Reservations

In "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian," the main character, Junior, leaves the Indan reservation he lives on. He goes against tradition and what everyone believes is ethically right. This causes everyone to turn on Junior for a period of time. Everyone on the reservation was accustomed to having a specific life, but everyone's lives were the exact same. It was rare for anyone to leave the reservation, but Junior did so, very successfully both academically and athletically.
My neighborhood is somewhat like my reservation. Everyone around me does the same thing. Children attend either the neighborhood schools or the catholic schools for grammar school. Then, almost everyone attends the same highschools, the catholic ones. I, on the other hand did neither of these. I attended a gifted center for grammar school then went on to attend a selective enrollment highschool. This is a very unlikely path, coming from my neighborhood. This is much like Junior, and his decision to attend Reardan. His life was changed due to that, and hopefully mine will be as well.

Native Son

 In the middle of Book three, Bigger's lawyer, Max, gave an amazing testimony in support of Bigger. Although the outcome didn't go as planned, Max's testimony shouldn't have warranted Bigger the death penalty. Max's speech was so special because he didn't try to prove that Bigger was innocent, or come up with excuses. He only tried providing the judge and jury with an alternate prespective. He showed how Bigger's actions could've easily been blamed on whites. He explains how Bigger was ignorant. He had never had the opportunity to interact with a white person who didn't hate him. His first encounter with nice white people were the Daltons. Mary went further than her parents, she was consistently trying to treat Bigger normally and he wasn't accustomed to that. He believed she was making fun of him, and not being genuine. Then, once he was in her room and Mrs. Dalton walked in, he knew he would be in trouble so he did the first thing that came to mind in order to not get in trouble. Max described this is such dept that it was almost impossible to not understand. Bigger was still sent to the chair, but this was only because they were meant to fail. Max was a Jewish communist and Bigger was black. These were amongst the most hated groups of the time.

Green Lights, Yellow Cars, and Church Steeples

In "The Great Gatsby," the green light represents Gatsby's dream, to get back together with Daisy. The green light is described as "minute and far away." This makes it seem as if the green light, or Daisy, is impossible to reach. Although for Gatsby it signifies his yearn for Daisy, it also symbolizes society's desire for the American Dream. Another symbolic element in the Great Gatsy is Gatsby's yellow car. Yellow is a very significant color in this story. It symbolizes Gatsby's crooked way of trying to achieve the American dream. Gold and yellow are almost the same color, which signifies genuine, and real wealth, old money. Old money is something of which Gatsby does not have. Since Gatsby used bootlegging to gain his wealth, it isn't genuine or pure. Church steeples are also an extremely important symbolic element in this story. In the story, when church steeples are mentioned, there is a reference to Immanuel Kant. He was a german philosopher who developed his theories regarding morality while looking at a church steeple. This is what Nick was doing, contemplating his decisions from here on out. Nick was trying to reserve judgement, but he was going to be compromised by his morality.

Janie

I think Janie is very particular with her desires. But there always comes a point in time where she doesn't follow through with these desires. Many of her decisions don't necessarily agree with all of her decisions. All of the men try to make her happy, for the most part, but she consistently finds something wrong. Her first marriage was with Logan Killicks. Before they were even married, Janie explained how she didn't love him, but she hoped that the marriage would aide her in doing so. She soon learned that she wouldn't love Logan. Logan tried making her happy, but they would only speak of materialistic things, and Janie was uninterested in that. When she ran off with Joe Starks, she never really thought about the future. She was only thinking about how unhappy she was, and she was seeking to change that. Not thinking long-term in this situation was very detrimental to her life. With her narrations, Janie explains how Joe changed drastically from when she first met him. I don't think Janie wanted Joe, specifically, I believe she wanted any one other than Logan. She was so unhappy that she was willing to settle for anything that came her way. Janie even says how she didn't picture herself with Joe under the pear tree, with the flowers blossoming. This setting, for Janie, was her true happiness. Eventually, Joe became so focused on the town, he neglects to remember he has a wife. Janie feels abandoned. But when actually does pay attention to her, he reprimands her. Even though Joe is such a huge figure, Janie is nothing but a trophy wife. The majority of the town hasn't even heard her speak, all because Joe doesn't allow her to speak. Joe had little to no expectations of Janie, besides being a trophy wife. Once he dies, she's relieved and feels free. She finally lets her beautiful long hair down, which was always covered. She soon meets Tea Cake, and automatically becomes interested. She didn't think through this relationship either. She warned and cautioned herself, but never thought about the future. She quickly gets attached to Tea Cake and soon makes plans to marry him and basically run away from the town. I think he's a bad influence and that this relationship can easily take a turn for the worst. Everyones worried about this relationship, and they must be worried for a reason. But Janie's "blinded by love."

Thankful for a Classmate

I am thankful for many people in my English class, however, I am especially thankful for Quincy, Sarah, & Morgan. Quincy seems to always have an answer to every one of Mr. McCarthy's questions. He analyzes literature so well, and he makes readings much easier to comprehend. We usually work together during group works, and there is never a question he doesn't have an answer to. Sarah is also very knowledgeable. Throughout discussions, she seems to always have a very different, but interesting perspective on things. Morgan just makes me laugh. When she is called on, I automatically begin laughing. I know she'll eventually say the right answer but she just has to do a little thinking out loud. Morgan helps take away the seriousness of the class. All together, I'm thankful for the class as a whole for giving me such an interesting start to the day with wonderful discussions. Happy Thanksgiving!

Principles

Throughout life, there are standards that a person keeps no matter the circumstance. These are called principles. Principles help determine the type of person you are in many different types of situations. One principle I think everyone should keep is to treat others how you would like to be treated. This is called "the golden rule" for that same reason, it is extremely important. In a post-apocalyptic scenario, this would be a key principle. For example, if one were to rob a person of all there belongings, they should be expecting someone to come and do the same to them. Karma also plays into this principle. If you treat others well and respect them, you should receive good karma. However, if you do the opposite, you should expect bad karma. In any situation, especially a post-apocalyptic one, i don't think anyone would like to be treated harshly, so they shouldn't treat others in this manner.

Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway is known as one of the most talented authors of the 20th century. Although he's primarily known for his writing, he had quite an interesting life. He was born on July 21st, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. In high school, Hemingway wrote for the school newspaper, mostly about sports. After graduation, he went and wrote for the Kansas City Star. Here, he gained experience that would later greatly influence his style of writing.
In 1918, he went off to serve in World War 1 as an ambulance driver in the Italian Army. He was awarded the Italian Silver Medal of Bravery, but soon was injured and sent to a hospital in Milan. Here he met a nurse named Agnes von Kurowsky. They were soon engaged, but Agnes found a new man shortly after. Due to this, Hemingway was inspired to write "A Very Short Story" & "A Farewell to Arms." At 20 years old, he went back to Chicago and took a job at the Toronto Star. He then married and had children with Hadley Richardson.
He went to Paris and with the help of Gertrude Stein, was able to establish his position as a professional, well-known, writer. Due to an affair with Pauline Pfeiffer, Hadley divorced Hemingway. Pauline quickly became his wife and mother to more children. They then decided to move back to America. Here, they lived in Key West, Florida.
In Key West, Hemingway's first priority was always writing. When he wasn't writing, he was fishing and out in the water. Much of the 1930's, Hemingway spent traveling. He was big-game hunting in Africa, bullfighting in Spain, or just deep-sea fishing in Florida. While in Spain, he met a war correspondent named Martha Gellhorn. He was inspired to write the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, "For Whom the Bell Tolls."
His marriage with Pauline quickly ended and he married Gellhorn. During World War II, Hemingway served as a correspondent. He then met another was correspondent, Mary Welsh. He married her after his divorce from Martha Gellhorn.
Although Hemingway's life seemed wonderful, there were many down falls. He was a survivor of multiple plane crashes, and also was a victim of many life-long war injuries. After retiring to Idaho, Hemingway continued to battle with deterioration mental and physical health. On July 2, 1961 Ernest Hemingway committed suicide.