Reading Response to Non-Fiction by Max Kessler 811

             The text, "To Kill or Not to Kill,"by Patricia Smith is about the ongoing debate about whether or not to ban capital punishment, better known as the death penalty.The author talks about how recent polls have shown a great decrease in backing of the death penalty. The author does not have a strong opinion on the issue but shows some signs of not supporting capital punishment. In the artivle the author speaks about how the general way to perform the execution is to give them a lethal injection but recently some of them have malfunctioned leaving the victim writhing around suffocating for half an hour before finally resting, this is not what is wanted, obviously.

              In this passage the author wants the reader to see both sides of the argument, and with this Smith does a great job. She shows the anti injection side when she talks about the "significant problems" of the death penalty. In which segment of the article, Smith interviews some anti-death penalty people. They say talk about the fundamental issues such as, "racial bias, uneven application of the death penalty, situations in which there were individuals on death row who were later found innocent." The author also shows the supportive side of capital punishment when she talks about some high up authority figures opinions and what they think. For example when she talks about how Obama supported it for "the most heinous of crimes." Or when she talks about Kent Scheidegger and how according to him, "There are some crimes for which any less punishment is unjust."

              I think the author does not have a bias. I say this because they keep their opinion out of the article, and shows both sides of the argument, leaving all bias or evidence of it out of the article. The author also quotes both types of people, pro capital punishment, and against it. I think the purpose of writing this article was to show the reader an important issue in today's society and to show some facts, to help the reader make a choice about which side they back up and support. 

             This article has really deepened my thinking on this specific issue. It shows me to deep arguments and interpetations of both sides of the issue. I would like to learn more about this topic, such as how many people have had botched executions, or what is the specifics someone looks for to sentence to someone to death. After reading this article I have decided to be anti-death penalty, and don't back it.

              Reaction on The Class Trip

             This trip was very interesting. I thought it was interesting to learn about the past of America and what has happened. The exhibit about women's suffrage was particularily interesting to me because of how recent and how similar it was to things that may happen today. I thought it was really admirable the way that these women stood up for themselves and refused to be treated as anything less than equal.  Also, I thought some of the slogans that these women thought of were extremely funny.

          It made me realize how little society has changed since even the 1700's in that people want their rights and will stand up for what they believe in. Like when we learned about the gay rights parades and how even though it was illegal they would march through the streets hand in hand for what they believed in. Also how people were willing to sacrifice their saftey for the belief in a certain topic, and possibly give up everything farmiliar and that they own so they can stand up for their rights. On the whole I learned a lot from this trip and found it very inspirational and educational.

            When a group of twenty boys are left stranded on an island, not much good can occur. This is what happens in the book, "Lord of the Flies,"by William Golding. Lord of the Flies is about boys who get stuck on an island, and are force to run and try and create a livable society. It is extremely diffulcult, as many kids believe that they should be in power, and who should make what decisions. The kids begin to realize that maybe a society without adults isn't so awesome after all. This book is so intriguing because of how without saying it, it portrays our society extremely accuractely.
          One example of the accuracy of this book is when Jack Merridew leaves the original clan of boys led by another boy Ralph, and decides to forget all abput Ralph's method of life and start his own. Ralph wished to keep a fire going at all times so if a ship ever came by their island they would see it and rescue them. Jack does not agree with this however, and only cares about killing animals and showing off unnecessarily. Such as, when they were about to kill a hog Jack's hunters would chant, "Kill the beast. Cut her throat. Spill her blood." Now, this killing was not needed, as they had an abundance of fruit and plants to eat. They don't even eat the hog sometimes they just kill it for fun. These hogs haven't done anything harmful whatsoever to them or the society yet they just kill it anyway. This portrays our society because it shows how sometimes people just are cruel and mean for no apparent reason other than just feeling like it.
          A second way this book is accurate to our society is the way that Piggy is treated, they are so mean to him just because he is overweight. Jack is always stealing Piggy's glasses and saying horrible things to him. For example when they are assembling and Piggy is trying to maintain order and keep the kids quiet Jack says to him, "You're talking too much, shut up Fatty." This shows how our society sometimes works today because people like to pick on other people's flaws instead of the great individual traits that they have. It's very unfortunate that it happens today, but sadly it does.
           A final way is when Jack and his followers kill Piggy and don't really care. They roll a rock off of a mountain and kill him, and no one cares about him and no one feels sympathy or anything. After Jack kills Piggy he says, "See, see! That's what you'll get! There isn't a tribe for you anymore!" Jack says this to Ralph after taking all of Ralph's followers, except for the now dead Piggy. I think this portrays our society because it shows that only the strong and powerful and cocky survive, and the good hearted shyer quieter people don't.
          On the whole this book was very good. It really made me reconsider our society and the world we live in and how we treat people. The messages from this book were mostly negative but it was almost as if to say if our society continues running the way it does people will begin to destroy each other.
         

                                                Archetypes From the Dead Zone by Stephen King


          One example of an an archetype in this text is Johnny is an example of a tragic hero. After falling on a hockey rink and blacking out at age 4 whenever Johnny makes physical contact with someone he gets a shock of facts about them such as how old their son is, and other minor facts. This ends up making all contact with other people limited. He has a thing almost an obsession with meeting politicians and shaking their hands. And he shakes hands with a man running for Congress Greg Stillson, he gets vibes unlike any other he's ever experience, the waves are terrible, he can't describe it but it's terrible. He begins to pick up more and more bad vibes from him. Johnny becomes so worried about this political phenom that he tries to assassinate him. While trying to do this Johnny is shot and killed. Yes, killing is never good, but I believe that Johnny hero because whatever he sees is always accurate, and if he saw such bad things that he tried to kill Stillson, he must have been protecting the country's future. And it's tragic for obvious reasons. As it  shows at the end he died for what he believed in, "Nothing mattered except for Stillson anymore."

          Another archetype in this book is Johnny and Sarah as star crossed lovers. I say this because they dated,  and one night while driving home in a cab Johnny gets into a major accident, and is sent into a coma for four years and four years is a long time, and by the time Johnny wakes up Sarah is married and has a kid. Sarah and Johnny had an amazing relationship and were together for a long time and may have even gotten married. This shows that they were meant to be, but it just couldn't ever really happen. As Sarah says on page 204 "I love you Johnny. "I've never stopped.I try to tell myself it was an act of God that split us up. But I don't know."

          In this text Greg Stillson represents the Shadow. There a few reasons I say this, one is that he never really gets spoken about in depth but is always lurking there in the shadows off to the side. He is always somewhat there in Johnny's life, whether it's making him feel uncomfortable, plaguing his brain, or just being watched by him. He's a very odd political person as he's extremely unusual, such as wearing a construction helmet to every speech or throwing hot dogs to his fans. Something about him is off and shady, but it is just unclear what. This shows that he is a shadow because it's unclear what but he is messing with Johnny, who is the protagonist.

          The example of the scapegoat in this story would be Walt. I say this because, yes, he is married to Sarah but she and Johnny got broken up unfairly and of course when Johnny is out of a coma she obviously has feelings, and a wave of remorse. Walt sees this and is saddened but there isn't anything he can do because Johnny and Sarah had to break up for all of the wrong reasons. Also, he isn't doing so well with his business and is losing money.This shows that for things that aren't his fault his life is struggling to remain good.

          Overall, there were many different archetypes in this book and each person of the main characters fit into one of them. This was an amazing book overall and taught me many lessons such as you should fight for what you believe in and others as well.

                                       Writing Response to Thirteen Reasons Why by Max Kessler 811


          Many kids become depressed or extremely sad in high school because of the social anxiety, and stress in general, and Hannah Baker was no different. This book, "Thirteen Reasons Why," by Jay Asher is about Hannah Baker, who killed herself, and the protaganist Clay Jensen, who receives mysterious tapes from Hannah, explaining thirteen reasons why she did this to herself. He has no idea why he is on these tapes, or why she killed herself, but he is soon to find out. These tapes explain what happned to Hannah, and why. Her emotions are very mixed. She goes from feeling hopeful and excited to depressed and upset.
          At the beginning of the book Hannah, just having moved from out of town, was excited and hopeful for this new school and town. She became close with two other new kids Alex Standall and Jesse Davis, and they all had great relationship. Hannah was happy and excited to make other new friends. They went to Monet's Cafe together almost every day and just talked and had a great time, "How many times had I (Hannah) fallen asleep, terrified, thinking of the first day of school? Too many. And after Monet's? None. Now I was excited."This shows that even just from these few days of being friends with them Hannah is starting to feel hopeful, and even excited for school. This has given her hope and shown her that she has other people just like her in her school.
          Towards the middle of the book Hannah begins feeling used and bullied. For example on Valentines Day her school gives out these optional surveys to take to see who would "look good with each other" or " make a cute couple." Hannah gets matched with Marcus Cooley, who is a class clown and a funny guy. He asks Hannah to go on a date with him and she accepts. But on the date Marcus hasn't shown up for twenty minutes and finally decides to show up for her. He basically asked her out and she said yes, and he completely blew her off. Hannah is not happy with this event. This occurence might not seem important but seemingly mildly upsetting events like this began Hannah's slow spiral into depression.
          By the end of the book Hannah has lost all hope and is becoming closer and closer to utter depression and suicide. One example of this is when Hannah is driving home from a party with cheerleader, Jenny Kurtz, who happens to be drunk and driving. Hannah demands to get out of the car when she figures this out. As she pulls over she runs into a stop sign and the sign falls off of the car. Hannah gets up and leaves the car. Later that night, "someone was trying to deliver his pizzas on time. And someone else, headed in the opposite direction, was turning. There was no stop sign on that corner. Not that night. And one of them, one of the drivers died." And then this is where Hannah begins thinking about suicide and dying. This is really the beginning of the end for Hannah Baker.
          Thirteen Reasons Why was truly a great book and really made me think about how any little action I do could affect anyone's life in a dramatic fashion. And how people and myself should really think about their actions and how other people could take them or how it could make them think or feel. This book was very influental and powerful.

                     Reading Response to A Long To Water by Linda Sue Park by Max Kessler 811


             The story "A Long Walk to Water," by Linda Sue Park was two seperate stories about two seperate characters from Southern Sudan, Salva and Nya, from seperate time periods. They bring two stories to the table, Salva got seperated from his family when a war outbroke in his village, and he journies through Sudan andall over Africa. Nya walked for three hours twice a day just to get a very small amount of water. A theme throughout this story is having to cope with changeand live on.
              In Slava's side of his story he is forced to deal with change many times. One example of this is when Salva gets seperated from his family, because he is in school and he cannot stop by his family's house or he will be shot or killed by the rebels. He is forced to walk and live with people he has never met before and make connections with them, and fend for himself. At the beginning of his treacherous walk Salva gets grouped with his village, but then on the first night, while sleeping in a barn, "he rushed to the door to look out. Nobody. Nothing. They had left him. He was alone."He must adjust and move on if he wants to survive in this environment.
               In Nya's story every year for five months her and her village are forced to move to the lake for dry season. Which means needing to wait for hours for the gourds of water to get even near to been full, whereas in her regular home the walk towards the water would be much easier but the one right near the lake would take much longer. Every year, twice her and her family would have to bring all of their clothing and everything else necessary in her house to the other house. Nya must be able and willing to adjust many times to her daily routine and house twice a year.
              Salva also goes through the change of having a person look out for him from having to be all by himself. As Salva is walking along with his new group he spots someone, "When the man was only a few steps away, Salva suddenly found his voice. 'Uncle!' he cried out and ran into his arms."He then became very attached and loving towards his powerful and strong uncle. I think his uncle gives him hope of finding his family and gives a father figure to look up to again.
            This book is on the whole was extraordinarily good. It really made me think about how many kids have to be going through this right now and how people should try to raise awareness so things like what happened with Salva happen less often. This book has a happy ending, in that Salva starts a funding project for Nya and her tribe and gets them a water fountain. A great ending for a great book.