an essay response to the novel The Adevntures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain
You watch as the children tumble out of the schoolyard in one large mob, screaming, yelling, and waving their hands about. They rejoice to the start of summer vacation, and you can almost feel their excitement in the air. Their immaturity and innocence strikes you suddenly, for it has been a long time since you’ve seen others behave in such a way. Then you remember that children will be children, and they will remain young and innocent for many years before reaching maturity. In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom and his friends continue to be innocent throughout the novel, never quite reaching experience. It takes a lot of responsibility and honor to grow up, neither of which Tom Sawyer ever quite has.
"Some people think they're smart - always showing off!" (pg. 86) As Tom continues through his blissful life of mischief and adventure, he playfully brags, boasts, and does ridiculous stunts like fence-jumping to try and get Becky Thatcher, the girl who he likes, as well as his other classmates to like and admire him. When he is rejected by them, he feels miserable and crestfallen. These behaviors are clearly examples of childish, immature behavior. Tom, like many other children in the world, believes that if you try to get attention, you will be rewarded and praised by those watching. The child will go to ridiculous measures to get that attention. It’s in a child’s nature to do so, and it’s very normal. It will not be until they are older and more mature will they know that showing off never gets you anywhere.
As well as his displays of showing off, Tom provides readers of the novel with plenty of foolish adventures. As showed in the pirate expedition in chapters 13-17, Tom rushes ahead into a plan without thinking of the consequences. When he goes out into the wilderness and drags his friends Huck and Joe with him, he is taking them away from their homes, and in Joe’s case, a family. While the boys are out having the time of their lives, the people that love and care about them are worried sick. Completely oblivious to what they’ve done, Tom and his friends continue with their “pirating”. If Tom had had more experience and consideration for others, he would never have gone on this ridiculous outing. He would know how much it would hurt the ones that would miss him.
With all of the attention seeking and misadventures, Tom is the perfect example of an innocent child. He lives in a perfect, untouchable world barely tainted by the evil that is Injun Joe. When a child is young, they seem unaware of the important things in life, and seek only to please themselves. As Tom learns by witnessing the murder of Dr. Robinson while he is sneaking around the graveyard, sometimes pleasing yourself comes with a consequence. Because of Tom and Huck’s graveyard adventure, the boys were constantly fearful that the murderer, Injun Joe, would come after them. Children of this world don’t think about what they’re doing until the weight of the consequence they will suffer comes crashing down on them. Tom is certainly no different.
Although Tom can be criticized and ridiculed for his mistakes, people have to remember that he is still innocent. It takes time for innocent behaviors to diminish and fade away into the certainties of experience. In the novel, Tom never reaches the level of maturity that most adults have. He still believes in superstitions, rumors, gossip, and fairytales. Tom just isn’t quite ready enough to handle the responsibility of experience. However, in time, Tom will realize that life isn’t just fun and games. This is when his true life will begin.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Friendship
A Responce to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Shading your eyes from the afternoon sun, you exit the school building. Your eyes instantly seek out your friends, for you can’t wait to tell them about your experiences of the day. You know that your friends will listen, that they’ll cheer you up when you mention your difficult math test, and that they’ll congratulate you on your perfect spelling homework without resentment. Friends are always there for you to confide and trust in, even when you’ve lost all hope in yourself. Friends will offer a new vision of the world and its problems, and will help you see through their eyes. No matter what kind of situation you get yourself into, friends will get you out.
What would happen if there wasn’t such thing as friendship? If there was no one in the world to relax around, feel secure around, and be yourself around? You would be swallowed up by the others around you, scared to expose yourself, scared to be who you truly are. The world would be weighing down upon you, and there would be nothing to do about it, nobody to listen and care. Eventually, friendless, you would be driven to the point of madness and destruction, and there would still be no one to help. Keeping your friends close to you so you won’t lose them is very important, and is a lifelong process throughout many sets of friends.
Luckily, in the romantic world of Tom Sawyer, friends are plentiful and easy to come by. In the novel, Tom has two good friends, Joe Harper and Huck Finn. They accompany him on his various adventures, no matter how ridiculous they are. Whenever Tom gets an idea, he goes immediately to his friends and shares it with them. This proves that even though Tom is innocent and mischievous, he understands the values and benefits of friendship. Without the company of Huck and Joe, Tom’s plans would certainly fail. Friends help you to succeed in your dreams, no matter how foolish they are.
However, you don’t need to have millions of friends to be happy. Sometimes, all you need is a best friend or two, as long as they’re people you really trust. Tom Sawyer didn’t have all the children in his school as his friends, but he continues to be blissfully happy with the friends he does have. As long as you keep your friends with you and treat them with love and respect, you can accomplish anything.
Shading your eyes from the afternoon sun, you exit the school building. Your eyes instantly seek out your friends, for you can’t wait to tell them about your experiences of the day. You know that your friends will listen, that they’ll cheer you up when you mention your difficult math test, and that they’ll congratulate you on your perfect spelling homework without resentment. Friends are always there for you to confide and trust in, even when you’ve lost all hope in yourself. Friends will offer a new vision of the world and its problems, and will help you see through their eyes. No matter what kind of situation you get yourself into, friends will get you out.
What would happen if there wasn’t such thing as friendship? If there was no one in the world to relax around, feel secure around, and be yourself around? You would be swallowed up by the others around you, scared to expose yourself, scared to be who you truly are. The world would be weighing down upon you, and there would be nothing to do about it, nobody to listen and care. Eventually, friendless, you would be driven to the point of madness and destruction, and there would still be no one to help. Keeping your friends close to you so you won’t lose them is very important, and is a lifelong process throughout many sets of friends.
Luckily, in the romantic world of Tom Sawyer, friends are plentiful and easy to come by. In the novel, Tom has two good friends, Joe Harper and Huck Finn. They accompany him on his various adventures, no matter how ridiculous they are. Whenever Tom gets an idea, he goes immediately to his friends and shares it with them. This proves that even though Tom is innocent and mischievous, he understands the values and benefits of friendship. Without the company of Huck and Joe, Tom’s plans would certainly fail. Friends help you to succeed in your dreams, no matter how foolish they are.
However, you don’t need to have millions of friends to be happy. Sometimes, all you need is a best friend or two, as long as they’re people you really trust. Tom Sawyer didn’t have all the children in his school as his friends, but he continues to be blissfully happy with the friends he does have. As long as you keep your friends with you and treat them with love and respect, you can accomplish anything.
Friday, January 8, 2010
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn~ FINAL ESSAY
You walk tiredly up the steps to your school, the same drab gray school you’ve been going to all your life. When you reach the door, you stop to think about what is to come. What is to come today, tomorrow, and even in the far-off distance. Sometimes the pressure of what people are expecting of you, the knowledge of what may happen if you take the wrong step, and the lack of familiarity you have of growing up may overwhelm or frighten you. As you go on in life, having the confidence and strength to accept and prepare for the future can make life seem far less menacing.
Francie Nolan’s life was pretty uncertain. As she moved toward experience she suffered through many hard choices that would affect her future. One of her choices to make was education. She changed schools early on in her childhood, trying to plan an easier life for herself with the higher quality learning. When her father died and money became tight, there became a decision. Was she or was she not to go back to high school? Even when she made her decision, the unexpected happened and she was forced to work while Neeley went back to school. Francie decided to live with her mother’s choice and did the best she could with what she had, earning her a high paying job. Using your own strengths and senses you can accept what you have in life and succeed without what you don’t have. Sometime in life you’ll get what you’ve rightfully earned and then your life will come full circle.
Moving from innocence to experience is a hard path with many twists and turns. You don’t naturally learn about growing up or moving on. You must teach yourself and move to experience for yourself no matter how hard it may be, as is the theme of the novel. Throughout life you will have to make many choices just like Francie, and it is your own job to prepare for them. Making the wrong choice may cost you an opportunity, and an opportunity missed may cost you a wonderful time. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t learn from your mistakes and make new decisions. If everyone made the right decision on the first try, there would be no lesson learned, and therefore, no greater knowledge of life. Mistakes are human. They’re a part of life, and the point of the novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is that we can move on toward experience living with what we’ve done already.
Some people spend their lives worried about the future. Always afraid to take the next step for fear that they will choose the wrong path toward experience and end up with a life of regret. Planning what you’re going to do before you do it can make all the difference, and having a solid plan can help you achieve and accept what your future is destined to be. Accepting what is to come and doing the best with it will help clear the path from innocence to experience of doubt.
Francie Nolan’s life was pretty uncertain. As she moved toward experience she suffered through many hard choices that would affect her future. One of her choices to make was education. She changed schools early on in her childhood, trying to plan an easier life for herself with the higher quality learning. When her father died and money became tight, there became a decision. Was she or was she not to go back to high school? Even when she made her decision, the unexpected happened and she was forced to work while Neeley went back to school. Francie decided to live with her mother’s choice and did the best she could with what she had, earning her a high paying job. Using your own strengths and senses you can accept what you have in life and succeed without what you don’t have. Sometime in life you’ll get what you’ve rightfully earned and then your life will come full circle.
Moving from innocence to experience is a hard path with many twists and turns. You don’t naturally learn about growing up or moving on. You must teach yourself and move to experience for yourself no matter how hard it may be, as is the theme of the novel. Throughout life you will have to make many choices just like Francie, and it is your own job to prepare for them. Making the wrong choice may cost you an opportunity, and an opportunity missed may cost you a wonderful time. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t learn from your mistakes and make new decisions. If everyone made the right decision on the first try, there would be no lesson learned, and therefore, no greater knowledge of life. Mistakes are human. They’re a part of life, and the point of the novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is that we can move on toward experience living with what we’ve done already.
Some people spend their lives worried about the future. Always afraid to take the next step for fear that they will choose the wrong path toward experience and end up with a life of regret. Planning what you’re going to do before you do it can make all the difference, and having a solid plan can help you achieve and accept what your future is destined to be. Accepting what is to come and doing the best with it will help clear the path from innocence to experience of doubt.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Hope
A Responce To A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
The woman and her children huddle together under a worn, ragged blanket. It’s getting dark out, and the nights in winter are bitterly cold. However, things may turn out better for this family than others, for these poverty-stricken people have something that nobody else has: hope. Hope is something you hold onto when there’s nothing left. Hope is the luminous candle burning in the night. While sometimes the faith of the people is overshadowed by uncertainty and doubt, one hope alone may save you from destruction and insanity. If you hold on to your hopes and dreams, the world will be a brighter, happier place to live in.
Francie’s life is filled with uncertainties. Will her family come out of poverty and make enough money to keep their house? Will she and her brother, Neeley, grow up and have families of their own? It takes a lot of hope, faith, and trust to overcome these situations. If people didn’t have hope, there wouldn’t be anything left to look forward to. People would stop trying, believing strongly in the lie that nothing will get better, that everything they wish to achieve is just a far-off dream, nothing more. Depression and hopelessness would consume the world.
Keeping your hopes alive and vividly trying to achieve them is perhaps one of the most important things you can do in your lifetime. No matter how little money you have, how much you’ve lost already, or how utterly devastating your circumstances are, if you have hope and faith that everything will turn out alright, you will carry on. Your world will be a bright place filled with light, even if all you have is that one small candle.
The woman and her children huddle together under a worn, ragged blanket. It’s getting dark out, and the nights in winter are bitterly cold. However, things may turn out better for this family than others, for these poverty-stricken people have something that nobody else has: hope. Hope is something you hold onto when there’s nothing left. Hope is the luminous candle burning in the night. While sometimes the faith of the people is overshadowed by uncertainty and doubt, one hope alone may save you from destruction and insanity. If you hold on to your hopes and dreams, the world will be a brighter, happier place to live in.
Francie’s life is filled with uncertainties. Will her family come out of poverty and make enough money to keep their house? Will she and her brother, Neeley, grow up and have families of their own? It takes a lot of hope, faith, and trust to overcome these situations. If people didn’t have hope, there wouldn’t be anything left to look forward to. People would stop trying, believing strongly in the lie that nothing will get better, that everything they wish to achieve is just a far-off dream, nothing more. Depression and hopelessness would consume the world.
Keeping your hopes alive and vividly trying to achieve them is perhaps one of the most important things you can do in your lifetime. No matter how little money you have, how much you’ve lost already, or how utterly devastating your circumstances are, if you have hope and faith that everything will turn out alright, you will carry on. Your world will be a bright place filled with light, even if all you have is that one small candle.
Fear
A Response to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The young girl stands rigid with fear as she gazes down the long, treacherous road. She knows it is her duty to continue, to proceed, but she just can’t seem to take the first small step for fear of what may come if she does. Fear is a concept in everyone’s lives that we all have to deal with. Whether it be fear of growing up, failure, or something as common as spiders, every person on this planet is terrified of something. In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Francie must face her own fears and uncertainties as she continues down the road of her life. Learning how to deal with fear is a necessary concept to succeed.
When someone is afraid of something, they tend to hide from it or ignore it, pretending it isn’t there at all. While it may not be the truth, it comforts the person and assures them they have nothing to worry about. Then, when he least expects it, he has to face his fear and make a choice as to whether he wants to defeat it or run away from it like a coward. If you run away, you are therefore going back to pretending its existence was all a sham. You will be safe for now, but fear will always find away to strike again. The ones who face their fears by saying they’re not afraid and defeat their terrors with pride, end up being the most successful in life.
While it may seem like fear is unavoidable, that doesn’t mean people have to fear all things potentially threatening. Fear can take over your mind and destroy your bravery with doubt, but not everything is to be feared. If you learn how to deal with your fears and face your own treacherous road in life, you will succeed and be a stronger person.
The young girl stands rigid with fear as she gazes down the long, treacherous road. She knows it is her duty to continue, to proceed, but she just can’t seem to take the first small step for fear of what may come if she does. Fear is a concept in everyone’s lives that we all have to deal with. Whether it be fear of growing up, failure, or something as common as spiders, every person on this planet is terrified of something. In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Francie must face her own fears and uncertainties as she continues down the road of her life. Learning how to deal with fear is a necessary concept to succeed.
When someone is afraid of something, they tend to hide from it or ignore it, pretending it isn’t there at all. While it may not be the truth, it comforts the person and assures them they have nothing to worry about. Then, when he least expects it, he has to face his fear and make a choice as to whether he wants to defeat it or run away from it like a coward. If you run away, you are therefore going back to pretending its existence was all a sham. You will be safe for now, but fear will always find away to strike again. The ones who face their fears by saying they’re not afraid and defeat their terrors with pride, end up being the most successful in life.
While it may seem like fear is unavoidable, that doesn’t mean people have to fear all things potentially threatening. Fear can take over your mind and destroy your bravery with doubt, but not everything is to be feared. If you learn how to deal with your fears and face your own treacherous road in life, you will succeed and be a stronger person.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
"All Summer In A Day" Response
The girl looks out her attic window at the streets below. Children her age are playing in the streets, their squeals of laughter echoing to where she stood. The girl could have gone outside and joined them, but once again she declined their offer, choosing to stay home by herself. If we isolate ourselves so much that we are always alone, all our sanity will be lost and we’ll miss out on the greatest experiences.
What would happen if everyone just suddenly stopped socializing? Stopped talking to their friends, ignoring their parents, and spending the whole day locked up in their rooms? The world would turn into a place of fear, uncertainty, depression, and irony. People would stop seeing the purposes in life and would feel they couldn’t rely on anyone but themselves to help them in their troubles. When opportunity knocked on the door, the people wouldn’t bother getting up to answer it. They’ll miss out, and will never know what they’re missing out on. It’s a sad life to live in.
While it may seem like isolation is the enemy, that doesn’t mean it can’t be helped. What if that girl would have gone out to her peers in the street, took a risk in asking to be a part of their group, and ending up having the time of her life? The human race is all about uncertainty. That doesn’t mean we can’t face up to it and be a part of something greater than ourselves. People shouldn’t isolate themselves, or their life will be something they will live to regret.
What would happen if everyone just suddenly stopped socializing? Stopped talking to their friends, ignoring their parents, and spending the whole day locked up in their rooms? The world would turn into a place of fear, uncertainty, depression, and irony. People would stop seeing the purposes in life and would feel they couldn’t rely on anyone but themselves to help them in their troubles. When opportunity knocked on the door, the people wouldn’t bother getting up to answer it. They’ll miss out, and will never know what they’re missing out on. It’s a sad life to live in.
While it may seem like isolation is the enemy, that doesn’t mean it can’t be helped. What if that girl would have gone out to her peers in the street, took a risk in asking to be a part of their group, and ending up having the time of her life? The human race is all about uncertainty. That doesn’t mean we can’t face up to it and be a part of something greater than ourselves. People shouldn’t isolate themselves, or their life will be something they will live to regret.
Veterans Day Essay
When Is The Right Time To Honor Veterans?
by Alaina Mundt
Veterans are very important to our country. They fight for us, serve for us, and unfortunately, die for us. They sacrifice everything for the love of America. However, some people believe they are not worth honoring for more than one day a year. People need to stand up for them and show the veterans that they really do care about what veterans do for us. Anytime is a time to honor veterans and all the things they do for us.
Can you imagine packing some bags, leaving your family, and heading off to a foreign country? This is what all veterans, at one point, did. Can you imagine fighting and risking your life because you wanted to, not because you had to? All former soldiers and other veterans did this for us, and for our country of America. Defending our country while leaving everything behind is a brave, difficult thing to do. Veterans deserve more respect than we give them.
Many veterans leave their country for years before coming back, but some don’t come back at all! Others become injured, sick, go missing, or are even kidnapped or taken hostage by another country or group of people. There have been many soldiers that are never able to walk, write, see, hear, or play athletic games again because of their injuries. It is very hard for the soldiers that aren’t injured to see their friends suffer when there is nothing they can do. War is very difficult, complex, and just downright a horrible thing to go through. Veterans have fought for us at any cost, knowing that they are taking a huge risk.
Restricting our honoring of veterans to only one day a year actually makes a lot less sense than most people realize. Veterans don’t restrict their dedication to only one day a year, do they? Anytime is the time to honor veterans. And the more we respect them, the more committed they will become to serving our country. They will know that we are a country worth fighting for.
by Alaina Mundt
Veterans are very important to our country. They fight for us, serve for us, and unfortunately, die for us. They sacrifice everything for the love of America. However, some people believe they are not worth honoring for more than one day a year. People need to stand up for them and show the veterans that they really do care about what veterans do for us. Anytime is a time to honor veterans and all the things they do for us.
Can you imagine packing some bags, leaving your family, and heading off to a foreign country? This is what all veterans, at one point, did. Can you imagine fighting and risking your life because you wanted to, not because you had to? All former soldiers and other veterans did this for us, and for our country of America. Defending our country while leaving everything behind is a brave, difficult thing to do. Veterans deserve more respect than we give them.
Many veterans leave their country for years before coming back, but some don’t come back at all! Others become injured, sick, go missing, or are even kidnapped or taken hostage by another country or group of people. There have been many soldiers that are never able to walk, write, see, hear, or play athletic games again because of their injuries. It is very hard for the soldiers that aren’t injured to see their friends suffer when there is nothing they can do. War is very difficult, complex, and just downright a horrible thing to go through. Veterans have fought for us at any cost, knowing that they are taking a huge risk.
Restricting our honoring of veterans to only one day a year actually makes a lot less sense than most people realize. Veterans don’t restrict their dedication to only one day a year, do they? Anytime is the time to honor veterans. And the more we respect them, the more committed they will become to serving our country. They will know that we are a country worth fighting for.
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