Is the Book "Between Shades of Gray", Fair?

Image this. You hear a loud booming on your front door like someone is trying to break it at night. You don't know what is going on. Are you in trouble? Are you being arrested? Then you are told you have twenty minutes to get ready for a whole different life. That is exactly what happened to Lina, her mother, and her younger brother in the book "between shades of gray", by Ruta Sepetys. Sepetys expresses different ways of how the story is unfair.

The story " Between Shades of Gray", unfair because Lina is taken away from her home, and she didn't know why. Ruta Sepetys states, " Were we being arrested? Where was Papa? I ran to my room." This quote concludes that Lina doesn't know what to do, and she is overwhelmed with everything that was going on. We see this again when the author writes, " But we had nothing wrong!". Lina doesn't know what to think. She is desperate for answers.

Lina, her mother, and her brother, are treated unfairly throughout the book. For example, one example      this was done was, " Mother looked in the Foyer mirror to affix her loose curls and put her hat. The NKVD officer slammed her in the shoulder with the butt of his riffle, throwing her face-first into the mirror. " Bourgeois pigs, always wasting time. You won't need that hat," he scoffed". Another way this is shown in the story is , "The officer snatched the watch, let go of Jonas, and started yelling at the people next to us.Have you ever wondered what a human life was worth? That morning, my brother was worth a pocket watch." The NKVD officers didn't care about Lina, her mother, or her brother, and they treated them unfairly in lots of ways.

In conclusion, the book "between shades of gray", written by Ruta Sepetys is not fair. Lina and everyone around her we're not being treated fairly. She didn't even know why. All she knew was that the "knock" on the door at night changed her whole life, and she didn't she it coming.
           

Is the Gaokao Test Fair?

  

Is the Gaokao Test Fair?

Wow! 9 million students each year in China take the Gaokao test to determine the rest of their lives. But thats no big deal.

Right? In the article “ China’s Cram Schools”, written by Brook Larmer illustrates how stressful and unfair it is for students 

to be taking the test. There is a lot riding on one test.

Gaokao causes lots of stress for students and teachers in China. For example, in the article in states, “Given every 

June over several days, the test is the only thing that matters for admission to Chinese universities.” This quote concludes 

that Gaokao is the only important event during these days in China for all students. We see the stress the test causes when the author writes, “ the Gaokao offers promise of a life beyond the fields and factories”. This example explains how the Gaokao test is the only in front of all students lives in China.

Gaokao, the test that determines the rest of students in China lives is not fair for many reasons. First of all, students in China spend there life studying for this test. For example, Larmer states, “Yang Wei, then a senior at Maotanchang, had spent the previous three years,weekends included, stumbling to his first class at 6:20 in the morning and returning to his room only after the end of his last class at 10:50 at night.” This idea is also supported by the fact that students never get a break. Another fact that claims this is, “ Xu filled every spare moment with study, testing himself between classes, on the toilet, in the cafeteria.” There is no real life besides studying for students in China. They are not able to live their lives outside of school.

In conclusion, all of this goes to show that the Gaokao test is stressful and unfair to all the students in China. There whole life shouldn't be in the hands of the result of a test.   

   

Literary Essay

Literary Essay

Father and son relationships are different for everyone. In the poems “Those Winter Sundays”, by Robert Hayden and “My Papas Waltz”, by Theodore Roethke the speaker shows the relationships with their father. In Hayden’s poem, the speaker and his fathers relationship is much more closed and shut out. In Roethke’s poem, the father and the sons relationship is more open and connected because the speaker shows their bonds.


Both poems show different relationships. In Hayden’s poem the speaker feels sorry for his dad. For example, in “Those Winter Sundays”, it states “Sundays too my father got up early and put on his clothes on in the blueblack cold then with cracked hands that ached for labor in the weekday weather made banked fire blaze.” This example describes his father a hard worker and that he never really takes a break. The speaker looks back to that  day and regrets how he never realized how hard his father worked. In the poem “My Papas Waltz”, the father and son relationship is loving and the poem how close they both are. For example, it states “We romped until the pans slid the kitchen shelf;”. This example shows that the son and the father are closer together, and more connected. The author demonstrate how they connected without taking, and showed their love for each other.  

An example that is similar in the two poems is they both have a special moment that explain the whole poem. For example in “Those Winter Sundays”, it states he'd call and slowly I would rise and dress”. This shows how he would listen to his father would get up early and work on a sunday.” In the poem “My Papas Waltz” it states “ Then waltzed me off to bed still clinging to your shirt.” This example shows the father and sons connection and how that moment they would be even closer.



In conclusion, their are some similar and different ways in each of the poems that express the theme which is relationships. In the poems “ Those Winter Sundays”, The relationship between the father and the son is shown by regret and understanding but in the poem “My Papas Waltz”, the theme is shown by caring and loving. But there are different ways of showing love and feelings.  

Book Club Essay: Night

"IF IN MY LIFETIME I WAS to write only one book, this would be the one", says author  Elie Wiesel of "Night".The book takes place during the Holocaust. The author uses the language from the book to express how he felt and how it connected with the author during that time.


Elie Wiesel shows and describes his feeling and what he experienced in the book. For example, he explains the one night that changed his whole life, "Never shall I forget that Night, the first night in camp, that tired my life into one long night seven times sealed."This line shows a lot of meaning because it describes how Wiesel just started a new life on that night. He new exactly how that night would end. On that same night he lost his mother and sister because they were to weak to go on, and after that night he gave up on his dad and lost him to. He turned in to someone he didn't want to become. Elie was ready to give up everything , to lost everything, and never come back. One power line that explains this is, "Deep down, I was saying good-bye to my father, to the whole universe..." The author is trying to explain that he never knew if he could keep fighting, he was questing himself, and Elie had to think what would be next in his life. What would he have to lost.



In "Night" Elie Wiesel was even excited to still be alive and to kept going. For example, in the book there is example of him thanking God for his life which is what he expressed,"Freed from the barbers' clutches, we began to wander about the crowd, finding friends, acquaintances. Every encounter filled us with joy-yes joy: Thank God! You are still alive!" Elie is shocked and overwhelmed that he is still living. He thought for sure he was going to die on those same haunting nights. Another example is that he felt convinced himself that he will die and give up because there was nothing to live for, "I began to think to myself again. My foot was aching, I shivered with every step. Just a few more meters and it will be over.



In conclusion, Elie Wiesel uses different ways to express how he was feeling in the moments it happened. He used a lot of powerful lounge in his book to make you feel as if you were in the book. In the book Elie is either relieved to still be alive or ready to give up at any time. He changes a lot throughout the book. In a way he regrets how he changed.



 

Should Teens Play Contact Sports

Jenin Dari                                                                                                          1/30/15

711                                                                                                                      MS 51

Should Teens Play Contact Sports?

          Bam!!!There goes another teen getting injured playing a contact sport. Teens shouldn’t play contact sports because more and more teens are getting injured out on the field, or even in a park. Sports can be very risky and an injury changes a teen whole life.

            Some contact sports can even kill you. In the video “Football death is 3^rd in recent day” it shows how a teen died play football. In the video it states “Football is a very popular sport and cannot really stop until teens keep getting injured.” This explains that it will take more injured teens to make people understand that football needs to change. In that same video it explains how a teen died by a hit to the head in a football game. For example it states, “Tom Cutinella a player for Shoreham Wading River high school suffering a head injury.” Teens shouldn’t have to take a risk of getting hurt or even dying paying contact sports.

          More and More teens are getting injured each year playing contact sports. For example in the article “For Children in Sports, a Breaking Point” it explains “Every year more than 3.5 million children under 15 require medical treatment for sports injuries, nearly half of which are the result of simple overuse.” Contact sports are becoming riskier and more injuries are not only temporary they are permanent. Teens are not only breaking down physically but emotionally. Another example is it states, “too many athletes are being pushed- or are pushing themselves- to the point of breaking down, physically and sometimes emotionally.” It’s one thing to be physically injured by a sport it is another to be emotionally.

          On the other hand, some parents do think that sports are good and healthy for their children. For example in the article “Kobe Bryant says competition key in youth sports” It states “There’s lots of people out there who don’t believe in having competition” Bryant said “I think we have to make it enjoyable and for kids to understand that there’s a certain spirit of competition that’s fun.” This example shows that some people think of sports in a good way. Sports are differently healthier then seating down watching television all day. For example in the text it states “They’ll pick up their activity instead of just plopping down in front of a TV.” This example explains that it would be better and healthier to play sports then watch television.

          In conclusion, sports would be better than watching TV, but when you get injured playing a contact sport it can be very risky and it could change your life forever under some conditions. Would you take a risk?                       

         

         

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.