # 15

To overcome a challenge with working with someone from a different area you need to be on the same page. You need to be sure you and the other person knows exactly what is going on and what your intentions are when you are working. You would have to talk back and forth and ask questions to make it clear on what you are trying to achieve. I think the first thing you should do is just talk to your partner and see what they are like. You should find out what their strengths and weaknesses are. That way you will know how to divide up the duties. You would have to give each person a task that you know they will do a good job at. You should break up the amount of work evenly so one person doesn't end up with to much of the work or one person just slides by without doing anything. When dividing up the work it would be important to keep in mind what people's strong points are. If they are good at picking thinks out of context then they should do that, if they are good writers they should put together the final paper. The research could be split among everyone and have everyone get a certain number of sources about general ideas based on your topic. I think is important in our situation dealing with the people from Farmington. I think first it will be really important to get to know your partners and find out what kind of workers they are. You'll know from the start if they are hard workers then the project will go through very easily. But, if they are not concerned with their grade then you know immediately you will be the one doing most of the work. Maybe if you find out soon enough you could get a chance to fix that problem.

Tukerman's review

Based on Tuckerman's review of Franklin I think that Tuckerman respected Franklin and thought he had good ideas. He thought Franklin was wise and agreed with his views. Tuckerman understood Franklin's virtues and thought they were practical or not too much to ask for. Even thought Franklin may disagree with that statement. Tuckerman thought that Franklin really thought out his ideas and was very smart. Tuckerman believed that the virtues would be really hard to follow, though. They were simple thoughts but hard to pull off. The ideas could be done. You would have to add them into your life gradually because it would be a challenge to pull off. People would have to make sacrifices to be able to follow the virtues exactly. People would have to sacrifice a lot of time and other things that they do that go against the virtues. But, Tuckerman believes that anybody would be able to follow Franklin's virtues. They are easy to understand so people could do it. If people wanted to have a better life and be a good person they should follows these virtues. But, he doesn't believe that everybody will follow these virtues though. People who give up easily would not be able to pull it off. They are hard so everybody won't be able to do it. Franklin tried to do all of the virtues at once. This was a huge challenge. He found it nearly impossible to keep up all the virtues at once. If he achieved one virtue he would forget about another. It was almost impossible so he didn't expect for everyone to do these virtues. He thought it would be good for people to try the virtues but knew it would be hard and didn't expect for everyone to try them. Even if people did try to live by the virtues he didn't expect for people to be able to do every single one. Franklin believed they could shake things up. He thought it would be good if people made their own virtues. He thought it would be good for people to try other things to live a good life and having Franklin's virtues inspire them. If people made their own virtues and lived a good life with them then hey, that is pretty awesome. Franklin just wanted people to be inspired by the virtues and not live by them and have them be all they think about. Even Franklin did not only focus on the virtues since he couldn't keep them all going at once. A different set of virtues could be easier to do and a more practical set of things for people to follow. But, Franklin was clearly a busy man. He had a lot of things going for him and had more great ideas other than his virtues. Just like the average Joe has other things he has to do, too. People would not be able to only think about the virtues when they live an average every day life. Other things would take over their minds before they thought of the virtues.

Franklin, Benjamin, and Leonard Woods Labaree. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. New Haven: Yale UP, 1964. Print.

Tuckerman, Henry T. "The Character of Franklin." Facts on File. Web. 30 Oct. 2011.

Franklin's Virtues

Franklin had a lot of virtues that he tried to base his life off. The virtues were easy to understand and they are things that I think everyone should try to do in their lives. Based on this reading I assume that Franklin was pretty much a modern day hippie of his time period. He wanted the world to be peaceful and for him to be the best person that he could be. I think Franklin would want other people to follow these virtues to. He believes that the virtues would make the world a better place.

Deism is the belief that God created the world and that the proof is in the nature around us. (dictionary.com) Deists believe the world is beautiful and God is shown in all the things in nature because he was the one who created it. Deists see the world as a beautiful place. I think that is how Franklin viewed the world to. He wanted to try to see the world as beautiful as it really is and try not to disrespect it. He wanted everyone to respect each other and the world around them. I don't think that was necessarily Franklin's intentions when he was making these virtues. I just think Franklin was trying to be more peaceful and live a good life. I doubt that he was thinking about doing good to God because God did good for him.

But, Franklin knew it would be a challenge to follow all of his virtues. People would have to sacrifice a lot of time and effort to live by the virtues. Even Franklin himself realized that trying to do all the virtues at once was nearly impossible. But, even if you can't do all the virtues at once just trying and following a few of the virtues would make you a better person and I think that was Franklin's point. People are not perfect, of course we all know that. But, God did create all humans and that means we are important and good. Franklin wanted to get follow the virtues to become a better person. Diests would like to be better people since God put so much beauty on the earth then God deserves good people to live on it. I doubt that he was thinking about doing good to God because God did good for him. But, I guess who really knows? I can just understand why deists would appreciate these virtues Franklin thought up because it would take a lot of care to do them all. Yes, it would be a big challenge and Franklin even admitted it. But, those who tried are good people and God would clearly appreciate people putting an effort towards making the world a better and more peaceful place. Honestly, I know that I would not be able to follow all of these virtues for very long at all. They would be way to hard for me so I respect Franklin for trying to do them. In high school it is hard to avoid the drama, gossip, and disrespect. Therefore, it would be very challenging for me to stick to the virtues. But, I bet I could come up with my own virtues and be able to follow them better. They would not be as extreme as Franklin's but they would still help to make me a better person.

Franklin, Benjamin, and Leonard Woods Labaree. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. New Haven: Yale UP, 1964. Print

Journal # 14

If I was one of Benjamin Franklin's apprentice I would be pretty popular. Everyone would be jealous I got to hang out with good ole' Benny boy. People were so interested in everything he did and everything he invented or came up with. I would know all his little secrets. I don't think I would tell anyone though cause I don't want anyone to steal Benny's ideas. He would probably be upset to if I went out and told people he genius secrets. I'm pretty sure if I was his apprentice he would do a lot to make me a lot smarter. He would probably play mind games with me and try to get me to figure out hard problems. Most likely, I would have no idea what he was talking about because I know he is way smarter than me. So I'd try to convince him that I'm smart too and just let him think that I knew everything he was talking about. I would go along with everything he was saying. I assume that I would learn a lot. I would read a lot of the things he wrote and hear stories about his life. I would help him with his new ideas. I bet he would inspire with the way he lives. He seemed like a very peaceful and nice man. I bet that would inspire me to try to be a better person as well. He just seems like a total hippie from the seventeen hundreds. So I bet we would get along great. Knowing how smart he is I bet he would give me a lot of good advice which would really come in handy because I am not good at making decisions. So I am sure he would help me out with that. Ben would probably want me to get way smarter, too. I would have to read a lot of books and do a lot of experiments to find out new things.

Ben Franklin

I believe that Benjamin Franklin is a lot different than the Puritan writers. He has his own individual style when he is writing. I really enjoyed reading Franklin's autobiography and I found it very easy to understand and read. I liked or it more than the puritan writings that we have read earlier in the year. There is one similarity I noticed between Franklin and the Puritans and that is that Franklin is straight to the point when he writes. He didn't really go into too much description in the story but he did inform you about a more things that the puritan's would not. For example, on page on page 108 Franklin informs you about how he saw his future father in law and wife for the first time. This is obviously and important thing but it doesn't seem like the puritan writers would include it in their stories. Such as, Mary Rowlandson . She was straight to the point when she wrote and really did not go into any detail about anything. She only told you what you needed to know to understand the story. I found that boring and I enjoy Franklin's writing style better because he adds more insight to his life and makes him sound more like a real person. While Mary just sounded like she was struggling to remember the story she was telling and as if not a lot happened during her story, but I'm sure a lot of things really happened to her. "I have been the more particular in this description of my journey, and shall be so of my first entry into that city, that you may in your mind compare such unlikely beginnings with the figures I have made since." (Franklin 108) He even admitted to going into great detail. I do think that Franklin is like the Puritan writer Jonathan Edwards, though. In Edward's "Sinners in the Hands of and Angry God" he showed a lot of emotion throughout the story and showed how he felt. Franklin did this as well in his story. Franklin admitted to feeling embarrassed, "Thus I went up Market Street as far as Fourth Street, passing by the door of Mr. Read, my future wife's father; when she, standing at the door, saw me, and thought I made, as I certainly did, a most awkward, ridiculous appearance." (Franklin 108) He admitted to how he felt when he was caring the huge rolls under his arms. This is like Edward's sermon. Edwards was not afraid to show his anger to the people in the church. He yelled at them and didn't think twice about what he was saying. Of course, Edwards is more to the extreme, but Franklin did show his emotion as well. So in a way I can consider Franklin as a little of a Puritan writer. Though I'm pretty sure he is considered a rationalist writer. I think this story is not so much rationalism because Franklin is not trying to prove a point in the story. In other rationalism stories I have read the authors are usually trying to get a point across to the reader. In this story Franklin is just giving you a play by play of events. That reminds me of the puritan writings.

Edwards, Jonathan. "Sinners in the Hands of an angry God." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 97-99. Print.

Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration or Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 82-85. Print.

Franklin, Benjamin. "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 106-108. Print.

The crisis No. 1

In this story I view Thomas Paine as both a Puritan writer and a rationalism writer. I think that he incorporates both styles into this story and he is stuck in between the time periods of these two styles, perhaps. He uses rationalism to get his point across and he uses figures of speech that the Puritans did not use in their writings. But, then again Paine did mention God or heaven in this story as well. Perhaps he was just a religious man but was a rationalist writer. On the first page he mentions heaven in this story. He says, "Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated." (Paine 134) I think that he is trying to say that God in heaven knows how much things are worth and how important certain goods are. He thinks people take their freedom for granted and they should learn to appreciate it. What the people don't have to work for they don't realize how great it is and they don't think they would lose it. This bothers Paine because he knows how important it is and how and he really does appreciate it. But then again what he said is not exactly a Puritan writing excerpt. It is figurative language and that is more in the rationalism style than Puritan. Throughout the story Paine uses figures of speech and gives details to prove his point.

Journal # 13

I think today's American dream has a lot to do with money. It seems like money is the only thing people fight for in America because money sets a lot of rules with in the nation. If you have a lot of money you are more respected. If you know somebody has a lot of money more people would try to become their friend just to get things from them. People look down on the homeless. It's not always their fault that they are poor and homeless. So I think the American dream would have to be having every family in America be wealthy. Having no debts would make this country a lot nicer to live in. I know it is stressful to be in the whole and I don't understand why some people hog all the money. Yes, they have a good job but how hard could it be to act in a movie? I don't think those people deserve that much money. The people that actually do hard labor deserve more of the cash because I believe they work harder than all people and don't get paid nearly as much. The American dream would be to have the whole country prosper and everyone have a job. There would be no homeless people and no people living in poverty. We would have no people starving and living on the streets. I think this dream is far out of reach, though. People just try to gather more and more money and don't think of the other people. We will never reach this dream if people stay so selfish like they are now. It would be a lot better nation if we didn't have to worry about money and all the bills. There would be a lot less stress causing more people to be happy. Money could solve a lot of problems and make nicer people. But, I know this dream will probably never be reached and will always be just a dream.

Journal # 12

If I could make up my own rules I know that I would change a lot of things. I would change a lot of the school rules like this new thing called, Pace. It really isn't that great at all. We all have pace at the same time so we could go get help from other people. But, we aren't allowed to leave the room so I'm not sure how we are supposed to get help. If I could change the rules I would let students leave the room only to get help from other teachers. We also can't talk in our pace classes. So what is the point of pace if you can't talk to the other students and work together? I think students should be able to work together in pace. Then their is lash. I personally have never been in lash but I know people who have been in there. I think it is embarrassing for those students to have to walk into the small gym during pace. When you see the kids walking in there you know they are struggling with a class and failing. I understand that they are getting extra help and that is good but, they call the students out. I think it would be embarrassing to walk in there and all the people around you immediately know that you are failing. I think that the student should be able to choose whether they want extra help or not. So even the people who aren't failing that need help can go get it, too. That way people won't judge you when you walk in and know your failing. This new schedule really sucks. We really didn't have to change the schedule from last year. We could have kept the schedule from last year and it would have been fine. We could still see teachers and get work done. I think it could have been a little more structured to make students actually work.

Journal #11

A popular aphorism that I think is involved in everyone's life is "Actions speak louder than words." I like this aphorism a lot because I think it is involved a lot more in my peer group. In high school there is a lot of drama and fights between different groups of people. Sure, words do hurt and people can make fun of you but actions can hurt the most. Being ignored by your friends can be awful. Sitting down at a table of people and then having them walk away speaks loudly, without any words. While walking down the hallway to classes I run into a lot of different people. Some of them are my friends and some of the people I do not not click with well at all. A simple "elevator eye" says it all. When I realize someone looking me up and down in the hallway it makes me feel small and the other person is judging me. Girls always shoot dirty looks at each other. That one face is says a million words without even speaking. This is the way girls deal with their issues, while guys actually there dislike in another way. An actual fist fight is very scary. Once the first punch is thrown you know things are serious. It can effect the person's health and really hurt himself or the other person in the fight. People can go to jail for hitting another person but you can't go to jail for calling someone a mean name or cussing them out. That pretty much sums up the whole aphorism. Physical acts are way more serious than words. I'm not saying words don't hurt because they do but only if you let them. A punch to the face hurts whether you want it to or not. I think whoever came up with this aphorism was very wise but then again I can disagree with it, too. Words do hurt people's feelings and can make them very sad as well.

The Crucible- Act 3

Human nature is very clear in this story by the way people are reacting to things. When people are put in situations they are not used to they tend to "freak out," This is shown in many ways. I think people make the whole witch thing a way bigger deal than it really is. They do not know for a fact that any of the people were practicing witchcraft I think they may have jumped to conclusions when things that were out of the ordinary were happening. People probably just admitted to witchcraft to save themselves from being hung. If people can get out of dying I know that they would do whatever they could even if it means lying. I think lying takes place a lot throughout the story. It is hard to tell whether someone is telling the truth or lying. While reading this story I am really not sure what to believe. Such as if the girls in the woods were practicing witchcraft or were they simply just playing? I also question if Elizabeth really is pregnant or not. She may say that just to spare her life for a while or to possibly make people feel sorry for her. Or maybe she said she was pregnant to get out of it. People could think of her as an innocent mother and doubt her participation in witchcraft. There are other ways that people could lie to get themselves out of trouble. People would do a lot to make themselves innocent. They even would accuse others to get the attention off of themselves. Such as, when Mary was accused of witchcraft. Who knows if she really participated in witchcraft? Who knows if anyone actually practiced witch craft? People would turn against each other. Everyone turned against Mary and she did nothing wrong. She stood up for the other girls and said that they were innocent but the girls turned her in. Whether Mary was guilty or innocent the girls should not have turned her in. Mary stood up for them and was being a good friend to them. She did not deserve what she got. She deserves respect and loyal friendships.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.

Declaration of Independence

While reading the Declaration of Independence I realized how serious Jefferson was about this new country and I saw through is eyes how he pictures this nation. He tells you throughout the declaration the hard times the people in America had gone through. He completely bashed the King for what he had done to the people and made the colonists sound very innocent. It was sort of like he was "pointing fingers" at the king saying that all their problems had come from him and all the colonists were innocent. I would consider that to be the "plain folks" propaganda technique. A great section of the declaration is about what the king had done. Jefferson was using true facts so nobody could argue or disagree with the declaration. It said,

"He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them, into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people" (Jefferson 122-123)

Paragraphs like the following continued on for several more paragraphs. Jefferson continued to insult the king. Jefferson was using the name calling approach. He was trying to convince the people who were not against the king to be against him. Jefferson stated a lot of the bad things he did to the colonists and it is pretty obvious he didn't care what happened to the king's reputation.

At times Jefferson kind of over exaggerated somethings the king did so you knew it did not really happen. Such as this statement, "He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people" (Jefferson 124). Now people know he did not actually plunder the seas and burned their towns. He was over exaggerating. This could be a bad thing if you think about it. If he over exaggerated one thing, then, how do the people know the whole thing was not over exaggerated? It may be confusing on what really happened and what didn't. People may have thought that the whole thing was an opinion rather than fact. I don't think he did this intentionally but I could see it happening. This could be considered an error of faulty logic. In our own Declaration of Independence there is an error? It is weird to think about.

Overall I think the Declaration is a very strongly worded document and makes good points so people can really understand what the country was like at that time. It makes you feel sorry for the colonists and dislike the king. I think that is probably what Jefferson wanted out of the declaration but I guess it's hard to tell.

Jefferson, Thomas. "Declaration of Independence" Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 122-124. Print.

Journal #9

It's hard to except the fact that we are in high school and drama is constantly surrounding us. It is pretty impossible to escape it. People are always saying how they hate drama when they actually are the ones causing it. Teenage girls are over emotional and take every thing too seriously. If someone gives them a weird look they automatically think that something is wrong with them or the person has a problem with them. I'm pretty sure boys are just as insecure as the girls are but they just do not want to let it show. I'm almost totally positive that's why guys are always making fun of each other and others. Boys can be so mean and make fun of almost everyone. It's pretty ridiculous. All teenagers assume things and start rumors about people. Facebook only makes this whole teenage drama thing worse. A girl is seen talking to a boy on facebook. He may have just wrote and her wall and they were just having a nice casual conversation. Others see the post from this boy and assume the girl is cheating on her boyfriend. Word spreads and by the next day at school everyone thinks the girl is a cheater. When actually the boy was just a friend. Little did she know that a nice conversation about their day could cause the girl to get a bad reputation. I swear it's the worst time of life. You don't get a break and people are constantly judging you. If you tell the truth your mean, if you don't say the truth to be nice then your considered a liar. If you dress the same as everyone then you're a copier, if you dress differently then your a freak. It's pretty difficult having a nonemotional, happy day in high school it seems like. Oh how I wish we could all go back to elementary school. That poor girl on facebook lost her boyfriend just because she was judged by others.

Journal # 10

It only makes sense that the vocabulary should be pushed back, Mr. Langley. I mean you are an amazing teacher and always know best but I think some times you may need help realizing what you are doing, even though you are very smart. I can guarantee that every student in this class and your other English classes would like this assignment to be pushed back. Teachers this year are piling the homework on us hard and it is very stressful. All of us will have other work to do this weekend to stay caught up in all of these classes. Plus you are way cooler than all the other teachers, so I'm sure you will understand. You will be everyone's favorite teacher for sure and it would be a little relief to not have to do something extra over the weekend. Many of us probably have plans to do something fun because we have no time to go out and do anything during the weekdays because of all this homework. You are guilty for this to. You, like all the rest of my teachers, are assigning so many things. This would be a really nice act of kindness towards are students. Plus it'll be one less thing to grade and I'm pretty sure we all know that there are a lot of things to still be graded so why add more? Yeah, I can not think of a good reason either. So give the students and yourself a break from homework and grading and maybe all of us will be able to get out of the house this weekend and actually do something enjoyable. Well maybe not since we do have all this other homework that needs to be done. I know a lot of students at this school are super stressed out from so much homework so I think taking one thing off the "to do list" would really do some good. Don't get me wrong, vocabulary is important. But, pushing back the date is not that big of a deal.

Patrick Henry

Patrick Henry makes it very clear what he wants in throughout this passage. He basically says give me what I want or I would rather die without it. It is said in his famous quote "Give me liberty, or give me death." It makes him sound like kind of a brat and has his mind set that he is right and that is all he wants but I understand where he is coming from. Since my parents tell me what to do still even though I want my freedom I can relate to why Henry and other Americans would like their freedom as well. Although, their situation is to the extreme compared to mine. Patrick is living in America and for some reason Britain still thinks that they have total control over this new country because the people there originated from Britain. Britain is taxing the colonies and making them pay for things that are taking place in Britain even though the colonists do not live there and have nothing to do with that country. All the colonists want to do is to trade with Britain and get goods in return. They really don't want anymore involvement than just that. Patrick Henry does not believe Britain should have any control over the people in the colonies, and I agree with his idea. The British were causing many of the colonists to become very poor, they were taxing them as if they were people still living in Britain. Patrick Henry gives many examples on how he feels and how the British are treating the colonists. He used rationalism to get his point across so nobody would doubt him. Henry used facts so it would be hard to deny him. An example would be, "Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we posses, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us." (Henry 118.) He believed the only way to achieve his idea was to fight and he made it clear there were three million people ready to show the British who is boss. He also stated this "We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne." (Henry 118) This quote from the passage also tells how the colonists have tried everything and need to go to war. He used rationalism and really proved that they have tried a lot but there was nothing else that could be done except to fight. They used words to really try to get their point across to Britain but, obviously, that did not work. Patrick Henry firmly believed that he had the perfect way to get the colonists what they wanted and he would not back down. Fighting would have to happen.

Henry, Patrick. "Speech to the Second Virginia Convention" Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 116-118. Print.

Journal # 8

Autumn is the worst season of the year. Summer ends, school begins, and allergies come. Summer is the best time of the year and when the fair comes I get sad because I know autumn is coming. I hate how its cold in the mornings and then by the time its noon it's eighty degrees outside. You have to plan ahead, or else your cold in the mornings in school and then burning by the end of the day. One day it is hot outside and you are wearing shorts and a tank top the next day you are all bundled up. Then it is time for school to start. I have to go back to waking up early, stressing out over tests, and dealing with people all day at school. It comes to the last week of summer and I don't even enjoy it because I'm dreading fall. They begin to cut down the corn and my nose goes crazy. My allergies are worse in the fall than they are in the spring. It is pretty awful and it only happens in the fall. Lucky me. The only good thing about fall is bonfires, football games, and watching the leaves change. I love bonfires and the smell of the wood burning. It is fun to sit around and roast marshmallows. We have a bonfire at my house every year. My family is a big football family and we always attend Notre Dame football games. I always look forward to it all year. They are one of the most fun things I do all year. It is so beautiful on the campus with all the colorful leaves. It is really pretty watching the leaves change, even if it is just in my backyard. So I guess I don't really hate autumn that much now that I am thinking about it because a lot of fun things do come in autumn such as homecoming, halloween, yummy apples, and of course the things I mentioned earlier.

Journal #7

I'm pretty positive that every person has been the victim and the bullier at one time or another in their life. No matter what people say everyone has talked badly about someone behind there back to others or helped spread gossip. I know this can really hurt the victim knowing people think badly about them. Nobody knows what goes on in somebody's life they could be going through a lot and they really do not to be bullied on top of everything else. A simple mean act or word can really bring down somebody's self esteem and ruin there day. Bullying can eventually lead to suicide and becoming depressed. One smile or nice word to someone can totally make their day and make them happy. Being nice to someone can make a big difference in their life when other people are bullying them. That's why you should never judge anyone because you never know what their home or social life may be like. They could be bullied enough at home and should not have to put up with it from their peers at school. Then on the other side of the story the bully has to have a reason for doing what they are doing. Maybe the victim has bullied them in the past and the have resentment and want to get back at them. Or possibly the bully is unhappy with their life and is taking it out on others and thinks that will make them feel better. Maybe it makes themselves feel bigger or stronger and better about themselves when really, it is just hurting others. I think bullying is totally unacceptable and completely ridiculous. Teachers and other adults I think should really be doing things to help end bullying because it goes on more than I think they know. Everyday kids come to school and get bullied and it should not be like that. People should feel comfortable and not be scared to walk past certain people in the hallway.

Journal # 6

The possible repercussions ( also known as consequences) of blaming someone for something they did not do may vary. Such as suing people you could end up losing in court and losing a lot of your own money you spend on suing them. Not to mention the costs of hiring your own layer. I think it is pretty obvious that you could lose your money but you could also lose your dignity or reputation. Accusing someone for something they did not do may cause people to not trust you anymore and they may think that you are a bad person and just want everything to go your way. Lying could also lead to other consequences. Such as if you snuck out of your house and your parents thought you were asleep. While you were gone at night you could get into some trouble but not be able to get help because your parents think you are in bed. But, if it was a big enough problem you could have to call your parents. This obviously would be bad and I know I would immediately be grounded. Also if your parents tell you they do not want you to hang out with certain people but you do it anyway may lead to problems. There is most likely a reason why your parents told you not to hang out with them. They could put you in a situation you are uncomfortable in or one that is dangerous. Then you would have to call your parents to help and you would get caught in your lie. You parents would be disappointed and lose trust for you and I think that is the worst feeling ever knowing your parents lost trust in you. Lying is just a bad thing to do I mean that is pretty obvious. Making yourself untrustworthy and losing a good reputation can really affect someone. People may not want to be their friend and may find it hard to believe the things that person says.

The Crucible - Act 2

After taking the true colors test I found out that may true color is blue. I really believe that this test is correct because the description explains me well. Blue means very caring and just wanting everyone to be happy. This works for me because I'm all about keeping the peace and want to be a psychiatrist when I grow up. I think the characters in the story all have different personalities and would fit in different color groups, too. I can't remember exactly what the definition of each color group is but I know the basics. I believe that Abigail could belong in the blue catagory with me. She really cares for Proctor and just wants to be with him. She wants to hug him and touch him and he pulls away. In a way I don't think she is completely blue, though. Abigail does not think of Elizabeth at all during her love story. Elizabeth and Proctor are married but Elizabeth never comes across in Abigail's mind. Proctor is obviously not a blue either. He is in the middle of a love triangle. He has an affair with Elizabeth and then totally leaves Abigail after he was done with her. He left them both a bit heartbroken he was not completely thinking about everyone's feelings like blues do. Most people only think about how Elizabeth feels because she was the one who got cheated on but nobody really mentioned Abigail's feelings. She is young and in love and the man she loves just ignores her and loves someone else. I could see why she would be so upset and heart broken. I found Elizabeth to be more of a "do what must be done" kind of attitude. If I remember correctly that would be the orange personality. She tells Procter to do what he must do and she will stand by him in his decisions. Such as telling the court certain information. She just wants to please her husband which makes me think she is a blue in some way. She wants him to be happy and wants to please him. When she cooked dinner for him she wanted him to like it and for him to be pleased with her. I think of Parris as a gold ( I think, remember I don't remember the colors perfectly.) Parris had very strict rules and knew what was okay and what wasn't he wanted order and for things to go his way. He didn't want the girls getting into any funny business, he didn't want to visit the people, he wanted his maid to do exactly everything that he told her to do. He was very straight forward and was a typical gold with all those rules he set. Those are pretty much the only colors I can remember (at least I think I remember.) I do know though just about everyone they have mentioned in the story this far have all had different personalities. Everyone so far is sharing the same emotion though and that is concern and wondering what is going around in Salem and what could be coming. Are there really witches? Or is this girl just seeking attention?

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.

Journal #5

I agree with parents taking away electronic devices as a punishment because I think it is an effective way of getting what you want from your kids. Though, sometimes parents take away phones or facebook without a warning. I believe they should warn you before it gets to the point that they actually take it away. I think it is a big deal to take those things away from kids, though. That is the only way kids can communicate with their friends. Now days kids even need their phone's and computer's for homework assignments so I think parents need to understand that. I know when I'm on the computer after school my mom will tell me to do my homework then she will freak out when I'm still on the computer. But, a lot of my homework takes place on the computer. Electronic forms of communication is a big thing now days. People around my age have always been around computers and cell phones. I think the old spankin is completely unacceptable. I believe it is wrong to hit your kids and there are a lot of other ways to get your kids to listen to you than by violence. I know that whenever my parents yell at me I listen and remember it. Nobody wants to be yelled at and it really sticks to me when my parents do. So I do think that is appropriate. But, there is a definite line that should not be crossed when yelling at a kid. It is effective and it does work but I don't think parents should take it to the extreme. They should say only what they feel in necessary and then move on. If the yelling does not work I think then they are at the point where it would be exceptable to take the kids phone or facebook because they got a warning and then should know better they are doing wrong. That is what I believe is the best form of punishment for kids in the 21st century.

The Crucible - Act 1

The Puritan style of writing was not as obvious to me in this story as it was in some of the stories we read that were in the text book. This whole story was not focused on God and what he was doing for the people but it was pretty much the opposite of that. This act was more about the devil and his doings than God and what he does. The people of Salem were focusing on witch craft and the devil and most of them believed that was why Betty was in the state she was in. She was acting very strange and people had no other explanation for what it was. But, they did not think it was something health related or the physical body like we would think now days. They knew had to do with something spiritual instead. Instead of calling a doctor they called a minister to help save the little girl. Parris did not want to believe the devil was in his home causing this to his daughter. He was a pastor and believed that God would protect him and the ones he loved. He did not want to except the fact that something "devilish" had happened to his daughter. So I guess that does show the Puritan style of writing because they thought that there was a spiritual reason for all the problems going on in Salem. I do not know if I believe it was witch craft or not though. I bet once I get farther into the book I will be able to make my own opinion on what the real cause for this weird business is. When Parris first saw that Betty had gone into her episode he immediately started praying and did not want to stop. He stayed at her bed side and prayed to make her better. Parris really believed that, that would do the trick. The people's faith in God was very strong then. He did not try anything else to help the girl besides just praying. He did not even want to stop to go see the people who wanted to speak with him. He was the village pastor so I assume he was a very popular man among the people. But, he would not stop praying for Betty to become back to her normal self again. The story was also very straight to the point during the actual play parts. The paragraphs added in were a bit confusing to me and I did not really understand what the author was trying to get across. Otherwise, the play is very easy to read and each part flows with the next nicely. I can go through and read it very quickly without thinking to hard about it because of the simple way it was written. That is what the Puritan style is known for, simplicity in the writing and this play shows it. I don't quite understand why the paragraphs are added into the play. I know they give me some of an insight on what the people are like but I think I would be able to know a character and their personalities without the extra writing. But, maybe I'm just being lazy and want to fly through the story. Overall, I am really enjoying the play so far.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.

Journal #4

Three years ago when I was in seventh grade my family went to Mexico. It was the first time I had ever rode on a plane. As soon as we took off my sister, Izzy, started freaking out and crying because we weren't touching the ground anymore. I loved flying though. I though it was cool. I liked looking out the window and being above the clouds. But, of course, my sister made me close the window for most of the trip because she was so scared. That is the only time we have ever flown anywhere and I'm pretty sure it is because of my sister because nobody else has a problem with it. But, finally two hours after take off we landed in Cancun, Mexico. We hopped on a bus and rode a mile south of Cancun to Riveria Maya. I had my eyes glued outside the window of the bus. It was beautiful. There were palm trees everywhere and bright flowers growing on the sides of the high way. Finally we made it to our resort. We checked into our room, I changed into my swim suit, and then we headed for the beach. It was the first time I had ever seen the ocean. Well I did see the ocean when I was one, right after I was born, but that doesn't really count since I don't remember it. It was huge and beautiful. I grabbed a hammock that was in between two palm trees and laid their for a while to relax. Then I went into the ocean and saw all sorts of tropical fish. It was so cool and they were swimming all around my legs. Then a sting ray swam up close to the shore so I left and went back onto the beach. My family spent a week there eating new kinds of food, visiting small towns, and shopping in local markets. Before I knew it, it was time to leave. We flew back to Springfield. It was a nice rainy cold day when we landed... beautiful!

Puritan Writing - Bradford

I think Bradford's "Of Plymouth Plantation" seems like it would be a very depressing story. So far all these stories that use the Puritan writing style have all been very depressing stories. I'm not sure if this is a coincidence, if this was just a sad point in time, or if it was part of the writing style. Either way I don't really like it very much. I think the Puritan style was less obvious in this story than in the other two we have already read. Though, this story was straight to the point and mentioned God it seemed like it was written in a journal style which made it seem more modern to me for some reason. I enjoyed this story because I thought it was easier to read than Mary's and Anne's stories. The Puritan style was shown when Bradford mention God. He mentioned Him a few times in the story. The people blessed God when they finally made it to Cape Cod. Even though the people who were already there were in poor condition and were sick and dying that others were happy that they had finally arrived. After almost half of the group died that rode across the sea with Bradford. It was a harsh winter but Bradford and I'm sure others did not lose their faith in God.

Squanto continued with them and was their interpreter and was a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation. He directed them how to set their corn, where to take fish, and to procure other commodities, and was also their pilot to bring them to unknown places for their profit, and never left them till he died. (Bradford 67)

The way it sounds from this writing it seems like the people believe that everything good that happened was because of God. They did not think good things happened just because, they thought everything was planned by God and everything that happened to them had a reason that only God knew. Bradford also was straight to the point when he was writing. He never really went into much detail about things. Like the boat ride he said it was horrible but he never gave specific details about what exactly happened and how long they were on that boat. He also said they ran into bad weather but he never explained any of it, that was all he said about it. I think that is kind of boring. It makes it harder for me to get a picture in my head of what is going on. Overall, I do not like this style of writing very much. I find it kind of boring and confusing at times because not enough detail is used so I get confused on what exactly is going on. I think this style is fast to read and it doesn't take too long to read, which is a plus. But, I do think Bradford is a good writer and it was important for him to write this story because it shares history so people now days can know what it was like for the settlers. Also he could warn people of what it was like in America so they could be prepared.

Bradford William. "Of Plymouth Plantation" Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 64-67. Print.

Journal #3

I always feel uncomfortable or claustrophobic when I'm stuck around people I don't know very well or am not comfortable around. Since that happens to me I bet I would feel completely hopeless if I was being held hostage. I would feel very uncomfortable. I would not be able to relax one bit if I was kept by some strangers. I most likely would just do everything they would tell me to do so that I could possibly be released soon. I would never talk back or try to stand up for myself because I would be scared of what might happen to me. I would keep to myself and I would get very lonely not being around people I know. I doubt I would ever have anyone to talk to or have any friends with me. There would be a lot of feeling just floating around in me and I would have nobody to vent them to and I think that is bad for mental wellness. I have a feeling I would become very depressed and begin to feel hopeless. Being depressed and feeling stressed out all the time can cause people to become physically sick to. That would be the last thing I would need but it would be a big possibility because I'm sure I would very stressed out in a situation like that. If I was sick it would feel awful not being able to lay down and relax. I know whenever I feel bad or sick all I want to do is go home and lay in my own bed. Knowing that I didn't have a comfortable spot that was all mine would not fly well with me. There would most likely be no privacy. To cope with this situation I would probably pray a lot or think about the people I know. I would think of conversations in my head and think about what it will be like whenver I am freed.

Puritan Writing

I have just read the story "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." I found this story kind of confusing and I didn't really know what was going on. For one thing I never knew where she was, she said she was trying to travel back home but I don't know where she was when the story started and why she had to go there. I also did not know who she was traveling along with. So since I did not know these facts I thought it was hard to follow and made it harder to fully understand what was going on to Mary Rowlandson. But, the Puritan writing style is very much seen in this story. One thing that was shown was that Mary never used any figures of speech. She described situations exactly as they were and never made any comparison using metaphors or similes. She was very straight to the point throughout the whole story. Which, is a lot different than writing styles are now. So I think that also may have made it harder to read. Another Puritan writing style that was shown was mentioning God throughout the story. She thanked God for helping her out through her struggle and she kept mentioning how great he was. She said God protected her and he watched over her so everyone was nice and respected her. She firmly believed that was why she came across nice people on her journey. I disagree with this thought though, I think it was just luck she was with nice people the whole time. She also put bible passages in the story which is also a Puritan style, mentioning God. "Cast they burnden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee." Psal. lv. 22 and "Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." Exod. xiv. 13. These two bible quotes were mentioned in the story.
"Upon the Burning of our house" was written in a really negative way. She thought differently than Mary Rownlandson. Mary thought positive in her bad experiences and was thankful God was with her and she met nice people. But, Anne Bradstreet focused on the negative. She only spoke about losing everything she owned in a fire. She never mentioned that she was thankful to God but she seemed almost like she was mad at God. But, she asked God to be with her and help her through what she was going through. "And to my God my heart did cry to strengthen me and my distress and not to leave me succorless." (Bradstreet 91) So they both had different attitudes towards God. Mary was thankful and Anne was asking for help but they both involved him in their lives and in the troubles they were going through. This had to do with the Puritan writing of style. God and religion were a big part of the Puritan's lifestyle so it was found in these writings. I bet God was mentioned in almost all of the Puritan's writing. Bradstreet was also very straight forward with what she was saying but she was poetic about it. But, basically all she told us was that there was a big fire and she lost all of her things. Neither one of the writers got into too much detail with their stories. But, the Puritan style of writing was shown in these writing and it was very easy to recognize it.

Bradstreet, Anne. "Upon the Burning of Our House." Glencoe Literature. Ed. Jeffery D. Wilhelm, Ph D. American ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Co, 2009. 91. Print.

Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." Glencoe Literature. Ed. Jeffery D. Wilhelm, Ph D. American ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Co, 2009. 82-85. Print.

Journal #2

Once upon a time there was an owl named Ernie. He lived high up in a tree in a wonderful birdhouse. It was the nicest birdhouse in the whole forest. Ernie always had people over because he had such a nice home. But, he never bragged about his house so people liked him. Ernie was a very nice and modest owl and had a lot of friends. He had so many friends that he had people come over every day to play with him. Then one day a new owl moved into the forest. He built a birdhouse in a tree that was very close to Ernie's wonderful home. As soon as Ernie saw the new house being built he went over to introduce himself to the bird. The owl's name was Oliver. He seemed very nice so Ernie helped him finish building his new house. After they were finished Ernie decided to invite Oliver over to play xbox with him. Oliver excepted the invitation and was excited to go over to his new friend's house tomorrow morning. Ernie went home and cleaned his whole house. He made it spotless so it would look good for his new friend tomorrow. Ernie was so excited he made a new friend he wanted everything to go perfectly. Eventually Ernie fell asleep and woke at sunrise. As soon as he woke up he baked some cookies for his new friend. Right when the cookies were out of the oven Oliver just walked into the house. He didn't knock or anything, Ernie found this odd but just let it slide. He welcomed his new friend inside. Then he noticed the dirty foot prints Oliver was leaving on the floor behind him. Ernie was frustrated because he just cleaned his house last night. He also let that slide and still tried to think positive so they could have fun. But, then Oliver went over and scarfed down all the cookies Ernie just made. That was it, Ernie started to cry. Oliver had no idea what happened and went to comfort his new friend. Ernie told him how he was frustrated and worked really hard to make this day perfect. Oliver felt really bad, he had no idea. Now Oliver is going to be a lot more respectful we he goes into other people's houses. Ernie and Oliver became best friends and played together all the time.

Journal #1

A long time ago the animals got to roam around freely. They did not have to worry about people intruding in their lives. But, there was a different kind of animal then. The elephants were not the same as they are now. They were still big and mighty but they did not have their trunks. The had a normal small nose but were the same in every other way. The elephants never hurt other animals or intruded in the Native American's lives. They roamed around and lived on their own without disturbing other animals. The elephants were a sacred animal because they never hurt anyone so nobody every hurt them. In fact people honored the elephants and try to always help the elephants. But, one day an elephant got into some trouble. It was the hottest day of the year and the elephant was so uncomfortable. For this certain elephant had never lived through a day that was this hot. The elephant went into the river and tried to cool off. This idea was working pretty well but the elephant's back would not go under water because the elephant was too big. He tried to splash water on to his back but this did not work. He tried to squat down farther but this to would not work because he was to big. The elephant's back was so hot he could barely stand it. He tried to shoot water back with his mouth and his face. He would dip his face in and splash water back but it would not reach. The elephant became hopeless. He dipped his face in on more time just to try. When suddenly then elephant shot the water back and it reached. The coolness of the water spread across the elephants back. He felt so relieved but then the elephant began to realize something was different about him. There had to of been something different to make the water reach his back. The elephant now had a trunk. Since the elephant never harmed anyone he was honored and got his truck.

Tthis year English

Since I have never taken an honors English class before I feel there is a lot of things that I can learn to improve on. Like interpruting what I have read to find the real meaning the author was trying to get across to the readers. I would like to explore books that have hidden meanings in them and be able to figure them out myself. Also, I think I need some more practice with grammar. As I've been writing these blogs I'm kind of just assuming where to put commas but not really knowing. So I hope to improve a lot in English this year. I know it will be a challenge for me but that is why I took it. I feel like I was not challenged enough in just my regular English class. I want to be put in harder classes and become smarter. I want to get into a good college and do good on my ACT. I have always done well on english sections of those kind of tests, though.

This Summer English

I have never been in honors English before so I wasn't really sure how this summer stuff would really work. But, I have done really well in just normal English the past two years in high school. I would say I did pretty good doing the posts this summer. I looked over some of my other classmates posts to. I see that some of them can think more in depth than me but I think they have had more practice doing that in the honors English classes they have had already in the summer. Most of the blogs look like they had a little more insight than me but I'd say I did a very good job for myself so I am proud. I know I was being a little slow and saving it all for the end of summer. I know now that, that was a not a smart decision. I mean it is 11:50 the night before school and I have one more blog to do. I did read the books throughout the summer but for some reason I saved the blogs because I thought they would go fast. Ha oh boy was I wrong. The questions you picked us to answer really made me think really hard in a way I have never thought before. The author can really cram a lot into a book without you realizing it. All the symbolism and themes can be thought out and the story can become ten times as amazing as it was before you thought about the symbols. It made me realize how genius authors are and how they can word things in books to make them mean more than one thing. Like the title The Grapes of Wrath you had no idea what that meant until you read the story and same thing with The Catcher in the Rye. The author can slide a lot of things right under your nose without you realizing it until the book is over.

Overall book review

I would have never picked up these three books to read just for leisure. The books I tend to like the most are never the ones I read in school. But, compared to other books i have had to read for school these ones were pretty good. At least I could understand them all and they were written in old English. But, I really did not like The Old Man and the Sea. For being the shortest book it took me the longest to read because I never wanted to read it because it was so boring. The other two were pretty decent, though. But like I said I wouldn't have ever picked them up to read if it was up to me. I tend to like books that are really dramatic or sad. These ones were more settle. I guess I'm just a dramatic girl that likes a really sad book to cry over. But I might have choosen The Catcher in the Rye to read for fun. I find mental illnesses interesting and I'm going to study them in college. But, I thought the book was kind of boring though. There really wasn't one main problem that Holden had to solve. It was just me reading about him walking around the city. I think it possibly would be a better movie than a book. I'm just happy I got them all read and over with. It was not as bad as I thought it would be. Compared to Julius Ceaser last year these books were outstanding. I could actually understand them. But, they were just not my taste. If I had to rate them all I would give The Old Man and the Sea one star out of five. For The Grapes of Wrath I could give it three stars and for The Catcher in the Rye I would also give it three out of five stars. So overall I did not like these books too much but they were good compared to other things read in school.

The Catcher in the Rye - Review

I think that this book was my favorite book of the books would had to read. It just seemed alright when I was reading it but once I finished and looked back at it I realized how amazing it was. I really enjoyed reading it and it went really fast to me. I like how it was told from the main character's perspective. I felt like that gave me a lot of insight in the story and like I got to really get to know Holden. This story really made me think about people who have mental illnesses and made me feel really bad for them. I think the author did a really good job writing it. He really did make it sound like a sixteen year old wrote the book by the way the language and thoughts were. Of course Salinger had better grammar then a sixteen year old boy would have, though. I wish I could have found out what happened to Holden between the time he was telling us about and where he was when he was telling us the story. I wish I could find out what put him in the mental institution. I wonder if something really drastic happened or if he finally just told someone how he felt. I wish that I could have helped Holden with how he was feeling. Even if I could he probably would think I was annoying or phony. But, he seemed like a real person to me. I like how Salinger made him seem like a really good kid to and made you like him. Holden always cared for his sister and wanted to save sex for a special time. He was a very likable person. I think that also made the story easier to read. The pages just flew by and it seemed like it was over before I even got into it. Which can also be a bad thing. But, I had to get it done fast for school anyways so it was a good thing for me.

The Grapes of Wrath - Review

Overall I really did enjoy this book. I liked all the characters and felt like I get to know each one of them and I got to discover each of their personalities. I kind of would like it to be turned into a movie so I can actually hear how the people would talk and how their voices sound. But, I do have my own idea of that in my head. I thought the story was interesting and the author wrote it well. There wasn't too much detail it was just enough. I usually hate reading really long books like that but this one happened to fly by. I finished the whole thing in just a few days. I would sit down and read around a hundred pages of it every day. It was so good I would think about it when I was not reading it. Which is weird for me because I never do that. But I wish the author would have written a little further on. I wanted to know what happened to Al when he stayed behind and how much longer the rain lasted. I also wonder if the family made it through the winter and how that could have possibly worked since there were no jobs for them over the winter. I could only imagine how they would handle it with that many people. I thought the ending was a little disturbing though to. I guess it proved how desperate people were during that time. People were so hungry they would do anything to fill their stomachs. I could not imagine that now since everything is so easy for us now. It makes me feel like I am spoiled. People should not had to of gone through that. That was horrible. The farmers should have paid them more. They had plenty of many they could have spared a little more to those people. They were poor and dying and had no where else to go. I got really in to this book. I think the people are actually real. I find it disturbing that people had to actually go through that.

The Old man and the Sea - Review

Overall I did not like this book very much. Answering all these questions caused me to really think hard over this book. I pretty much studied almost every bit of the story and really thought about what happened. I interpreted different parts and tried to think of different ways the story could have been taken. After all the work I did on it though it all comes down to an old man going out fishing. There is symbolism and secrets stuck in the pages that you can't read but you have to think about after. The author was brilliant and was a very good writer I just found the story to be boring. I just felt like Harry Potter because I said brillant. But anyways, I can't really relate to an old man fishing. For one reason I have never been fishing in my life and I have never been an old man. I also have never been in a little boat like that. I do not find fish to be "beautiful" no matter how big they are. I would just think the marlin in this book was a big fish I would not think the fish was something that special. I found it hard to relate to the old man. Even though I do have to strive for things I want I just could not relate. I think the other went too much in to detail when he wrote this story. It was nearly a hundred pages describing a man trying to catch a fish. The old man just had to do the same process over and over and each time the old man did it the author explained every little thing again. I think there should have been more to the story. A little less detail on how the old man caught the fish and his experiences out there and a little more insight on what happened when the old man got back. I think it would have been interesting to see how the younger fishermen treated him after he got back from getting the fish. I also wonder what the people could have possibly done with that huge fish skeleton.

The Old Man and the Sea and The Grapes of Wrath - Comparison

The Old Man and the Sea and The Grapes of Wrath were the first two books I read. I think that these two books are very similar to each other. They both go through a struggle and go on a journey. The journey in The Old Man and the Sea is of course shorter but he still travels quite a way to catch a fish. The Joads travel all the way to California. So in both books they go on a journey. In both stories the characters have a lot of set backs but keep traveling on ward. The old man has to figure out how to hold on to the fish and try to eat at the same time. He had to hold on to the fish no matter how tired he was. The old man started having a lot of pain and the fish was very strong. His muscles were getting tired and his back ached. On the Joads trip to California they also had set backs. Tom's grandpa and grandma both die on the journey. They had some car troubles and have to try to save their money and not spend it all to fast because they did not have much. They had to keep everyone healthy and comfortable. Then finally the old man and the Joad reach what they were struggling for, for so long. The old man caught the fish and the Joads made it to California. But then disaster struck again. On the old man's trip back to his home sharks come and eat parts of his fish. No matter how hard he tried the sharks just ripped into the fish. After all his hard work the whole fish was eventually eaten. Then when the Joads made it to California they realized there were no jobs. The men went out every day and tried to find work but came back everyday empty handed. I find these two stories very similar. The way the problems occur is almost exact.

The Catcher in the Rye - Real life

In this book Holden has a mental illness obviously. He is depressed or worried all the time. He gets weird sensations that he is going to disappear so he talks to his dead brother to protect him. He thinks about suicide and dying a lot. But, he is not the only person he has these feeling. What he feels in the story is real and other people in real life could be feeling and doing the exact same things as him. I found this book fascinating because I think how the brain works and mental illnesses are interesting. That is why I really enjoyed this book. He felt weird and never even thought anything about it. Holden never once thought that something was seriously wrong with him. He never thought he would end up in a mental hospital, but he did. It makes me wonder if their are other people out there exactly like that. There could be people you see everyday who feel awful but you would never know. Holden never let it show he felt that bad. Other people could be feeling the same as that and you would never know because they could hide it like he did. It makes me wonder how many people out in the world could have a mental illness and how many people I know may have one. This book can teach a lot and make you wonder a lot more. He kept his problems so hidden. I hope to become a psychiatrist when I grow up then I will be able to learn more about it and learn more about people like Holden in the story. It got me thinking that you never know what people may be going through. They could be having a horrible time and not show it so people can treat them horrible. You should always be nice to people. Not just because it is the right thing to do but because you never know what they could be going through. A simple smile or a small nice conversation could mean a lot to someone who feel depressed. I know this book really opened my eyes and I hope it affected other people too.