Autumn

Autumn

is here

Leaves

of all colors

Red, yellow, orange

Fall

to the ground

The branches

are bare

Preparing

for winter

Spring arrives

Bringing back

The leaves

Once again

The cycle

Of life

Continues

Great Expectations Essay

This is the link to my Great Expectations Essay. Please read it and comment if you have any suggestions!
http://alexjessays.blogspot.com/2009/12/great-expectations-essay_20.html

Great Expectations Quote Response

“..Think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.” (p.70) On Pip’s first trip to the Satis House, he has an unforgettable experience. There he meets the beautiful, but cruel, Estella, Pip is ordered by Miss Havisham to play with Estella who only criticizes him. The theme of the novel, love, is shown when Pip becomes infatuated with Estella. As he gets older and matures, his infatuation for her transforms into a real love and real feelings, that unfortunately for Pip, that are not returned by Estella. The quote symbolizes how on the day he first encountered Miss Havisham and Estella, he began to change into the man he would later become in the novel. A man who started out as a poor orphan, but somehow made his way up in society to a gentleman; living off of his fortune, never having to work and goes around doing whatever he pleases.

Discussion on Wemmick

When Pip visits Wemmick's home, he observes that the man has two very different personalities. At work, his serious side is shown, while at home he seems to be much more laid back and care-free. Wemmick believes that at work he should be serious, and there is no time for relaxing. "The office is one thing, and the private life is another. When I go into the office, I leave the castle behind me, and when I come into the castle, I leave the office behind me." (p.207) His home, or his castle as he calls it, is his escapism from the work world, from the world outside. "Wemmick got dryer and harder as we went along, and his mouth tightened into a post office again." (p.209) It seems as though Wemmick is afraid to show his caring, fun-loving side to Jaggers, so he puts on a mask only at work that makes him out to be a cruel, horrible man.

Pip's Home Life

Pip lived without parents beginning when he was a very young child, so young that he could not remember them or what they looked like. Since their deaths, Pip stayed with his older sister and her blacksmith husband, Joe. His sister had a good reputation witht he neighbors because she claimed that she had raised Pip "by hand." Pip comes to learn what the term really meant, when she beats him with her cane. He is not treated as well as he would have been if he was living with his parents, because his sister sees him as somewhat of a burden. She says she would never chose to raise him "by hand" again. Pip and Joe seem to get along well, but he and his sister do not. Overall, Pip's life at home isn't the greatest a child could have, but he is thankful for the home he has.

River

Water flowing downstream

Crashing

Crashing against boulders

Under the bridge

The water quickens

Rushing

Rushing towards the lake

Schools of fish swimming

Fighting

Fighting the current

Pouring

Pouring out into the lake

Waves crashing

Crashing against the shore

Veterans of Foreign Wars Essay

Here is a link to my Veterans of Foreign War essay. Please comment if you have any ideas on what I could do better. :)
http://alexjessays.blogspot.com/2009/10/veterans-essay.html

Good Earth Summative Essay

This is my essay on the novel The Good Earth. My main point was how people change into the type of person that fear being like, and how Wang Lung changes to be exactly like the lords at the House of Hwang. Please comment and give me any feedback you have.
http://alexjessays.blogspot.com/2009/10/good-earth-summative.html

J:\Language Arts\Good earth essay.doc

The Good Earth Response

In the novel "Good Earth", Wang Lung's uncle proves himself to be a bad uncle and a bad man. He blackmails Wang Lung into giving him money by stating that he will tell the whole village what Wang had said to him when he was angry. Wang Lung of course gives in, he does not want the villagers thinking wrong of him. The uncle doesn't seem to be a very good father either, letting his daughter wander around the city with men, despite the fact that she is unmarried.

Soon Wang Lung's uncle, along with other men, come to him wanting to buy his land. he says no, he will never sell his land, but because the famine is so horrible and they have not any money to spare, he sells his furniture to his uncle and decides that he must move his family south if they are to survive. With no money, Wang Lung and his family are force dto become Beggars to get food. He soon finds a job pulling a rickshaw, making barely enough money to feed his family. Wang Lung is out of his comfort zone in this new place, but tries to make the best of it, one day at a time.

Adopted Poet: Robert Frost

Robert Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in San Fransisco, California. He moved to New England when he was eleven years old. Robert became interested in reading and writing poetry when he was in high school in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He went to Dartmouth College in 1892 and later went to Harvard, but never earned a formal degree. His first professional poem "My Butterfly" was published on November 8, 1894 in the New York newspaper The Independent. Robert married Elinor Miriam White in 1895 who was a major inspiration in his poetry until she died in 1938. They moved to England in 1912, where Frost met British poets Edward Thomas, Rupert Brooke, and Robert Graves, and Ezra Pound who helped promote and publish his poetry. By the 1920's he was the most celebrated poet in America. Frost had won four Pulitzer Prizes throughout his career, as well as other honors. Robert Frost lived and taught in Massachusetts and Vermont, until he died in Boston on January 29, 1963.

The Good Earth - Chapter 1

In the novel "The Good Earth", Pearl S. Buck shows how society in early 20th century China differs from our society today. If a woman was not wealthy, she was treated as though she was a slave. Women were given away to be married as if they were unimportant, or an object, rather than a person. "[Wang Lung's] father had stirred himself... and gone to the House of Hwang and asked if there were a slave to spare. "Not a slave too young, and above all, not a pretty one," he had said." (p. 8) The lower you were in society the less privileges you had, like a pretty wife, or a nice home. Wang Lung, a poor farmer, was expected to have a not-so-pretty wife, while it was believed that wealthy men were entitled to a beautiful one. In today's society women and men are treated equally, and many women are more if not just as powerful as men. "The Good Earth" proves how much our society has evolved over time.

A Jury of Her Peers

The short story "A Jury of Her Peers" shows that even the happiest of people, can suddenly become the unhappiest. Minnie Foster, said by Martha Hale, had been just that way. "She used to wear pretty clothes and be lively--when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls, singing in the choir." (p.27) Minnie changed after she got married, when her husband forced her to stop singing. It seemed as though the only happy thing Minnie had in her life was her canary, a beautiful creature that loved to sing, just like her. When Mr. Wright strangled and killed her canary, Minnie got her revenge by killing him the same way he had killed her beloved bird. Mrs. Hale believed that she could have stopped all of this, if only she had visited her old friend Minnie more. That even visiting her a few times would have made her happy, and brightened up her lonesome life.