Seven Commandments

Commandments

One: Whatever goes upon two legs

is an enemy.

A fundamental principle

The start of a

Revolution.

They are evil;

They
abuse
us
but

we will trade with

Them

and befriend

Them.

Two: Whatever goes upon fore legs,

or has wings,

is a friend.

Animals are the

better creatures.

Except

for

one.

Snowball.

He worked with the

Enemy.

He betrayed us.

He is one of

Them.

He is not a

friend.

Three: No animal shall wear

cloths.

The mark of

humans

we

are

not

like Them.

But we need

to show

that we are equal to

humans.

Put ourselves forward.

Pigs can wear

clothing

sometimes.

Four: No animal shall sleep

in a bed.

A sign of humanity.

We are better then

Them

But

we

need

our

rest and health.

We can sleep in beds

without sheets.

Five: No animal shall drink

alcohol.

It causes Their

cruelty and

weakens

their

mind.

We

are

wiser and

stronger then they are

None shall drink

to excess.

Six: No animal shall kill

any other animal.

We shall not be

slaughtered like

we

were

before.

We

are

not

creatures without a

mind

we won’t make

Their mistakes.

None

shall be killed

without cause.

Seven: All animals are

equal.

Our equality runs the farm

and keeps

us moving

We

are

all

equal.

We

are

not ruled over. We

govern ourselves.

But some animals

are more

equal

than

others.

Siren Song- Teal Van Dyke; I am Waiting- Madison Niermeyer

When watching Teal Van Dyke perform "Siren's Song", the first thing I noticed was her presence. She didn't use excessive hand motions, but you could see in her face and hear in her voice the true meaning of the poem. Just by the way she stood, she commanded the stage with her physical presence. Her voice and articulation was spot on. Emphasizing the word in the sentence that should be noticed and playing on the satirical tone of the poem made it wonderful to watch.

My interpretation of this poem's meaning is that people want to be able to help others, even if it harms them. They think that they are so special, but truly they are just being lured into harms way. People will say anything to make you believe them and help them, when they don't truly mean it. Everyone wants to be special and noticed, enough that they will die for it.

Mockingbird Motif

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, a mockingbird motif is used to show innocence and good. Boo Radley is an example of a mockingbird. He only helps people, he doesn't harm them. It is said after he saves Jem and Scout's lives that it would be unfair to tell people that he saved them because he obviously wants to be left alone (he hasn't been seen for many years), it would be unright to harm someone by forcing attention on him when he has only helped people.

The mockingbird motif also used to illustrate the major themes, such as growing up. Throughout the book, Scout's perspective on Boo Radley has been constantly changing. She slowly relises that he isn't the phycopathic criminal that the town makes him out to be. He is just someone who does nothing to promote the rumors other than stay in his house instead of put up with all of the wrongs in the world. He does nothing but make beautiful music; he is a mockingbird.

Life Lessons

My mom has always wanted me to succeed in life. Whether it's getting a good grade in a hard class or doing well in a game, she always tells me "Visualize a good result. If you don't believe it will happen, it won't." I have to picture the best outcome in my mind. If I think that something won't turn out well or I won't get a good grade on something, then I won't. It pushes you to do better and remember what you need to remember so that you can meet your goals.

This was brought up for the first time with sailing. I wanted to do well, but I didn't think that it would be possible. She told me that if I kept that attitude, I wouldn't do well. I would have to believe that it would happen before I could. It's not just visualizing, but also hard work. I worked hard to do well, and I did. I got tenth out of eighty four competitors for the whole season. I know that some of the people I beat, I only beat because they only sailed a few regattas, but I still beat them. Its because of my mom. This technique will help me for the rest of my life.

A Good Friend

I have known my friend Sarah since first grade. Even then she was loud. Now her voice can carry over a crowd as she streaks a comment. She ends up sweeping you up in the excitement of her plans during a conversation. She also loves to talk about everything that has happened to her since she last saw you. Hanging out around her a lot, you end up hearing the same story repeated to each new person she sees. Many times over the past few years I have been forced into listening to the same thing over and over again. "Did I tell you, my phone got ran over by a truck!" she would squeal as soon as I was in earshot. She is and was absolutely obsessed with her phone, but she never manages to keep the same one for more than a few months. Something always happens.

Sarah can definitely be described as an egotist at some times. She refuses to shut up about herself. Her natural volume overwhelms all thoughts of a subject change. She can also listen to your problems if you need help and will try to think of some way to help. Her help is short lived, though. I don't think it is possible for her thoughts to stay on one subject for longer then ten minutes. Her confidence is not easy to miss. She'll not shy away from anything, no matter how daunting. She is easy to hate and even easier to love. I can't imagine not knowing her and being her friend.

An Early Memory

Every summer when I was younger, my family and I would spend a few hours in the car, driving down to the Oregon coast. I remember sitting in my seat, squirming. "How much longer? Are we there yet?" I would ask every few minutes. It seemed to take forever to get there. To keep me entertained, my mom would tell me the exit number, so I could count down how long we had left to travel. We would have competitions, who could spot the ocean first. Driving back that way, it seem incredible how soon we started looking for the water, we would barely be over the pass before we would start staring out the window, searching for blue between the trees.

As soon as we got to our hotel, I would insist on going to the beach. No matter the weather, I would insist on getting wet. As a child, I could hardly stand to look at water without splashing in it. With my sister and dad in tow, I would charge into the water. I never felt the cold, it just seemed natural to me. At first we would stay close to shore. There was always little waves that we could jump over. Our rule was the that you couldn't just walk through the wave, you had to jump over it. Jump by jump, we made our way into deeper water. Soon the water would be so deep that my dad had to hold me up. The funnest thing would be for him to hold on to me, the water was well over my head by then, and as soon as a wave came, he would lift me up so I could jump over it. After a while of splashing and getting dunked, we would wade back in to my mom who was waiting with sandy, but dry, towels. For some reason, the trip home didn't ever seem as long as the impatient trip in.

Jane Eyre- Imagery

As I read through Jane Eyre, I am amazed by the onslaught of imagery. Even in dialogue you can picture what the characters are talking about, or more likely, debating. But why does the author do this? It's not to torture the students trying to annotate the book, that I can almost say for a fact. To me it seems like the author is trying to more of convey why Jane does what she does.

In the beginning of the story, Jane describes her evil cousin. You can't help but sympathize with her when her when her aunt punishes her. Who wouldn't have gotten angry at her cousin for that? The author seems to be using imagery to make you agree with Jane's decisions and show how the characters were developing. I also noticed that at the beginning, Jane described everything with a sadness that was reflected in the imagery. After Jane started enjoying herself more and finding some thing she really liked, the imagery changed with her feelings toward life.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

So many people told me before I started Jane Eyre that it was very good, but it took a while to get into. I didn't find this true at all. I loved this book from the very start. It grabbed my attention from the beginning with the horrible aunt and cousins, and continued to the very end. It is wonderfully written, and I am glad I chose this book. It seems to me that the major literary element is imagery. Without imagery, this book wouldn't appeal to me so much and it wouldn't be nearly as easy to understand the conflict. Without imagery, this book would be flat.

It is very clear at the beginning the tone. The author describes a loathing that is felt between the family of Jane and Jane herself. The tone continues on on this theme until Jane happens on better situations, where the tone turns more towards joy. Never does the author fail to express all of the situations described with a clear, reflective voice.

Now that I'm so far in my book, I have to begin to think of the other part of our assignment, the graphic organizer. Now I have no ideas of how to express imagery, and with no clear ideas, any suggestions would be gladly appreciated. Help!

Reading A Book

Wow! Blogging. Didn't see that coming.

This week's assignment was to write about reading. Mrs. Gilman asked us why we read fiction. My answer is why not? It takes you away from real life. It stretches your imagination. You try to imagine what the world where the character lives looks like. What it sounds and feels like. What it would be like to live there. Hours of entertainment after a book is finished, trying to imagine how the story would end if something different had happened. I can't imagine not having that option to dive into a different world.

I personally can read just about anywhere, infact I do. Reading is how I ignore the people around me, especially those on the bus. People don't see how it is possible for me to read with all of the people around me shouting. For me, I just try to tune them out. Usually it works. Sometimes not. If I have to read a book for school that either I don't like, or I'm not really enthusiastic about, I generally need someplace quiet. I read anytime that I can. I always read some at night before I go to bed.

Some books are hard to get into. They have a boring beginning, you don't like the subject, or you have to read it for school. Take your pick. Anyways, when I start a book like this, I give it about thirty pages to improve. I push through until it gets better. If it doesn't get better and I HAVE to read the book, I give myself a certain number of pages to read each night. I have to read this number of pages before I can read another book. If I don't have to read the book, I generally move on to a more interesting book. Some books, like Pride and Prejudice, have a different style of writing are difficult to understand. I find that after a while, you adjust to the style and it is easier to read.