"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

- Albus Dumbeldore

Freezing Fate

Imagine: a thick blanket of gleaming white snow covered everything around you. Cold air lashed at your rose red cheeks; and your fingers are numb and lifeless. However, you still have to continue on with your journey in this terrible weather until you get to camp. That’s what the main character in the book "To Build a Fire" went through; he failed to listen to the man who gave him a wise opinion and that is why this story turned out to be a tragedy.

Immediately the story starts out in conflict because this man is traveling outside in temperatures -75 degrees below zero; that is not safe. However, his rise to power is when he successfully makes a fire to warm himself; keeping him alive in the harsh weather. But, the man's tragic flaw is that he was "without imagination" and he can’t contemplate the things that could possibly go wrong and he can’t think of a way to be smart about them and fix it. Finally comes the tragic fall when he fails to make a fire when he is slowly freezing to death; it is his last attempt of surviving the cold and he fails. Ending in death the man dies from freezing; at first he fights for his life, but then he accepts his fate and lets death overcome him.

None of this would have happened if the man listened to the old guy who cautioned him that it is not safe to travel in this weather, especially alone. The true lesson of this story is that "one must not be too sure of things" and that you should take the advice of those who know better. Also, no matter what situation you are in; you must always be prepared for the worst.

Insecurities of the Average Teenager

Imagine being a fourteen year old girl with many insecurities and parents who just don’t understand. Georgia Nicoloson feels just that way in the book "Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging" . This character, Georgia, was created by the author, Louise Rennison, who took some of her own experiences from a kid and put them into this book. She knows that being a teenager if filled with a lot of fun but also there are many difficulties.

Louise Rennison lives in Brighton, England however she grew up in a town named Leeds where she had many child hood memories where stories in her series "Confessions of Georgia Nicolson" are based after. She was brought up in a three bedroom house with her mom, dad, grandparent, aunt, uncle, and her cousin. One of the stories that she took from her life and put into her book is when she bleached her hair with some cleaning product to get it blonde, however just like Georgia it turned hard and right in front of the boy she had a crush on it broke off. There are many other stories that the author put in that shows the average teenagers insecurities and struggles to fit in.

In the book "Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging" Georgia is always worried about fitting in; she was always caught up in how she looked and what she wore. She would change herself to fit in and would always worry about what people thought about her; "In my room in front of my mirror. Practicing smiling without making me nose spread. It is impossible. I must never smile again. " Georgia thought this after she just got rated by her friends saying that she had a bad nose and smile. The lesson of this book is to not let what people think about you change you. You shouldn't


Be confident. That is what it is all about; you have to be confident with who you are; don’t be diffident about yourself. Never worry about what others think of you; always believe in who you are. And make sure you know that being different isn’t always a bad thing.

Judgment in the "Outsiders"

Imagine getting into a fight where someone was killed and you and your friend run away to a safe place where the cops can’t find you. That’s what happened to Johnny and Pony Boy in the book "The Outsiders". Aside from that Johnny and Pony Boy encounter many more tragic incidents including the death of Johnny. Since Pony Boy is so sensitive it took him a while to recover from his best friend’s death, but eventually he did. Also within this book it holds a valuable lesson; don’t judge others before you know who they truly are because things may not turn out the way they seem.

Pony Boy isn’t like the rest of his gang. He has a more sensitive side to him; the kind of guy who loves to read and watch sunsets; not the kind of guy who wants to fight. All of the other guys had their own reasons why they liked to fight but Pony Boy didn’t "There isn’t any real good for fighting except self-defense." Pony Boy thought. And he took the death of his friend Johnny hard; he was in denial and gave up on many things. Finally in the end of the book he realized that he had to move on and accept things because for all his brothers did for him; he couldn’t throw it away and he knew Johnny would've liked it better that way. The whole mess started with the two gangs misjudging each other, both thinking the other had it easy and having a deep hatred for the other.

People are judged for all different reasons whether it is how they look, the money they have or the people they hang out with. Sadly, most of the people in our world are guilty of this; before they get to know a person they usually already have a label for them. This also happens in the book "The Outsiders". The two gangs the Socs and the Greasers judged each other for the money they had and the people they hung out with. Both groups hated each other without even knowing the other. Once they did get to know each other they realized that they are decent people and things aren't as easy for the other as it seemed. If people could just stop judging others before they know what they are really like; things would be much better off. There would end up being less regrets and hurt feelings.

Through the tragic moments and the raging fights; the true lesson in this book is to not judge each other. If everyone could come together and stop judging people things would be great. It is like the quote "Don’t judge a book but its cover.” Whether it is a good cover or a bad cover you will never know what it's really like unless you read it.

Art piece

Perfect and undisturbed they have no idea treachery awaits them
That their beautiful ship that was said to never sink, was going to…
Crashing down to the icy cold water
Innocent lives were going to be gone,
A beautiful night of pure bliss coming to a tragic end

Speak Essay

Imagine if all your friends hated you for a reason that isn’t even true, you have nobody to turn to and no shoulder to cry on. This is what happened to the main character, Melinda, in the story "Speak" ; except for she also had something deeply tragic happen to her that she can't tell anyone; or doesn’t know how to. In this story many of the characters really don’t have true identities and the story also withholds a strong message.

First of all, Melinda really doesn’t know who she is yet; she doesn’t have a true identity. She hides in the crowd and even her bedroom doesn’t show who she is. It is a mixture of all of her friends personalities made into a bad mess… the only thing that actually shows who Melinda is, is her artwork; but even then it took her a while to get there. However, Melinda isn't the only one who hasn’t found who they truly are yet. There are many more people in this book who don’t express themselves and just change themselves to fit into cliques; this includes a girl that Melinda hung out with, Heather, she used Melinda as a person just to be there since she was the new girl at the school and her and Melinda were both outcasts. It shows that Melinda and Heather weren't "true" friends though when Heather decides to leave Melinda trying to fit into a new group called the Martha's.

"Speak" withholds a valuable lesson and it really is to speak up. Don’t let things be bottled up inside; they will only get worse. In the story "speak" Melinda doesn’t tell anyone about what happened to her that one night at the party; not even her friends or her parents. Instead nobody can help her move on from her tragic experience and also her friends hate her for a reason that isn't even true. They think she called the cops at the party because of drinking but really it was because she got raped. She was confused and embarrassed so she did not tell anybody about it. Eventually Melinda realizes what she has to do to move on from this situation; she told a friend that she trusted and she finally confronted Andy Evans, the culprit, about it. Since she did that she got the help and support she needed and started to put her life back on track and move on.

This book shows the challenges and obstacles in real life; it gives you many valuable lessons. It shows you to SPEAK UP because without doing so you'll never get to be where you want in life. Also, you have to be your self and let your personality shine because your life is too short to be somebody that you don’t want to be.

Patriotism

In this country Patriotism is what holds us together. It’s for all those people who risk their lives on a daily basis for our country. It’s what shows our appreciation for our freedom and all of that we've worked for to get it. Patriotism is all of those little things that we do every day. Your faith and devotion to this country is patriotism. Every day the flag flapping up high in the sky obtains our dignity and pride for this country.