comparing

Has there ever been such similar people but that were also so different? Yes the book Point Blank and Fighting Ground they have a major similarities but also many differences. These books take place hundreds of years apart and yet they have a lot of similarities. But since they take place so far apart the tools and resources are much different. 

In the book Fighting Ground there is a boy name Jonathan, he really wants to go to war. I know what you’re thinking who would ever want to go to war. I don't think he really wants to go to war I think he just wants to fight for his country even when no fighting is needed. Or he just wants the thrill or excitement he thinks he'll get from battle. This book shows both of them. So I think he is a very arrogant kid for he actually goes in to battle and finds out how bad it is. When he learns this he gets captured by the hessians. When the hessians fell asleep Jonathon was able to get the rope from around his ankle off, he could of just left but he didn’t know what would happen to the little boy he found in the barn so he stayed for a while then decided to take the little boy with him and he carried the little boy for at least 2 miles. Until he saw something through the woods it was a light from the camp from his seven or eight solders he had with he when he fought the hessians.

In the book Point Blank there is a boy, but not just any boy he is probably one of if not the bravest kid in the world. But is it bravery or is it stupidity. For he has to do stuff that no boy has ever done before and probably never will be done. His name is Alex, Alex Rider. He is going under cover in as a rich kid to find out what is happening at the school. They think that there is a connection between the deaths of some very power full men who sent their kids to the school. And MI6 sent Alex in to investigate, the setting of the book takes place in London. But unlike Jonathon he was sent into the school with high tech tool he had a CD player that when you put in the Beethoven and press fast forward three time it turns into a diamond saw also the ear stud when it is unscrewed it turn into a mini grenade. There might be many differences but there are also many similarities.

They both do stuff that they should not do Jonathon goes to war at the age of 13 and Alex goes undercover to expose an evil plot. They are both put in grave danger because they can both be killed at any moment. But they both accepted what needed to be done so even though they could have left at any moment they didn’t. They could have left because MI6 gave Alex a little transmitter that would send a signal to tell them to go get him if he got the evidence or needed any help. When Jonathon could of left his captors and escaped and he did but not until he saved the little boy from the hessians. So they both want to go home but they can’t because they had to finish what they started in Fighting Ground he had to go and kill the hessian which surprisingly they grew on him but it didn’t matter because they were going to be killed. In Point Blank after he escaped from the jail they put him in when they found out he was agent. He skied down the hill being shot at and crashed into a barbed wire fence. He still had to go back to the school with MI6 to finish the business and take out the bad guy.

So these characters are alike because they went off to do something hard and got out of there barley and had to go back with a team to take out the bad people even when they didn’t want to. And a lot different because of not only the time period but what they had to do and how they did it.

Alex Got Lost

 

A little boy lost in the dark alleys of New York City, the boys name was Alex he was terrible lost in the darkness he could only see twenty feet in front of him and he did not like what he saw. He saw the worst thing he ever saw in his life. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing he ran, he ran as fast as his kindergarten legs could carry him. He ran until he couldn’t any more then he saw a light from the street he went to it he was out in the open and a strange man came up to him in his ice cream truck and ask him if he want a popsicle it's strawberry and the boy said no and then the driver ask in he needed a ride somewhere. The boy said yes and got in the truck and was taken to a strange place somewhere in New York. He had no idea where he was as the older man tried to grab him the boy ducks out of the way and ran he reached the door and opened it he was out side he looked around and saw he was in a warehouse. Ran and kept running until he found a police officer who asked him what happened and the cop got the guy and took the boy home.    

Family

What is the one thing you never want to lose? Family, friends may come and go as you age, but family will always be there. But that is not always the case, some of your friends that you love or care for, you might consider them family, like in the book the Outsiders S.E. Hinton. In the book the Outsiders there is a boy whose name is Johnny. He has abusive parents and basically his only good family is his gang.  You do not need to be a biological family, your family is the people that love and care for.

A person who is called successful in life is a person who has a happy family. Family is important to everyone in the world. "Family isn't whose blood you have. It's about who you care about. In the book the Outsiders Johnny does not have a happy family, well in actuality he does. The people he cares about, his gang. They stick together in such a way that when Johnny died Dally was so upset that he went and robbed a store and got shot by the store clerk an ran all the way to part where the cop shot him down. So the bond of family does not need to be blood it just has to be special.

There is one thing in the world that matters the most family. It does not need to be between blood but can be a special bond that a person has to another person or a group. So when all else fails your family is something that will stay with you forever and if they don’t you might need to consider who you call family.   

Good Decisions

Imagine it roaming the great plains, the wind in your hair, running as fast as you can, you’re loved one at you’re side, as free as you can be with nobody around to tell you what to do. That is the life of a wild horse, so many people wish they could have a life like that, but yet it is not so. “The Black Stallion and the Red Mare” by Gladys Frances Lewis teaches a person how one boys decision can affect the lives of many, not just humans but animals as well.

         Decisions are a big part of everyday life, you may not think of it but you make hundreds of decision each day. You make a decision when you choose your coffee, what to eat, what to wear those are all decision of everyday life but some decisions are more important than others. Like the decision to save some bodies life. “The Black Stallion and the Red Mare” is about a boy who lives on a farm with his family, he finds a herd of wild horses, and he has a duty to tell his father so he can catch them to be sold. The boy has to make a life changing decision.     

Wild horses roam in 11 western states that include Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, Oregon, California, Colorado, Idaho, Arizona, Montana, North Dakota and New Mexico. It is likely that there are fewer than 25,000 horses left on 34 million acres of public land managed by the BLM. Horses were brought into the Americas in 1519 when Cortez came from Spain. As more and more settlers from Spain and other European countries came, they brought horses with them.

This story reminds me of a book I am reading in Language Arts “A Day No Pigs Would Die” by Robert Newton Peck. This book is about a boy who skips school stumbles upon the neighbor’s prized cow giving birth it was having trouble. He stops and thinks should he help the cow, yet did he know that decision would change his life. Even though he made a good decision that had a bad conscience, he helped the cow but it wasn’t happy it injured him very much, biting him all the way down to the bone. I know what you’re thinking good decisions often have good consciences but this is not always so, if you see and injured animal do you help it, if you do that would be a good decision but if it attacks you that would be a bad conscience. In the story “The Black Stallion and the Red Mare” his decision will affect the lives of many horses, ether way he goes with his decision there will be bad conscience.

 Decision will always be a part of everyday life, some decision can change a person forever, in “The Black Stallion and the Red Mare” by Gladys Frances Lewis teaches a person how one boys decision can change his life forever. Free plays a big part in the story, because the horses freedom is taken away from them and they may never no freedom again.

             

All Summer in a Day

Imagine you’re standing when you are pushed to the ground; then it hit you like a bucket of cold water, you’re being bullied. You never thought it would ever happen to you but it did. Like a flash of light it happened before you even realize it. “All summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury shows bullying is the worst thing that children can do to each other because it can cause many problems with development, not just the victim, but to the bully as well.

In the story the bully has all the power. No one else has power, not the teacher, not the other students, just the bully. Nobody sticks up for the other people who are being bullied because they don’t want it to happen to themselves. They just sit in the back ground and watch it all go down. This means they are being bystanders which mean they don’t do anything to help the victim. When you see bullying you should get a teacher or adult. According to Doctor Susan P. Limber, graduate from University of Nebraska Lincoln and Doctor Nation Maury, graduate from University of South Carolina: When people are bullied in their childhood, as adults they have increased risk for depression, poor self-esteem, and other mental health problems including schizophrenia.    

The World Health Organization has identified schizophrenia as one of the ten most debilitating diseases affecting human beings. According to NAMI Michigan, schizophrenia is a serious and challenging medical illness, an illness that affects well over 2 million American adults, which is about 1 percent of the population age 18 and older. It often interferes with a person's ability to think clearly, to distinguish reality from fantasy, to manage emotions, make decisions, and relate to others. To diagnose it, a person needs to have primary symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and disorganized behavior. Scientists still do not know the specific causes of schizophrenia, but research has shown that the brains of people with schizophrenia are different from the brains of people without the illness. Schizophrenia seems to be caused by a combination of problems including genetic vulnerability and environmental factors that occur during a person's development. It can be caused by bullying during a person’s development when they’re a kid. In the story “All Summer in a Day” the little girl was locked in a closet for well past an hour imagine what that could do to someone development.

I made a personal connection to the story,” All Summer in a Day” not because I was bullied, but because I have had someone stand in my way of doing something I have been waiting for a long time. Just like in the story with the bully made her miss and event that happens every several years. That person was my brother. Boy was I mad we were going to go to my cabin up north right on Castle Rock Lake but we were arguing over some insignificant things so we did not get to go. After a little while I forgave him because he is brother and no matter what happens I still love him. Besides, he really wanted to go to but neither of us got to go. Now my brother and I do everything together.

When I read this story in class it made me think of another story “Deep Water” In that story a boy who was always been afraid of water and when he tries to overcome his fear he was bullied by an 18 year old boy. The boy threw him into the pool, causing him to nearly drown, yet he made it up to the surface. After that he was absolutely terrified of water. That reminded me of the “All Summer in a Day” because it took him years to get over it he was an adult by the time he took swimming lessons now he is not afraid. Just like bullying it had a long term affect on that one the person.    

“All Summer in a Day” is an effective story that shows how bullies can have all the power in a situation. Bullying is something that we need to prevent because it can really make people feel unsafe. In schools, a teacher’s job is to educate kids and to keep them safe as they do it. Remember whenever you see bullying you should help the victim by telling the bully to stop or go get a responsible adult to stop it.