Better, Stronger, Faster (Take 2)

Author's note: This is my redo on my Better, Stronger, Faster essay for character development.

Imagine being a world class Astronaut, loved by the entirety of the United States of America. Your career is almost over, and you’ve been spending the last of it test piloting landing vehicles, when suddenly, your entire world literally crashes down around you. How would you feel to wake up from that crash, having only 25% of your original extremities? Would you panic? Would you be scared? Would you lose the will to live? Would you think you were less than human? In the exciting novel "Cyborg", by Martin Caden, Colonel Steve Austin rode that exact emotional roller coaster. He was testing the M3F5 prototype space shuttle that was being tested for soft earth landing, and as he was just about to land it crashed. The next time that the Colonel woke up, he was told that he was now in the care of the OSI and was being given a new arm, two new legs, and a brand new left eye to make up for what he had lost in the crash, all courtesy of the US government. He reacted like any of us would, with rejection. Steve was forced to change how he looked at himself, and to accept these new limbs, and their extra special abilities. Bionics.

In the beginning, Steve is a fun loving guy who doesn’t do as he’s told and takes life for granted. As he goes onto the M3F5 landing plane, he thinks of it as just another job, and doesn’t think about it as one of his last times flying a plane. He puts on his headset and talks to “Huston”, setting up the plane and making sure it’s all set up. And when he’s up in the air, he still has that same mind set. But, when things begin to go south (literally), he loses the cool facade and begins to panic, yelling at Huston to help him, and then.... He crashed. While before and during the beginning of the story Steve is a fun loving guy, through the story’s progression he begins to learns how to take things more seriously.

Rudy Wells changes Steve the most throughout the story because he makes him accept the fact that the Bionics are just as much a part of him as his actual arm, or his actual eye. At first, when he shows Steve his bionic arm, setting it on his lap in the hospital, Steve rejects it, hiding from it with his good arm. Rudy yells at him in frustration, “Steve! This is your ARM!” and basically forces Steve to look at his arm, forcing his good arm down and making him take a good solid look at the mechanic arm that is in front of him. He says, “It’ll look identical to your actual arm, right down to the little freckles”, and Steve begins to think that maybe he can accept it, maybe. During the story, Steve has a huge impact on Oscar Goldman, the head of the OSI, or Office of Scientific Intelligence.

As Steve and Oscar begin to work with one another more and more, Oscar still treats Steve as though he’s another piece of technology, a “brand new bionic gadget”. But as Steve rebels against him when Oscar asks him to go on a mission, Oscar is forced to realize that he can’t just tell Steve what to do like a computer. He has to take Steve’s actual opinions into account, and realize that he has feelings too. While they are forced to work together, their relationship shifts from being “boss and worker”, to friends, or to an extent, family.

While Steve went through struggles learning how to except his bionics and change his outlook on things and his overall attitude, Steve begins to except his job and quickly learns that the job matches his personality. The job requires courage, strength, speed, and a mind that can get out of serious situations. Steve has all of these capabilities. The sly, smart alick attitude quickly disappears as he learns that he can’t think like that when he has a job of national importance, and Rudy is the person who makes him realize this. While he hated Oscar in the beginning, seeing as he was the one to make the call and make him bionic, Oscar becomes a close friend, someone who he can rely on most. Steve’s character development through the story is quite astronomical in every way, seeing as he now is a responsible, and respectful man, instead of a smart aleky guy. And all it took for him to become that was his bionic extremities. They made him Better, Stronger, and Faster.

Trojan Horse

The conflict between Troy and Greece was the main part of the story, and the conflict was never resolved in a happy way, it was resolved when Troy sneakily lead the Trojan Horse into Troy that was full of warriors, but the people of Troy believed held gold and treasure beyond their wildest dreams. The sneakiest part of the whole scenario I believe was how they had everyone tricked into thinking that the war was over and they had won, and then the warriors of Greece popped out of the horse and slaughtered the town. In a way, it could happen nowadays, just they wouldn't be in a horse. Someone could disguise themselves as a member of a different baseball team or something and play with them, then go back to their actual team with the teams techniques.... Or something like that. I haven't actually scene it on TV or anything, but people have mentioned it, and that's how I know about it.

Better, Stronger, Faster

Author’s Note: Cyborg by Martin Caden is a novel of my childhood, considering it was turned into a TV show in 1974, my father was interested in both the novel and the TV show as a kid, and recently, I read the book Cyborg. I have been watching the TV show since I was about 2 years old, and since I read the book, I’ve been dying to do an essay on it! So, enjoy!

Imagine being a world class Astronaut, loved by the entirety of the United States of America. Your career is almost over, and you’ve been spending the last of it test piloting landing vehicles, when suddenly, your entire world literally crashes down around you. How would you feel to wake up from that crash, having only 25% of your original extremities? Would you panic? Would you be scared? Would you lose the will to live? Would you think you were less than human? Colonel Steve Austin rode that exact emotional roller coaster. He was testing the M3F5 prototype space shuttle that was being tested for soft earth landing, and as he was just about to land it crashed. The next time that the Colonel woke up, he was told that he was now in the care of the OSI and was being given a new arm, two new legs, and a brand new left eye to make up for what he had lost in the crash, all courtesy of the US government. He reacted like any of us would, with rejection. Steve was forced to change how he looked at himself, and to accept these new limbs, and their extra special abilities. Bionics.

OSI. Office of Scientific Intelligence. The providers of Steve’s new limbs, also known as Bionics. These bionics have special attributes that set them apart from the typical prosthetic arm or leg; these limbs give Steve the ability to run at the speed of 60 miles per hour, and lift ten men, or more if he wanted to. His eye gives him the ability to see an inhuman amount ahead of him. Oscar Goldman is the head of the OSI and the manager of the Cyborg project. Steve and him start off as adversaries, because Oscar is the one who decided to put the bionic limbs on him. Granted, he didn’t know it was Steve he would get, because if he did, he might not have given Steve the bionics at all. But as the story progresses, Mr.Goldman and Steve become great friends. Dr. Rudy Wells is one of Steve’s closest friends, and the person who performed the operation of attaching the bionics to his broken body. Rudy had been Steve’s doctor before the crash and kept the idea of bionic replacements a secret from him.  Even though bionics are a great thing that could help the entire world, bionics remain classified. As does the word Cyborg.

The word Cyborg. When Steve wakes up in the California Hospital bed, the word is unfamiliar to him. But when Dr. Rudy Wells shows Steve what would soon be attached to him, he hides from it. He obviously does not want something so cold, so robotic  to be put onto his body. But as he realizes he has virtually no choice but to go through with the operation, Steve becomes angry. He loses the will to live, to even try to get up in the morning, and just let’s them do what they want, because in his opinion, he doesn’t have anything to lose. But maybe, he has something wonderful to gain.

After Steve wakes up from the Bionic operation, and looks at his new bionic arm, he tries to cut it off. Granted, it looks just like his human arm, but to him, it’s simply a machine and will never be apart of him. He begins to think he is a monster because of his bionic attachments, and the readers begin to think that he will never be able to accept the bionics that the people of the OSI and Rudy Wells worked so hard to put on him. He seems almost like Frankenstein’s monster in reverse, he thinks of himself as a monster, while everyone else views him as a normal human being, versus Frankenstein’s monster, who is technically a monster, but is truly a good person beneath his abnormal appearance.

When Steve recovers from the surgery that gave him the bionics, and learns how to walk again, see again, and use his left arm again, he soon learns that the OSI is expecting him to pay for his bionic replacements in missions. He has to go on dangerous missions that only a cyborg could complete, in order to fulfill his debt to the OSI. He begrudgingly agrees to these terms. Before Steve goes on his first mission, him and a nurse who tended to him in the Hospital decide to go on a picnic together, when suddenly, a car crashes. Steve is the only one who can save the little boy inside the car, and when he does, he rips the skin on his bionic replacement. The mother of the child sees this, and calls him a monster. That is when any form of development in Steve’s overall character dissolves, and he doesn’t speak to anyone. Until, it is decided for him to go on a mission.

The mission that Steve goes on forces him to go to a terrain he has never been to. The desert. Here Steve is forced to use his super speed, super strength, and the rest of his newly found upgrades. Steve has to free an OSI agent who is imprisoned among terrorists, and also free all the men and women who are trapped there. On this mission, Steve witnesses life and death experiences once again and is reminded of what it is like to actually live like a normal person again. Granted, he will never be a normal person. Steve comes to terms with this fact and embraces it as the upper hand in his fight against the terrorists to get the imprisoned men and women there. The mission is almost like his moment of clarity, the moment when he stops thinking of himself as a monster, and thinks of himself as Steve again.

In the year that has passed since Steve Austin’s crash has been quite an emotional journey. He has gone from a hero, to having no will to live, to thinking he’s a monster, and then finally  being fully aware of himself and being acceptant of the qualities that he thought made him a monster. His bionics made him reach his highest and his lowest, both making him a more well-rounded person.

After You My Dear Alphonse: Analysis

I don't think that here in Pewaukee we really have a lot of problems with racisim, I do think that we have problems with stereotypes, and that's the other part of After you, My Dear Alphonse. In Pewaukee, we have people saying things about people automatically when they see them, just like Mrs.Wilson in After you, My dear Alphonse. 

Maximum Ride: Cause/Effect

The climax of Maximum Ride: Nevermore is that the sky is literally falling on them, and Max (the main character) and Fang (her boyfriend) go to where a huge tsunami is happening to try to stop it. They wind up getting hit by the tsunami and get washed up on the shore. Now, the reason that they even survived in the first place is because they have gills, and were able to swim to the shore underwater, and survive. Then they go to the other survivors of the tsunami (it was massive), and talk over all that happened. Which, in my opinion, is a lame ending.

One of the only reasons this all happened in the first place was because of a laboratory that Max called the School. At this place, they illegally experimented on kids, making them have 2% avian in them, so they have wings. The names of the people that got these wings are named Gaze, Angel, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, and of course, Max. They form a group and run away from the school to a safe haven, and are safe for about 2 years, before a gang of other mutants come to drag them back to the school for more experimenting, and that’s where the story starts. But as the series progresses, Max realizes that she has to save the world from something, she doesn’t know what it is, but it’s something.

After the tsunami crashed onto the island that they were on, that was full of other mutants like them, they look around and see all the damage that it caused. They know that only a handful of the people that were on the island survived, and the book ends with them going to look for them.

Here’s some surprise information: Angel (The youngest of the group), was the one who told everyone the end of the world was coming. If she hadn’t told anyone that it was happening, and that they were all going to die, they probably would have. Also, if the flock (All the people with the wings) didn’t have gills, the book would’ve ended right there. Which in my opinion would have been better, because the ending of the book makes it seem like there could’ve been more to it, but there wasn’t. The ending should have been Max dying with Fang. A lot of the questions that were asked throughout the book weren’t answer, and I think the entire book could’ve been re-written with a better ending.

Furthermore, the ending of Maximum Ride was unsatisfactory. If the ending had been written better, the whole book would’ve been better, and I personally wouldn’t be so upset with it. The ending was terrible, and if the things that happened weren’t like how they were, I probably would have considered re-reading the entire series, because the books weren’t bad, up until the end.

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place: Response

The thing with light and dark in this piece is that it describes two people. The older waiter and the younger waiter. The younger waiter represents the light, while the older waiter represents darkness. What I mean by this is that the younger waiter prefers to be en-coated in light, and surrounded by his friends, while the older waiter prefers the night time, and being alone. He agrees with the old man and wouldn't mind being alone to drink like him, while the younger waiter would rather drink with a group. This is another example of light and dark, seeing as light would technically mean happiness and groups of people, while darkness is typically considered aloneness and solidarity.

Breakthrough Reality Part 1 of Many

5 years ago

“Come on Alessa! You can do it!” The man said to his little daughter, watching as she made the effort to ride her bike without her training wheels.

“I know I can Daddy!” She called back to her father, blowing the hair out of her face.

“I’ll give you another push.” The little girl’s father said, coming over to her wobbling form and pushing on the back of the bike, satisfied when it moved forward, he let go and watched his little girl ride a bike for the first time.

“Daddy daddy! I got it!!” She said turning the bike this way and that, the tires trying to keep up with her frantic movements.

She smiled brightly, and lost her balance, collapsing onto  the cushiony carpet.

“Well, that should be good for today...” He said, picking her up from the ground and setting her on her feet, then taking the bike and putting it into the closet.

Alessa pouted, but stood up nonetheless, trotting over to one of the curtained windows.

While her father’s back was turned, she lifted up the curtain to take a peek of the outside.

“Alessa! Stay away from the window!” He dad snapped, lifting her up and carrying her away from the window before her eyes could see the outdoors.

“But daddy! I wan--” She began, only to be cut off by his angry voice.

“Alessa. If you step outside, something bad will happen... Something terrible.” He shuddered, and looked at the black letters that were forever tattooed onto his skin.

Human.

Chapter 1

My eyes fluttered open and I looked around my room, noticing how late in the afternoon it was.

“Where are they?” I thought to myself, standing up and stretching. I walked out of my room and to the living room, looking around for my parents.

Huh.

They left again.

They’ve been doing that alot.... Going outside I mean.

Oh jeez.

None of this makes sense to you, does it?

Alright. Let me explain for you.

I’m Alessa Caverly.

I have never been outside my home in my entire life.

I’ve lived behind locked doors and closed curtains, my parents training me to fear the unknown.

But let me share a little secret with you...

I actually really like the unknown.

Knowing that something out there might kill me kinda makes me excited.

When I passed their empty room, and when I couldn’t hear the sound of the radio coming from the living room, I knew something was wrong. Where they abducted by aliens or something?

Or worse...

Where they...

Oh god, I didn’t even want to think about it.

“MOM!!!” I called, and of course,  my attempts failed, the silence being my only reply. “Great...” I mumbled, running a hand through my brown hair.

I dragged my tired body to the kitchen where I opened up the cabinets, pulling out the box labeled “cereal”.

Then I grabbed a bowl, opening the box of cereal and filling it with the tasteless flakes of vitamins. Then I grabbed the milk and poured it in, making my cereal.

I sat down, putting a spoon in my cereal and getting a good mouthful.

Yup, this is my daily existence. Wake up, eat, lessons, eat, free time, sleep.

Day in day out, the routine never fails to take up my time and energy. My parents insist that it’s the “safest” for me, but what does that mean anyway? I’m safe right where I am.

Once I was done eating my bland cereal, I stood up from the table and went over to the windows, peeling back the curtain slowly. Of course, that’s when I realise that my dad put wood boards up on the window to block me from seeing the outside.

I sighed, putting my hand on the wood boards in defeat. Of course he did that. Typical. I thought to myself and went to the couch, plopping down and opening up my learning textbook and reading the next lesson.

A Cross Dresser and a Singer

Author’s note: If you realize it or not, real people have connections to fictional characters. Sometimes, they’re only alike in personality, other times they’re alike in their actions and things that reflect themselves. Also, a conflict with a real person can resolve in a way a fictional character may handle it. Today, I will be analyzing the conflict and resolution that made Lady Gaga into who she is today, and while doing that I will be comparing Lady Gaga (AkA Stefani Germanotta), to a character from one of my favorite Manga’s, Princess Jellyfish.

Situations in reality can often times result in a resolution that is similar to a fictional characters. For example, let’s take a situation that the author has been through. The author was bullied for quite some time, and with bravery and perseverance, she showed the bully that she was stronger, and made him go away. This resolution is similar to Maka Albarn’s way of defeating a terrible Kishin, who was known to be undefeatable. But, by using bravery, Maka defeated the Kishin with ease. The person and character this piece will analyze is Lady Gaga, and Kuranosuke, otherwise known as Kurako.

Lady Gaga, otherwise known as Stefani Germanotta, had been raised with music. She grew up with it, embracing it and loving it like it was her own child. Once she turned 14, she went to a very prestigious Catholic school in upstate New York, where she began to be bullied relentlessly. She got pushed into garbage cans, in lockers, and verbally abused also. Kuranosuke was bullied also, but not by his peers. Kuranosuke was bullied by his parents. He was verbally and physically abused by his father to be a politics buff like himself, even though he’d prefer to go into fashion. Stefani, a real person, and Kuranosuke, a fictional character, both have been through different types of bullying, both of them having to suck it up and deal with it. But, their resolutions aren’t what would be expected in this type of situation.

Both of these people, real and fictional, resolve their problems by improving their self esteem in a funny way. Stefani lets her talent envelope her, and she becomes Lady Gaga, the confident, self assured person that she had wanted to be for all of her life, but the school had held her back. She becomes fashion savvy, and vocally amazing, all with a little help from nightclubs and producers. Kuranosuke decides to basically tell his dad that he doesn’t care about politics, and he decides to start cross dressing as Kuroko, a fashion savvy rich girl who is confident, and friendly. As Kuroko, Kuranosuke becomes friends with new people, such as Tsukumi, who is the main character in the story. Kuroko is the person that Kuranosuke wishes he could be all the time, but around his dad, he still has to be Kuranosuke, thus the conflict comes back.

The resolution for both of these people, fictional and real, is to put on an alternate persona to the person they really are. For Stefani, becoming Lady Gaga is her safe haven, a person that she becomes where she can be herself with no limits, no restrictions. And for Kuranosuke, becoming Kuroko is the way to get away from his dad, and to be friends with girls who typically wouldn’t look twice at him. These people’s conflicts where almost exactly the same, and so was their resolution. For them, putting on an alternate persona fixed their problems that they had at school, or at home.

Never Surrender Take 2

The beginning of each chapter in Battle Dress, by Amy Efaw, you are greeted by a quote related to the military. Each quote demonstrates different kinds of  metaphors. All of which related to the army in some way, but they all have a way of affecting the reader.

Tone in this book is important in understanding the character. If you understand the tones she’s using as she talks, then you understand almost the entire book. For example, if the tone of the book seems a little hesitant, or scared, you’d know that the main character Andi is scared, or hesitant about something. I believe that tone in this book is amazing, because it makes up the book. The tone shows just how brave she is, and how smart she is.

Your cannot choose your battlefield,

The gods do that for you,

But you can plant a standard view,

Where a standard never flew.

~Nathalia Crane, “The Colors”

This quote, or stanza from a poem, is one of the first things you read when you begin reading “Battle Dress”. You don’t exactly know what it has to do with the book, and you don’t necessarily know what metaphors are in it. But, the entire stanza (or quote) is a metaphor. The first line, being, “Your cannot choose your battlefield”, doesn’t just relate to the army, is also relates to life in general. This being, the “Battlefield” being which path you take, because no matter what you do, your life will be a battlefield (at least in my opinion). The next line, which is, “The gods do that for you” is talking about how you don’t choose your destiny, gods do. But, in my opinion, you choose your own destiny, not gods, not your parents or friends... You do. I think that line is necessary yes, but I don’t quite believe in it. “But you can plant a standard view, Where a standard never flew.” I believe that is referring to your thoughts and opinions on things, and it doesn’t quite matter what anyone thinks, it’s what you think that matters in the end.

Your Momma was home and you left.

Your right!

Your Daddy was home and you left.

Your right!

That’s the reason you left.

Your right!

~U.S Army Marching Cadence

The poem above describes the main character, Andi Davis’s family life. Her parents are constantly fighting, making her home life really rough. I can’t really tell what figurative language this piece holds, but I can tell it’s almost like a personal metaphor for the main character, Andi. She says in the beginning that one of the main reasons she’s going to West Point is to get away from her crazy family, and be among a bunch of people who may be in the same boat as her. And as she goes along, she realizes that she’s there for even more than getting away from her family. The poem above summarizes her feelings in the beginning pretty well, considering.... Well, the entire poem. I think the author found this poem, and it really inspired her to make the character Andi the way she is.

There is no substitute for victory!

~General Douglas MacArthur, West Point class of 1903

This quote is only one sentence, and doesn’t really house any specific figurative language, but it does show the progress the character Andi has made since the first chapter. This quote was placed on Chapter 8, which is half way through the book. This quote demonstrates her growth from the first chapter, as well as another look into army life.

Your left, your right,

Your left, your right.

You’re out of sight,

You’re dynamite.

And it won’t be long

Till you get back home.

~U.S Army Marching Cadence

This stanza represents the end of the book. A metaphor in this stanza is “dynamite”. She isn’t dynamite, but she acts like it, meaning that she explodes with personality and such. I can totally see why the author would put this particular quote into the book because it really symbolizes that the main characters journey through the hardships of West Point is done, and she can go home again. Even though by then, she doesn’t want to go home. She’d rather stay with Third Platoon, her squad mates, her family basically. The sentence, “Your left, your right” is apart of an army march. Throughout the book, Andi is marching, listening to these words. And at the end of the book, she continues to march to these words as she goes into the stadium to meet her parents again.

Never Surrender

This has been said throughout the entire book. When Andi is at a part in her West Point life when she just wants to quit and go home, her squad leader Cadet Daily gives her a sort of pep talk and says, “Never Surrender”. In my opinion, this quote represents the entire book. While other people gave up, Andi get marching on, not letting the worst things get to her. Even though she wanted to quit at some points, she continued marching on. Never surrendering. Though she was a girl, and that set her back at West Point, she never let her gender hold her back, and kept pushing on. She didn’t surrender to her gender. When one of her squad mates, Hickman, began telling her she couldn’t do what he could, she proved him wrong and won a competition that only a select few in West Point can win.

She didn’t surrender.

This quote, in my opinion, not only applies to the harshness of the army, but applies to real life as well. For instance, if someone was bullying you, or if you were going through family troubles, thinking “Never Surrender” to yourself can truly make a difference between life, and death. If someone were to tell a person “Never Surrender”, if they were having a bad day, that may’ve saved their lives.

This book is about overpowering weakness and not letting your troubles lead your life. It’s about perseverance, courage, and strength. These are key attributes that people need to know how to do, it could very well keep you from suicide. Never surrender, as they say in the army... And as I’m saying now. Don’t surrender to the things bringing you down. Fight!

Never Surrender

The beginning of each chapter in Battle Dress, by Amy Efaw, you are greeted by a quote related to the military. Each quote demonstrates metaphors, personification, and similes. All of which related to the army in some way, but they all have a way of affecting the reader. During this essay I will give you a quote from the book, and analyze it’s figurative language.

Your cannot choose your battlefield,
The gods do that for you,
But you can plant a standard view,
Where a standard never flew.
~Nathalia Crane, “The Colors”

This quote, or stanza from a poem, is one of the first things you read when you begin reading “Battle Dress”. You don’t exactly know what it has to do with the book, and you don’t necessarily know what metaphors are in it. But, the entire stanza (or quote) is a metaphor. The first line, being, “Your cannot choose your battlefield”, doesn’t just relate to the army, is also relates to life in general. This being, the “Battlefield” being which path you take, because no matter what you do, your life will be a battlefield (at least in my opinion). The next line, which is, “The gods do that for you” is talking about how you don’t choose your destiny, gods do. But, in my opinion, you choose your own destiny, not gods, not your parents or friends... You do. I think that line is necessary yes, but I don’t quite believe in it. “But you can plant a standard view, Where a standard never flew.” I believe that is referring to your thoughts and opinions on things, and it doesn’t quite matter what anyone thinks, it’s what you think that matters in the end.

Your Momma was home and you left.
Your right!
Your Daddy was home and you left.
Your right!
That’s the reason you left.
Your right!
~U.S Army Marching Cadence

The poem above describes the main character, Andi Davis’s family life. Her parents are constantly fighting, making her home life really rough. I can’t really tell what figurative language this piece holds, but I can tell it’s almost like a personal metaphor for the main character, Andi. She says in the beginning that one of the main reasons she’s going to West Point is to get away from her crazy family, and be among a bunch of people who may be in the same boat as her. And as she goes along, she realizes that she’s there for even more than getting away from her family. The poem above summarizes her feelings in the beginning pretty well, considering.... Well, the entire poem. I think the author found this poem, and it really inspired her to make the character Andi the way she is.

There is no substitute for victory!
~General Douglas MacArthur, West Point class of 1903
This quote is only one sentence, and doesn’t really house any specific figurative language, but it does show the progress the character Andi has made since the first chapter. This quote was placed on Chapter 8, which is half way through the book. This quote demonstrates her growth from the first chapter, as well as another look into army life.

Your left, your right,
Your left, your right.
You’re out of sight,
You’re dynamite.
And it won’t be long
Till you get back home.
~U.S Army Marching Cadence


This stanza represents the end of the book. I can totally see why the author would put this particular quote into the book because it really symbolizes that the main characters journey through the hardships of West Point is done, and she can go home again. Even though by then, she doesn’t want to go home. She’d rather stay with Third Platoon, her squad mates. The sentence, “Your left, your right” is apart of an army march. Throughout the book, Andi is marching, listening to these words. And at the end of the book, she continues to march to these words as she goes into the stadium to meet her parents again.

Never Surrender

This has been said throughout the entire book. When Andi is at a part in her West Point life when she just wants to quit and go home, her squad leader Cadet Daily gives her a sort of pep talk and says, “Never Surrender”. In my opinion, this quote represents the entire book. While other people gave up, Andi get marching on, not letting the worst things get to her. Even though she wanted to quit at some points, she continued marching on. Never surrendering. Though she was a girl, and that set her back at West Point, she never let her gender hold her back, and kept pushing on. She didn’t surrender to her gender. When one of her squad mates, Hickman, began telling her she couldn’t do what he could, she proved him wrong and won a competition that only a select few in West Point can win.
She didn’t surrender.
This quote, in my opinion, not only applies to the harshness of the army, but applies to real life as well. For instance, if someone was bullying you, or if you were going through family troubles, thinking “Never Surrender” to yourself can truly make a difference between life, and death. If someone were to tell a person “Never Surrender”, if they were having a bad day, that may’ve saved their lives.

This book is about overpowering weakness and not letting your troubles lead your life. It’s about perseverance, courage, and strength. These are key attributes that people need to know how to do, it could very well keep you from suicide. Never surrender, as they say in the army... And as I’m saying now. Don’t surrender to the things bringing you down. Fight!

Questioning Sanity

Author’s note: The Raven is one of the most discussed poems in American literature, and today, I have come to discuss our narrators sanity. Which side will you be on? This is my point of view piece on, the Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe.

The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe, is one of the most known pieces in classic American Literature. It’s words have been known to shake people to the very core, and in some cases, scaring people into not reading it ever again. In the Raven, we focus on a young man grieving over the loss of Lenore, his lover. The point of view makes the man gives the reader the impression that he’s the victim. But, can we trust our narrator in the first place?

A Raven, a young man, and a dead woman are the main characters in the Raven, and our narrator is the young man. The poem is focused on this man’s feelings as the raven that enters his home make his life turn upside down, but is he really as innocent as his words claim him to be? Is he really a madman in an insane asylum? Maybe the raven is really his doctor, and the doctor is coming into his room to sedate him into sleep. Perhaps, there’s more to everything than meets the eye. But, the point of view of the piece is centered around the man, so we’ll never know just who he really is.

As far as we all know, our main character is a man grieving over the loss of his wife, Lenore. Are we really sure that it’s his wife? Could it be his little sister? Granted, he says, “a rare, and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore”, and a person could argue he most definitely is complementing his deceased wife. Maybe  his little sister died when she was five or six, and he always called her his beautiful maiden, and cherished her as if she was his wife.  How can we really depend on the narrator though, because, as we read the poem, it seems like he’s going mad? Whose side should we truly be on?

Our narrator, who is grieving the loss of a woman  close to him, could possibly be very very unreliable. How can we take any of his claims seriously, when it seems he is on the threshold of madness throughout the entire poem? We start to realize he’s mad towards the end of the poem, when he yells at the raven, “Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!”. We know he’s completely lost it here, even though there are hints of madness throughout the entire poem. But, he is truly trying to keep his sanity, like when he says, “Doubtless, what it utters is its only stock and store”, it’s as if he’s trying to convince himself that it isn’t real. Because the narrator is ranting to the Raven, he makes us all feel his emotions, his grief, his anger... All of that. So, when he’s going mad, we tend to want to be on his side, but, as I’ve said, should we really be on his side?

Although I’ve brought up all these points as to if we can trust the narrator or not, there is no possible way to tell for sure if he’s trustworthy or not trustworthy. Even if we had the best literary analyzers look at the Raven, all the opinions from them would be diverse. Why? Because it is the readers choice as to if we can trust the narrator or not. It is the readers choice if we should be on his side, or our own. None of us can prove if he is sane or not. Only Edgar Allan Poe would be able to, but it’s too late to ask. The poem is vague in telling the complete story, and leaves the reader guessing, in a pleasantly mysterious way. Edgar Allan Poe’s works have the ability to toy with our minds, and the Raven is most definitely one of his more mysterious poems.

Being a Lion

Author's note: This personal metaphor describes how I think my personality is, and I hope that my message is clear!

I am a lion

My words loud and fierce

My actions wild and free

I protect the ones I love

And hurt the people who hurt me or my family.

My courage is un matched

My palate quite large

But underneath the strong façade

I’m just a cuddle bug. 

Comfortably Numb?

“Is there anybody in there?” My manager said, slapping me on the face. “Nod if you can hear me...” He rolled his eyes, “Come on now, I heard you were feeling sick but this is ridiculous... Can you show me where it hurts?”
Heh... I don’t know why he keeps trying, I can’t hear what he’s saying.
I’m not feeling any pain, not really. He’s only coming through in waves, heh, I can only see his lips move.
See, when I was a child, I got a fever... my hands felt like two balloons.
Now I have that feeling again, I can’t explain the sensation, but this isn’t how I am.
“Ok.... Just a little pin prick, there’ll be no more----”
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!” I screamed, not knowing why  I screamed.
He sighed, “You may feel a little sick...” He mumbled, “Can he stand up?” He asked the rest of the group around him. They all shrugged, then pulled me up to test it. “That’ll keep him going through the show, come on, we have to go.” He said pulling my arm, tugging me along to the car
But...
I’m not feeling any pain!
I don’t understand, there’s nothing wrong.... I swear there isn’t.
When I had a fever, I got a fleeting glimpse, but when I turned it was gone..
That child has grown, and the dream is gone.
I’ve gone comfortably numb.

Memoirs of a Geisha Prediction Piece

Author's note: This is my prediction piece


During Memoirs of a Geisha, Sayuri encounters a man that she knows as the Chairman early on in the book. As I was reading this, and reading all the things that seemed to put a wedge between her and the Chairman, I started to think that no matter what happens, the Chairman will somehow become her danna (ie: a danna is basically a provider for Geisha).

As more and more things seperate the Chairman and Sayuri, I started to think that my prediction may be incorrect, and thought about things that might happen instead of my original prediction. During Sayuri's life, a man named Nobu takes an interest in her early on. Nobu soon begins to make Sayuri's life change drastically, when he starts talking about becoming her danna. This was one of the major wedges that I thought drove Sayuri and the Chairman apart, and I was I was proved correctly when Sayuri informed me that she felt the Chairman and her drifting apart. When Sayuri knows that Nobu will become her danna, she takes drastic measures and decides to basically betray Nobu by having sex with a colonel from America, telling her best friend Pumpkin to have him come and see this happen. But, Pumpkin betrays her and makes the Chairman come instead. This is by far the biggest wedge (or so Sayuri thinks) that drives the Chairman and her apart. When Sayuri returns home to her okiya (ie: Basically a place where Geisha live, and or where they train from a young age), and is horror struck when she gets a call that sats Nobu-san wants to become her danna. Sadly, Sayuri pulls herself together and goes to the tea house to meet Nobu-san, but much to her surprise, the Chairman is waiting for her instead of Nobu-san. Sayuri, quite shocked, sat next to him and asked what was wrong.
The Chairman then announced he would become her danna, and they kissed.
Overall, my enitial prediction was proven correct, and I predicted this as soon as I knew what a danna was.
Thankfully, Nobu-san didn't protest, in fact, he never talked to Sayuri again.

Memoirs of a Geisha- Compare and Contrast

Compare and Contrast

Memoirs of a Geisha’s events and Real life

Things in Common                     Things Not in Common

-In both Memoirs                       -Now a days, a girls virginity would never be something to auction off

Of a Geisha and Real life,         -The makeup Sayuri uses is much more pasty and thick then make up now.

Woman are sometimes            -Being beaten isn’t something that’s common, now it’s against the law               

Misinterpreted.                          –Little girls aren’t sold to Geisha houses anymore

-A lot of the time,

People fall head over heels for

Older people.