Fahrenheit 451 Figurative Language Piece

Author's Note: This is a response to a passage in Fahrenheit 451. I tried to figure out the tone, the purpose, and the meaning of this paragraph. I would like feedback on if I could figure out the tone of the passage well. Thanks!

"We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is a last one which makes the heart run over."-Fahrenheit 451, page 71.

Each person has a best friend in this world, someone that you couldn't live without. A person that brings out the goodness in your heart, and makes your heart overflow with love. For Guy, the primary character in Fahrenheit 451, the person that does that to him is Clarisse. Ray Bradbury wrote this passage into the book to give a purpose of love to the novel. He wanted to show that Guy had other feelings and ides other than simply having a desire to burn. Burning wasn't the only thing that controlled his mind. The meaning of this quote is that no matter how heartless a person may seem, no matter if it looked like he has no feelings, everyone has some special person that makes their heart fill with love and joy. Love, happiness, and freedom are the primary tones in this paragraph. Ray is trying to convey in this piece that loving a person gives off happiness, and that love and happiness all tie into freedom. Love and happiness can set you free, even when the world is collapsing around you. 

Grandpa Tom

Author's Note: This is a character sketch that I wrote about a character named Grandpa Tom. It's in the point of view of his granddaughter when they go to visit him at his home. I would like feedback on my word choice. Thanks!

We drove up the gravel filled driveway, the sharp rocks digging into our tires, almost giving us a flat. My parents and I were going to visit my grandfather, Tom. Tom lived in a spacious green house that streched across about half an acre long. Walking along the lawn, I wondered how he was. Ever since Grandma Hannah died, Tom seemed to go into a state of depression, where nothing mattered to him anymore. I hoped that our visit would make him feel better.

All three of us were trudging through the grass, glancing up at the house and its upkeep. For Tom not having a job, the house looked absolutely awful. Bushes growing up and covering the windows, desperately needing to be cut. You could barely see the front door. I hope this wasn't a sign of how the rest of the trip would go.

"Claudia!" I heard Grandpa Tom call out. Seeing him, I was shocked. I expected him to look bad, yet this was horrid. His face was lined with seemingly millions of wrinkles, his arms were like sticks, and his cheeks were sunken in as well. You were able to see the cheekbones popping out. It was disgusting. My thoughts were scattered, but a coherent one was, Is there anything we can do to help him?

Tom's house was even worse than the lawn. It looked like something out of that TV show Hoarders. Empty boxes of Lean Cuisine and Jimmy Dean littered the kitchen floor, some still half full. It smelled like a mixture of burned bacon and dead leaves. My heart dropped in my chest. I was hoping that Tom would have been able to handle himself better, yet it seemed not.

My parents and I were all desperate. It seemed like there was nothing we could do to help them, no matter what. The only thing that we could do, we realized, was place him into a nursing home. There, Tom would be able to have the care he needed. He could also feel the love that we all knew Tom desired. Hopefully, I thought, this can be Grandpa turning over a new leaf.

The very next morning, my mother found Grandpa Tom dead in his bed. He went to sleep the previous night, and never woke up. It was such a shock, and a blow to the whole family. I wish that we would have came to see him sooner, because then all of us could have discovered he needed help. Maybe then Tom would still be with us, or, at the very least, the last few years of his life would have been more enjoyable.

Thirteen Reasons Why

Author's Note: This is a essay about the novel Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher. I wrote this essay about how connectable the main character, Clay, is, and the ways I can connect with him. I would like feedback on my conclusion. Thanks!

How would you feel if a classmate committed suicide? For Clay, the primary character in Thirteen Reasons Why, his emotions varied from shock to horror. Since Hannah was always a quiet, seemingly oridindary girl, Clay never expected for her to take her life into her own hands, because it never looked like anything had happened that would warrant such a dractisic measure. If I was in Clay’s place, I’m positive that my perception of the situation would not have been unlike his. I wouldn’t have been able to grasp why she killed herself, and my wondering would never cease. Thirteen Reasons why, written by Jay Asher, is a mind engrossing novel that ponders life and its true meaning. 

At the start of the novel Thirteen Reasons Why, Clay is reeling from Hannah’s suicide. Though he can’t grasp the reasoning behind her taking her own life, he’s positive that he had nothing to do with it. How would it be possible that he could? Suddenly, a container holding thirteen video cassette tapes arrives in his mailbox. One of the thirteen tapes holds a recording explaining how Clay played an excessive part in Hannah’s untimely death. Clay doesn’t want to comprehend his component of the suicide, and wishes her secrets would have died along with her. This is a piece of Clay I definitely can connect with. If I was his place, the fear of discovering my piece of the puzzle more than likely would have been too terrifying to handle.

Even though not wanting to determine his role in Hannah’s ending of life seems hugely connectable, there is another moment in this novel I can associate with even more. When the temptation of listening to the recordings become too much for Clay to bear, he unintentionally sees a side of a teenager named Courtney he never knew, and never had a desire to know. Who would want to figure out the seemingly gentle-hearted, loving popular girl was a manipulative person that needed affection from everyone to feel whole, and would do anything to make Hannah feel that way about her? Once Clay discovers that fact, he confronts the situation head on by talking to Courtney about Hannah and the tapes. That’s exactly what I would have done in his place, and I admire his willingness to do so.     

Looking back at all of Clay’s actions, there’s no doubt that he is a quite connectable character. Almost every reader that comes into contact with this novel discovers a moment where you think that you would have done exactly what Clay did. For me, one of those moments was when Clay made the heartbreaking decision to listen to the recordings, and find the secrets. Though it would have been devastating, the truth is something I would have needed to find. Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher, is an amazing story that helps you discover how even the tiniest of actions can affect a person in the largest of ways.

Harrison Bergeron

Author's Note: This is a piece that I wrote about a short story we read in class. I chose to look at the main character, his actions, why he felt that way, and how his actions affected the story and the character. I would like feedback on word choice. Thanks!

The main character to me in this short story was Harrison Bergeron. His actions affected the story because he attempted to go against and change society, by dancing without limitations given to him by the government. It affected others in the story as well, because by dancing with the girl he danced with, he put her in moral peril. Harrison also affected George and Hazel, by making them think, even just for a few moments, that maybe they could join him and defy the government and their limitations. That could have easily harmed them or even killed them. Harrison Bergeron acted this way because he felt that the government shouldn't be able to do this to their people. He didn't think that it was right, and that feeling led to his attempt of defiance. An attempt that sadly failed.

Author's Note: This is a piece that I wrote based off on me going to the movies at least three times this winter break. My purpose for writing this piece is to wonder about the reasons for why movies are created, and the purpose they have to viewers. I would like feedback on if I was able to analyze the motives of the making of movies. Thank you!

When you think of an escape, what's the primary idea that pops into your mind? For me, it's going to the movies. For about ten dollars, you can enter into a whole other world where everything is different. Whether it's comedy or romance, drama or action, life is placed on hold for a few hours as a unfamiliar one takes its place. In this exciting original world, everything  holds a chance for a fresh experience. People living in today's world need that in their lives. Since there is so much turmoil and uncertainty, a couple of blissful hours of escape and ignorance is easily welcomed, gratefully. If there wasn't a cinema for our population to flee to, stress would accumulate quickly, and there would be no chance of release. Thankfully, there is that method of escape.  

A Christmas Carol Short Analysis

Author's Note: This is a short analysis of a passage in A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. I had to analyize the purpose, the meaning, and the tone of this passage. I would like feedback on my abilitiy to pick apart text and create connections to it. Thanks!

There was nothing of high mark in this. They were not a handsome family, they were not well dressed, their shoes were far from being waterproof, their clothes were scanty, and Peter might have known, and very likely did, the inside of a pawnbroker's. But they were happy, grateful, pleased with one another, and contented with the time; and when they faded, and looked happier yet in the bright sprinklings of the Spirit's torch at parting, Scrooge had his eye upon them, and especially on Tiny Tim, until the last.

Page 68-69, A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

Christmastime is a time of joy, of love, of happiness, for all people. Or, at least, for most people. A person that didn't agree with the love and joy of Christmas was Mr. Scrooge. He didn't understand what Christmas meant, and how people could enjoy the holiday season without any money. In this passage, the tone of the paragraph is a tone of what Christmas is supposed to mean, gratefulness for what we are blessed with, and not having greed for more. Tiny Tim's family didn't have a lot of money or extra means, yet they loved each other and had a sense of gratefulness for what they have. The meaning of the paragraph is to figure out what you have and be thankful for it, and to not take anything for granted, not to have a desire for unnecessary means. If you do, you will miss out on the true Christmas spirit. Charles Dickens wrote the passage to give a purpose to Stave Three of A Christmas Carol. That purpose was to attempt to have Mr. Scrooge learn how to be thankful for what you have, and to not have a desire for money and extra needs. This is exactly what Mr. Scrooge didn’t understand how to do.

Life as We Knew It Theme Essay

Author's Note: This is my theme analysis of my group's novel. I said that the primary theme was the importance of family, and how sometimes traumatic events heighten the theme and the connects the characters have with their family. I would like feedback on my content. Thanks!
 

                Every author can create a varied world for the reader of their novel to live in. Authors also create a leading theme in a book to have the reader ponder. In Life as We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer, the primary theme is the importance of having a family, especially during unsettling times. In the beginning of Life as We Knew It, the foremost theme isn’t really that prominent. Only until the characters realize that family life is the most important concept in this terrifying new life is when the theme becomes a main part of the book. 

                In the beginning of Life as We Knew It, all of the characters led lives outside of family life. Of course they still loved each other dearly, yet they weren’t a crucial part of each other’s lives. Once the meteor crashes into the moon, though, that begins to alter. Susan Beth Pfeffer is able to develop the primary theme by having awful events happen to each character that makes them love family life even more. For example, Miranda, the main character, didn’t really love her pet cat very much. She always felt that he was an annoyance. During the middle of the nighttime, though, she lets the feline out for a bathroom break. He doesn’t come back. Miranda panics, and that panic makes her see how potent her infatuation with her pet is. Susan Beth Pfeffer has to create a traumatic occasion for Miranda to realize that, and doing so makes the primary theme even more potent.

                Even though Susan Beth Pfeffer seems to create a world that no other author would be able to design, there is another writer that made a novel with the same primary theme as Life as We Knew It. That author is Susanne Collins of The Hunger Games. In The Hunger Games, the prime individual of the novel is Katniss. Katniss is like Miranda in many ways, and just a single example of that is how family affects her. In the start of The Hunger Games, the only two beings she truly loves are her best friend, Gale, and her younger sister, Prim. Katniss doesn’t feel almost any affection for her Mother. Susanne Collins develops the theme of importance of family by forcing Katniss to take her sister’s place and go and fight in the outdoor arena. Once she’s placed there, Katniss begins to have feelings of love evolve for her mom, and a newfound feeling of respect for what she’s gone through. Susanne Collins develops the leading theme by arranging awful predicaments to happen to the main character, just as Susan Beth Pfeffer does.

                       In our world, we see many awful disasters. Tornadoes, tsunamis, and hurricanes are just a few of those events. In the aftermath, what happens to the living? Usually, we begin to realize what truly matters in life, which is our family. After disasters, humans figure out that family is and should be the most potent theme in their life. That is how Susan Beth Pfeffer and Susanne Collins develop their themes in Life as We Knew It and The Hunger Games, by having terrible events happen to the primary characters. This makes them feel more affection for their family members, and has them understand that family relationship is the most leading theme in life.