Honors Essay Semester 2

Finally, the last post that i ever have 2 make again this year!!!

With our US History class drawing to a close, we remember what we learned. The books, Shane, Call of the Wild, and The Diary of Miss Jane Pittman, explained history in a way that students would actually understand. These books have had effects on people for hundreds of years and probably hundreds more, being as there is always something new for us to learn from a book, regardless of how many times we have read such a book.
Our fourth book, Shane, talked of life in the West. History class merely skimmed over one of the greatest parts of our nation’s history. Without this era, there would be now Seattle, Portland, or Hollywood. We talked of the movements west, not of the lifestyle of people that were homesteaders and cattle ranchers. Many things were revealed to me about life there. Although this is probably a little exaggerated, the ongoing rivalry in this book between the two factions was a lot like the Civil War. We could see what that war was like on a smaller scale. This rivalry, like the War, was between those with power and those without. The rich and the poor. With the influence of a wandering cowboy, the tide was turned, thrusting the poor actually into victory, or something like it. This book revealed the true dynamic nature of the Wild West.
The fifth book that we read was The Call of the Wild. This was not even glanced at this time period in History. The textbook has no listing for Klondike or Yukon Gold Rushes. This is a story of survival of the fittest. Buck survives all of his adventures as he learns the ways of the frozen North. This book was the complete opposite of White Fang, another book by Jack London. In The Call of the Wild, London watches a dog transform from friendly mutt into a carnivorous wolf. White Fang goes the other direction, changing a crazed wolf into the tame half-dog with a wild past. This transformation is similar to that of a human. An American would adapt as the dog does if he is suddenly transported to Africa. But the native African coming to America would always remember his homeland and his life there would always be with him. With that, you can conclude that all living things have a desire to survive.
Our last book dealt with a very large time period. This we actually learned about. With the Emancipation, many slaves were forced into a hidden bondage. This happened all over the country after Lincoln signed it. Things would not get better for them until the 1960's. This part of history is also talked about in the book. The life of Jane helps you to see the hardships that the former slaves faced when confronted with freedom. You cannot unlearn what you have been taught all of your life. The slaves thought that they were inferior, though now all are equal. They were kept in the mind set that they were still enslaved because they didn’t know freedom. Those that do not know what something is cannot experience its glories when it is offered to them.
What we learned this year in Honors was alright. Stories of the World Wars or the War of 1812 would have been helpful to understanding history in general. These books helped us to comprehend what was placed before us, though not as well as many would have liked. I, personally, did learn a few new things from these books and would continue to do so if I read them all through another time.

Jane Pittman III

Hey again. Stupid computer shut down and wouldn't come back up for many hours. O well. I got 11/12 on my AR test so that's good, to go out well. I rated Jane Pittman at about a 7.5 because it was good but it was below our reading level, and it had a lot of boring parts where Jane repeats herself or is just talking for teh sake of talking. I hate people that do that. The suicide scene I actually liked. This was only because my image of Tee Bob looks like someone whom I particularly detest. (3 guesses who). Well the ending is somewhat lacklustre, with it drawing to a close just as Jane walks away. THat leaves a little bit for you to think about. It also got confusing towards the end when Jimmy gets shot It doesnt tell you the events that happen in town, it just says wut happens. This kind of annoys me, i like knowing every single thing that happens in enough detail that i can remember it and recall it upon a moments notice. THat was oddly specifc. Well this is the last of teh blogs on every book. I repeat wut i sed earlier. Make an honors pullout class for the 9th grade. If we're good enough students to be in an honors class, we're good enough students to be able to be in the honors class and do all of the requirements for Breakout. Yay the blogs are over!

Jane Pittman II

Hello again. You guys probably think that i'm crazy, doing blogs on a sunday ate 8:56 when most people won't be up until noon or later. I'm the closest thing to normal,in that respect, in my family (now theres a scary thought). The middle of the book seemed to center around the high water in 1927. I assume that means flood(duh). She uses it as a reference point up to when she tells about it but then the actual event is so short. I think that Gaines could have made it better if he had drawn out the flood and make it more of an event rather than a reference point. Albert Cluveau was a kinda confusing character. i only skimmed over that part so i guess confusion is understandable. The whole "Chariot of Hell" thing was kinda boring, especially when it's said over. And over. It just keeps on going and going and going etcetera. I think i have a synonym for teh chariot. Consience. i kno i dint spell that rite but u get the point. after the death of Ned and when Jane goes to the sugar?/cotton plantation, things start to get all the more interesting. I'll explain more in my next blog, coming after i do the AR test for this book.

Jane Pittman I

Yay we're almost done with the pointless blogs. I wish the 9th grade teachers would allow for a pullout class next year. Regardless of stupid Breakout. Oh well. Beggars can't be choosers. Jane Pittman was quite a read about a vast time of events. I suppose that's why Ernest Gaines chose a character who was around 112. So that he could have both slavery and teh Civil Rights Movement. I've been trying to think of the problems that having an elderly main character would be. THe character would have a lot of aches and pains which we see towards the end of the book. Something that I thought would be in teh book would be alzheimer's/loss of memory. Jane seems to have an incredibly good memory for someone her age. THe patients of my parents are almost all afflicted with alzheimers and are a little bit crazy. (Crazy? I was crazy once, they put me in a room, a rubber room, with rats, I dread rats, rats make me crazy. Crazy? I was crazy once.....lol) In her young life though, she still has it hard. She has to take care of Ned after the death of Big Laura. When she is young and still traveling, you can see how big teh United States really is. "I'm still in Luzana?" being heard every place that they stop and a lot of places in between. More blogs to follow.

Call of the Wild V

Well thsi is the last blog, all of them being done over the past hour and a half. I also managed 2 do my math hw, some history, and helped my parents understand the history of the english royal line. My brain hurts. and im tired. Well ill make this quick. I rated this book a 7.5 because we finally got 2 reed a book that wasn't originally meant for children 2 reed. Jack London wrote Call of the Wild and White Fang as adult fiction novels, not children's books like the Adventures of Tom Sawyer or Johnny Tremain(god that was a long time ago) well. THe book still had all of the gory parts left in, like the gruesome detail of Spitz getting his throat ripped out (cool) and all the blood spurting(cool) and the crowding around to devour spitz after he died(COOL!!) Some of you may think of that as literary animal abuse. I dont care, it was a lot better than the Witch of Blackbird Pond when there wasn't any fighting really to speak of. Atleast in Johnny Tremain there was a battle and in Shane there was a barfight(the only 1 that even begins to measure up to the spitz-buck fight scene. Did i mention that the dogfight scene was cool?) I can now check out the diaryof pittman 2morro, now that I'm all caught up.

Call of the Wild IV

Hey again all. See buske your not the only 1 who can type up 4 blogs in a row. I took the AR test but i can't print the TOPS report because whenever I do, the letters come up as little blocks of different sizes and widths. I did manage to get a 10 out of 12 even though I actually deserved an 11 out of 12. I know what answer i picked for my question for but stpid AR sed that i picked a different answer instead of the right 1 as I had done. It just hates me and can't bear 2 c me get more than 83%.(stupid website). well that's that. By 2morro i shood b able 2 get the diary of ms jane pittman. It doesn't look like 2 hard of a reed so ill work on finishing it or atleast getting 1/2 way through by tuesday. Sorry all of these blogs took so long but i was reedin another book 2 make a comparison that i wanted 2 do. atleast i got them all in. Better late than never. hopefully im ahead of atleast 1 person. I cant be bothered 2 check rite now being as im also doing my math homework at the same time as this. Last blog, Call of the Wild V, should be coming momentarily, probably past nine being as now its 8:56. so anywayz, b bak soon.

Call of the Wild III

Im out of topics 2 rite about so im just going 2 use some from sparknotes.com. One of their topics is "To what extent does Jack London anthropomorphize Buck?" Naturally I have no idea what that means. I went and looked it up, it actually meens to make human like. I forget what the Skyview teachers call it now. o ya. Personification. I cant bleev i had 2 actually remember taht word from last year. (rikki-tikki-tavi) Well Jack London does a good job of that in all of his books. He allows us 2 c into through the eyes and into the mind of all of his characters. You can see the viciousness of Spitz and the hate that builds up in Buck for so very long. You can see the arrogance of Hal and Mercedes and how they are repaid for mistreating the dogs. You see how Buck loves Thornton and his joy at returning 2 his primordial life as a wolf in the wild. This is basically what the entire book is all about. Buck here's the calling throughout the book but he only recognizes it at the end when he becomes one of the wolves as his ancestors once where.

Call of the Wild II

Hey again. I went downstairs and got White Fang from my nightstand. It does have a few connections to teh Call of the Wild. White Fang's final owner is a Judge with a mansion and many cornfields and orchards around it. It was a different Judge though from Buck's first owner. Buck's owner was Judge Miller, WHite Fang had Judge Scott. Judge Scott was kind to WHite Fang, like THornton was to BUck. Another connection was the name of the last 2 chapters. the first was called the Call of Kind, where White Fang joins others like him, like Buck joins a wolf pack. The last chapter is The Sleeping Wolf, which is basically another title for Call of the Wild. The two books kind of are opposite each other. ONe goes from wolf to dog. Buck goes from dog to wolf. All that i have written about Call of the Wild/White Fang might be confusing for those who didnt reed the latter so go reed it. It's another relatively good book by Jack London. well i'm going to publish this now. Expect another response in about another 10 minutes just like my last blog.

Call of the Wild I

Stupid sister. You guys can blame her for the meeting i think. It was bound 2 happen anyway but she posted on her 7th grade honors blog that the honors program should meet to discuss books.(ACCCCKK!!!!!!!!!!). Call of the Wild was as boring as the other books by Jack London. WHite Fang was just as terrible. THis was more gory tho so it has that goin for it. This book did help me realize how important dogs were 2 the alaskan gold rush. They were important enough that people would steal them to use them in the Klondike. This book was very different from white Fang in the fact that the main character, also a dog, in White Fang goes to California and is domesticated from a wolf-like life. Buck, however goes from an easy life in California to the primordial life that White Fang has at the beginning of his story. I've been trying to find the connection between the 2 books. That's why it was taking me so long to make this first blog. I was rereading part of White Fang. I hadn't read it since 6th grade and i had forgotten a bunch. (Any1 that was in Mr. Shields class at Fernwood might remember that project that I did on it. The flipchart. If not, oh well) Well another blog should be coming within the next 10 minutes so ill continue there.

Honors Essay Semester 1

Hey sorry it took so long to get this. My sister deleted it. I had to go digging through her trash to find it after I remembered.

Early American history is often an interesting topic for discussion. Many people played a part in the early periods of America. We know many of their names, Ben Franklin, George Washington, John Hancock, and so on. What many people ignore though is the fact that American history goes long before that, to the founding of the first colonies at Jamestown, Roanoke, and Plymouth. The books, Johnny Tremain, and The Witch of Blackbird Pond, were meant to teach us about these influential time periods in American history.

Johnny Tremain was an eye-opening book. I hadn’t known that silversmiths were so influential in America’s beginnings. Paul Revere was arguably the most influential. I looked ahead in our history textbooks on him because we haven’t gotten to the Revolutionary War yet. We would already be there in History class if it wasn’t for the election that we spent a month studying. This makes it kind of hard to relate Johnny Tremain to our history class if we haven’t studied the time period yet. I can relate it to our English class though. We studied a little of Paul Revere for our patriot essay and “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I would consider Johnny Tremain a patriot based on our essays for English because he is willing to go out and fight for his country. He is trying to do something right in a world that is governed by the British Parliament from London. He was also, surprisingly, successful in his task that he set before himself.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond, however, is a different matter. It takes place in the late 1600’s, when the American colonies were just beginning to spring up. The British controlled the areas around Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Virginia, as well as some of the Carolina’s. Spain had control of the future states of Florida, Texas, California, and Arizona. France had gone inland to the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes. There were two other countries that were colonizing in North America. These were the Dutch in New York along the Hudson River, and the Swedes up into Maryland and New Jersey from the Chesapeake. Kit arrives in the colony of Connecticut at an extremely influential time. At this point, people in the colonies were just beginning to think that separating from England wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

In History, we have just started learning about the beginnings of the colonial period. Even though “The Witch” takes place when the European powers are still colonizing, many colonies have started to think about splitting away. This is shown, in both the book and in history itself, as the Loyalist and Revolutionary styles. They beliefs of these two groups of people were very different. Loyalists wanted to stay loyal and Revolutionaries wanted to split off from Britain. These beliefs caused much mayhem and havoc in the times leading up to the Revolutionary War.

Witchcraft also plays a large role in “The Witch.” Today, everyone knows that witchcraft isn’t real. In those times, it was just an easy way to get rid of someone. You don’t like the old hag that lives down the street and has a humped back? Then we’ll hang her as a witch! Don’t approve of that girl being friends with an old lady who lives alone? Bring her to trial! With the excuse so readily available, it was easy to just accuse people. King Henry VIII, for example, would have tried his second wife, Anne Boleyn for witchcraft if she hadn’t been found guilty of adultery. He was going to use her deformities (6 fingers on one hand, 3 breasts, among other possibilities) as excuses for witchcraft. It was an easy way to get rid of unwanted people and that was all.

In conclusion, both of these books were eye-openers. I may have known quite a bit of the information but these books have a lot to offer even to the brightest of minds. They showed me the horrors of witchcraft accusations, the differences in ideas that led to the Revolutionary War, and what it means to be a true patriot. With this, I close my essay, to forever seal it in its form that tells what I have learned.

Shane V

WOOOHHOOO!!! the end of the book! the shortest book for honors ever. As usual i think im gonna rate this book like i did all of the other ones. (see anything wiht a V at the end of the title. Did i really need to say that to a group of honors class?) I rated Shane at about a 7. This is mostly bcuz it was so short. hehehe. It also was relatively well written. It was short and that way we werent bored for so very long. I like short books. hmmm. I wonder why. It had good imagery and it had the aspects of a superhero kinda thing. With Shane as the superhero against the evil villain (fletcher) and his minions (wilson among others) The last barroom fight was really cool. Fletcher and Wilson are dead. I also think that Joe Starrett (i got confused between him and myself in my last blog. lol) should take Shane's advice and run for mayor. He's already a leader of the community. Now it would be official. The ending is kind of as expected. Shane's a roamer and has 2 roam. He leaves and Bob is very sad. The main theme is that you can do anything if you set your mind to it. A side theme is not to get 2 attached to things that will leave eventually. If anybody has anymore themes comment. I have to get Call of the Wild now. Yes!!!im done!!

Shane IV

Im so tired today. It doesnt help that champ took me out in pe (i still beat u in the run! lol) Shane is still weird even towards the end. It only gets a little bit more exciting. This fourth section ends with Joe facing off wiht Fletcher about the selling of the Starret homestead. Naturally nothing happens but still thats like a big step for Fletcher. He's never come up to one of them and asked for them to sell the land. i need coffee to stay awake. Fletcher is really a ruthless bad guy. He had his henchmen murder one of the homesteaders (see above, western Mafia) kinda like the godfather only more cowardly. he gets all of his thugs 2 do his dirty work. Mean guy. i want 2 go 2 sleep. ill type my last blog later.

Shane III

Wuts the next big part in this 24 page section. hmmmm. duh. The fight between Shane and Morgan is rilly cool. You can actually visualize the fight. (did i mention this author's amazing imagery? im tryin to use the words from english. Im failing miserably. If any one agrees with me on the imagery, post a comment) Id never be able 2 do that. I cant fight. I follow the rules too much. Morgan deserved it 2. I have a feeling that those other guys r gonna get real annoying 2 the homesteaders real fast. Fletchers bein kind of a bully, (remind you of anyone?) and sends his lackeys to do his dirty work. (mafia goes west?) Im hungry so I think Im gonna go and eat. I wonder if we have anything in our fridge. More blogs coming soon.

Shane II

I looked up the answer since my last blog. Turns out that Jehoshaphat was a king of Israel or Judah or someplace like that. Real pious guy. Sappy. k bord with that. seems like the harvest is goin pretty well in this second fifth of the book. Pretty cool visual of the steers running away. THis author uses really good imagery to capture the voice of the speaker. The spirit of the times is ensnared in tis book for centuries 2 come. Unless the book stops bein manufactured which is entirely possible because its still pretty crappy except for the imagery. Thats like the only part that I like about it. THis is also the part where hostilities between teh homesteaders and Fletcher start 2 heat up that lasts till the end of the book. Fun.

Shane I

I've taken the AR test for this now. I passed with a 10. Im happy. Shane was one of the most boring books ive ever read. Not as boring as Tom Sawyer or the Witch of Blackbird pond but all of these books are pretty boring. THe good thing about this book was the length, with only 119 pages. Marian is successful in making the men regret wut they did in the first few chapters. I, personaly, dont mind my apple pie a little bit burnt. ive never heard Godfrey used so frequently in speech b4. and i dint kno that that was the way that u spelled Jehosaphet. Ive always wondered if that was like some old pharoah of egypt. Why you always ehre people from teh "wild west" use it i dont kno.Mayb ill look it up.