Final "Building Bridges"

Final: “Building Bridges”

            It can be challenging for any person to follow their dreams. In the short story “Building Bridges by Andrea Pinkney shows the reader that the determination of a young girl following her dreams. Through the story Pinkney shows determination between Bebe wanting to reach for her goals of becoming an engineer and Mama Lil not letting her. She fights and fights for it, and at the end she gets what she wants.

            In the beginning of the short story, Bebe asks her grandma Mama Lil if she can help rebuild the Brooklyn Bridge but Mama Lil refuses and says the engineering is for men. Bebe will not take no for an answer. One way of showing determination in the short story is when it states “But this is good work, Mama Lil. I’d be employed by the city, by the mayor. Furthermore, this example shows that Bebe is trying to convince her Grandma into allowing her to work on the bridge. Another example is in the text when Mama Lil says, “This damn grease is stubborn”, than Bebe says “You re stubborn”. This example shows the Bebe is going too kept on fighting with Mam Lil until she gets what she wants.

             Next, in the middle of the story Pinkney shows how much more Bebe really cares about the Bridge and engineering. Bebe shows more and more and more determination like for example in the text when it says “I never got tired of looking out at its steel girders and iron cables, at its beautiful crisscross rafters that had started out in somebody’s imagination, had been put to paper , formalized in an engineer’s plans, then woven together, bolt by blot”. This shows that Bebe thinks of the Brooklyn Bridge day and night. In the text it also states “Tonight I draw Belle with her lighted cape. I sketched slowly at first, then faster, my pencil working with speed of my excitement- the thrill that worked me over every time I sketched that Bridge.” This example shows that Bebe really wants to get this job.

            Furthermore, Bebe is trying for the last time to convince Mama Lil the engineering is for her. It’s a goal the she wants to reach. For example, it says, “Mama Lil, I got to find my way. I said slowly.” This shows that Mama Lil wants for Bebe isn’t what she wants. “If that Bridge wasn’t tapping on my soul, I’d go ahead and sweep hair down at Rimley’s.” Andrea Pinkney is showing that if Bebe doesn’t want to work on the bridge she wouldn’t ask but she does and she will not let anything get in the way.

            I feel that with the determination Bebe had she got what she wanted. Throughout the short story she overcame some obstacles, but she reached her goal. When I think of determination I think of doing well and trying your best in school so that when I get older I can somehow fight for what I believe in.  

                   

My Name: Jenin

           To me my name means, Freedom. Free to be anybody you want. You can be a Doctor, Lawyer, Dancer or you can even run for President one day. It's almost like a right, a right to be anything you want.

           In the country I'm from, Palestine, there is a town named Jenin and my dad was born in Palestine, so my dad decided to name me Jenin because it really meant a lot to him. Palestine means a lot to my dad because in the war a lot of people died protecting their town and those are the best kind of people to my dad. In arabic, Jenin means The Gates of Heaven which somehow connect to me in ways I can't explain.

            My name is like the color green. Green for the grass and land in the town Jenin. Sometimes when I walk on grass I feel light, airy, and free in which the town Jenin will always be. I have never actually been to Jenin but I have a feeling it is very, very, beautiful.

            My name is like improvised dances where you can do anything initial. You can jump, leap, spin, turn, or even fall strait to the ground if you wanted to. You can use any type if style you want. But what you really need is to flow through the dance, to fit the music. That is what the dance would mean free and flowing.

             In school some people pronounce my name incorrectly, they think there is an extra E at the end of my name but I never mind. Sometimes I want to correct them. When they say Jenine I say no it's Jenin, I also want to say and I'm proud of it but I never do. I have never thought of changing my name. I love my name it is very special to me. This is my name, JENIN.

Summary of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Hard Luck"

The book Diary of a Wimpy Kid , Hard Luck by Jeff Kinney, is mostly about a boy name Greg Heffley and his life in school, slowly losing his friendship with his best friend Rowely Jefferson, and trying to replace his best friend.In the book school has been very hard for Greg because through the book he tried to convince himself that he did need Rowely but he really did. In the book Greg is solo to make his descisons without his best friend being the guide in life, there is a lot of examples of that.

One Example of Greg having a hard time in school because he didn't have Rowely to guide him, was on page eight when it says" I have Mr. Blakey for English, and he makes as turn in our assignments in cursive. But it really hurts my hand when I write in cursive for to long, so I've been paying Rowely on peanut butter cracker for every page that he transcribes for me." That shows that Greg needed Rowely to guide him through school.

An example of Greg and Rowely slowly losing there friendship is on page three when it states " Back in the good old days, it was just me and Rowely, and we hung out and did whatever we wanted. If we felt like blowing bubbles in our chocolate milk at lunch, then that's exactly what we did. But now that there is a girl in the picture, things are totally different." This example shows that there friendship is slowly fading away.

Last but not least, a example of Greg trying to replace his friend was on page seventy nine when it says "Today at lunch I went to find Fregley and invite him to sit at our table. He was so far back in the line to get a seat that he was out in the hallway near the boys bathroom." In conclusion in the book Diary of a Wimpy Kid , by Jeff Kinney, was about family and a lot more but I thought the most important details was him having to deal with losing his best friend Rowely.