Fahrenheit 451 Quote Response

 Author's Note: This was an assignment where we had to choose a quote with figurative language and analyze it. So I did.

"One of them slid down into your stomach like a black cobra down an echoing well looking for all the old water and the old time gathered there"  Pg. 14

This quote takes place when Guy's wife, Mildred, takes to many sleeping pills, and has to get her stomach pumped and blood replaced. They used a machine to execute this task. But the tone of this simile is definitely dark. The personification from the machine to a snake gives a kind of hopeless feel, seeing as the snake is an ironic symbol. As for going down a well, it is like descending into blackness and gloominess. The old water at the bottom of the well is like the insides that they are pumping out. The whole quote feels dark and dismal.

Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

 Author's Note: This is a themes essay discussing the themes of Fahrenheit 451, and it's similarities to 1984. The theme I chose to write about was government corruption, because both books have a lot of it.

What would it be like if you had no free will? The government tells you what to think and you have to listen, or you will die. The thought of not being able to think freely and express your opinion is a scary one, but this is a theme that occurs in Fahrenheit 451, along with 1984. Both books are dystopian views of our world, and both have predominant government corruption.

In Fahrenheit 451, books are outlawed and people are tricked into thinking they're smart. All people really want to do all day is watch their giant TV's, and firemen start fires rather than put them out. But the government also prevented creativity. Their television programs are pointless, similar to kids' shows like Dora the Explorer, where there are pauses to let you "interact" with it. They are only taught pointless facts in school, nothing useful. People participate in contests where they are rewarded for saying the capitols, and winning makes them feel smart. So reading becomes pointless without any understanding of text, and books become evil, so they are burned. Without any sort of fiction, there is no way a person could do something original and imaginative. In a way people are not allowed to be creative.

A similar theme happens in 1984. Books are also banned, and the ownership of one is punishable by death. People are told that whatever they do is a duty to the government, and everyone has to follow the rules. The government controls every single thing, including history, which was re-written to the way the government wanted it. In fact, the main character's job is to rewrite events that happened. Like when the leader, Big Brother, gives a speech, he edits it to make whatever he said true. Propaganda is so bad that nothing in the news is true, but people don't even notice this, and they believe what they hear. Also, people cannot express opinions or think anti-governmental thoughts, otherwise they are killed. As with Fahrenheit 451, people are pretty much told what to think, and creativity is non-existent.

These books may be very similar, but there are a few differences. One, is that in 1984, books are outlawed by the government and by law. In Fahrenheit 451, the people themselves banned the books, the government had no part in starting this. Another difference is that 1984 is set in the year 1984, and Fahrenheit 451 is set in an unnamed futuristic time period. Fahrenheit 451 is very similar to our society today, with the giant TVs and the fast cars. 1984 is quite different, with a lot of things exaggerated, like the level of propaganda and punishment. But despite these somewhat minor differences, they are both quite similar.

In both books, the governments are corrupted. Books are banned, as with creativity. People can't express their opinions, yet they are too brainwashed to know that their rights are gone. People are told that being normal is the only thing, and if you think bad thoughts or are different, you are likely to be killed. But what is scary about it is both books seem to be coming true. People have giant TVs and drive fast in cars, and propaganda does exist. It's not that hard to imagine our world becoming what it is like in both of these books, becoming a world we need to fear.

Shaun The Conqueror (aka Shaun The Great)

Author's note: we were given a choice of prompt to write on. The one I chose was 'Her breath caught as she saw him standing there, sunlight dancing in his eyes.' We also had to choose a goal and mine was to get a 10 for voice.

Her breath caught as she saw him standing there, sunlight dancing in his eyes.  'Twas Shaun the Conqueror, also known as Shaun the Great. Only a few people in the universe knew his real name, and although I am one who knows, I am not allowed to say it. But I will anyways, his name was Shaun Campbell.

Mary ran over to where he was standing, a look of glory on his face. But before I continue with the epic tale that ensues, I should give you some background history of Shaun The Conqueror. He grew up in a small town in Wyoming. But even as a child, he knew that he was destined for greatness.

He always wanted to visit New York. So one day, he hopped a train. But he got on the wrong train, and ended up in China. But it was there that he met his trainer, a man that had no name. Well, he actually most likely had a name but it got lost in translation from the ancient Chinese scrolls on which the prophecy was written, but we'll call him The Ninja Master.

If your wondering what the prophecy was, it was that a man would come to China and order a hamburger with no burger, just ketchup and mustard. Then, he would fall into a sewer. After he got out of the sewer, a ninja would kidnap him and train him to be a ninja. This man would become the conqueror of the aliens when they invaded.

So, when he got to China, Shaun Campbell was hungry, so he ordered a hamburger from a hamburger stand. But he never really liked Chinese hamburgers, so he ordered one without the burger. But he really liked ketchup and mustard, so he told the dude at the stand to put those on. He ate the burger with no burger, and walked off to find another train.

The Ninja Master, not yet The Ninja Master, just a normal person, saw this happen. He had heard stories of the prophecy, and this got his attention. When Shaun Campbell got hit by a car and fell into a sewer, he knew that the prophecy was coming true.

Shaun Campbell climbed out of the sewer, and The Ninja Master that was still just a normal person waited for a ninja to come and kidnap him. But nobody seemed to notice what had happened. Then, it dawned on him. He was the one destined to be The Ninja Master, so he put on a ninja mask and grabbed a sack.

He went over and stuffed Shaun Campbell into the sack. The Ninja Master didn't really have a dojo or anything, so he just took him back to his apartment. When they got there, he let Shaun Campbell out of the sack.

"Where am I?" asked Shaun Campbell.

"The prophecy has come true. I must train you to be a ninja so you can defeat the aliens when they come," said The Ninja Master.

"Well, lets get cracking then," said Shaun Campbell.

"Well, I'm not really a ninja, but I do have Fruit Ninja for kinect," said The Ninja Master.

"I guess that will have to work," said Shaun Campbell.

And so they trained, into the wee hours of the night. They trained for weeks, then weeks became months, and months became years. Finally, the news came.

A messenger came into the apartment, and said: "Shaun Campbell, you are needed at the white house. We were spying on the alien planet and they're all getting on giant ship things with guns and stuff. We are positive they are meant for us. There isn't time to spare!"

So they boarded a bus and rode all the way to the white house. Once there, they went into the oval office. There was a screen with a view of the aliens. And sure enough, what the messenger said was true.

"What shall we do?" asked the president.

"Allow me to think," said Shaun Campbell.

"We don't have time to think!" said the president.

"Hey, that's no way to treat the chosen one. But okay. Where do you keep all the nukes?" replied Shaun Campbell.

"There's a button right here, but you're gonna have to aim 'em. There still all aimed at Russia from the Cold War. Oh and some of them are aimed at Iraq or Iran or Afghanistan, I get em all mixed up. But here's the aimy thingy, you just use this here controller." said the president."Oh yeah, some are aimed at the moon."

"Why do you have nukes aimed at the moon?" questioned Shaun Campbell.

"Um, uh, well, um, why do you have nukes aimed at the moon?" replied the president.

"Oh real mature. And I don't even have any nukes," said Shaun Campbell.

"Oh, sure, that's what they all say. Just look at Iraq! Well, it turns out they were telling the truth, but still!" said the president.

"I don't have time for this. I have a world to save," said Shaun Campbell dramatically.

The president handed Shaun Campbell a TV with a controller that looked suspiciously like an Xbox controller attached to it. On the screen was an X that he could move with the controller. He zoomed way out, and aimed over to the alien's planet.

"Okay, they're all aimed," said Shaun Campbell. "Where's the launch button?"

"Right here in the middle of my desk. You have no idea how many times I've almost launched 'em all." replied the president.

Shaun Campbell ran over and pressed the button. They all turned to look at the screen. After about a ten minute delay (the planet was pretty far away), the nukes hit. They rapid fired into the planet one after another. The nuking lasted a couple hours, and the planet was obliterated.

"Jeez, how many nukes do you have?" asked Shaun Campbell.

"I dunno, we lost track at around 17,000. But I guess we have pretty many! And that was just half, the others are buried under the white house. But Mr. Shaun Campbell, you have just saved the world, just like the prophecy said. I now call you Shaun The Conqueror." said the president.

"I kinda like Shaun The Great," said Shaun The Conqueror.

"Well, it can be both then," said the president.

And that was how the legend was born. And now for the epic story I was telling you about. I might have to finish later because some men with black suits just came in and they don't look like they're here for tea. They're all babbling about how I'm not supposed to say Shaun The Conqueror's real name or something, so this is the end, for now.

Harrison Bergeron Retelling

Author's Note: We read the short story Harrison Bergeron and I had to write a retelling of it so I did. 

Harrison Bergeron takes place in the future when everyone is equalized by some sort of handicap. Two people see their son Harrison escape from prison. He takes over a TV station, rips off his handicaps, defies gravity, and tells everyone he's the new Emperor. But then the he gets killed by the government, and his parents, who witnessed the event on TV, soon forget what happened.

A Christmas Carol Assignment

Author's Note: This was an assignment where we had to take a quote from A Christmas Carol and analyze it. 

Quote:

"I don't know what to do!" cried Scrooge, laughing and crying in the same breath; and making a perfect Lacoon of himself with his stockings. "I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy. I am as giddy as a drunken man, A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world! Hallo here! Whoop! Hallo!" (pg 81)

A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens

This quote is from Scrooge, when he gets back from his journey with the third ghost, and wakes up on Christmas morning. This passage represents the change that happened to Scrooge. He is no longer the grumpy old man, and now is filled with joy and happiness. The tone of this quote is obviously happy, because some of the symbols; like similes such as happy as angel, lights as a feather, and merry as a school boy. This just shows how happy Scrooge is, giddy with happiness, and a new man.

Assignment #1

I think that in Milkweed that Misha will escape the camp. Right now he is able to escape but he keeps coming back because his friends are there. I think eventually they will leave the ghetto for the concentration camps because that is what happened to the Jews during World War 2. But Misha will play dead and escape, because the same thing happened in the book Elephant run. In Elephant Run this kid's dad was trapped in a camp by the Japanese, but he pretended to die and got out. So I think the same thing will happen in Milkweed.

A Narwhal Christmas

 Author's Note: The purpose of this piece was to inform people of my Christmas. It isn't really good,  actually it's pretty bad. It's just kind of random but it's funny so read it and don't fight the awesomeness, embrace it.

I woke from my deep slumber, and was at once wide awake. 'Twas Christmas morning, and the new snow glittered magically as I looked out my window. I ran down the stairs, and took in all the presents that sat under the tree. One of them caught my eye. There was a big tank of water, with a floating ball of wrapping paper. The paper was in the shape of a giant fish, except there was a horn on the front. Oh, well, I would find out what it was soon enough.

That was the first present I chose to open. I plunged my hands into the tank, and tore off the wrapping paper. When I was done, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was a Narwhal! The only name that seemed fitting jumped to my mind as I instantly proclaimed his name as…. Rainbow! Rainbow became my new best friend. He lived in our swimming pool in our backyard. He was about 25 feet long, counting his horn.

One day, we decided to go on an adventure. We were bored of our boring lives of doing nothing but playing video games all day. So we went to find the legendary Bacon Mountain. But first I had to train him to fly, because there was no way to travel by water all the way to Bacon Mountain. We started with basic jumping drills, getting him out of the water. Then we built up the strength of his tail so he could propel himself through the air. After hours of training, we finally got him to fly.

So one day, I packed up a lunch for both of us, a peanut butter sandwich for me and marmalade for the narwhal. Then we took off. We soared through the air at ten thousand feet, keeping a sharp eye out for Bacon Mountain. Then, Rainbow spotted it. He dove sharply downward, and I held on for dear life. He evened out his flight path as we neared bacon mountain. I threw a lasso around it and hooked it, and we flew back home.

Back home, we munched on the wonderful tasting bacon. But little did we know the Bacon Mountain was property of the US government. The FBI had security cameras placed around the mountain, and they caught us stealing it on camera. Luckily, my face was hidden from view, so they only pegged Rainbow. He because number one on the FBI's most wanted list. He was now a fugitive from the law.

Rainbow had to start his life of crime, running from the law. He put a ski mask over his face, and grabbed his belongings and a supply of marmalade. We said our goodbyes, and he flew off into the sunset. He said he would try to visit every now and then, but I was still sad. As I watched him fly off, a tear trickled down my 

 cheek. 

Rainbow's wanted poster